Speed

A poll conducted by Research Co. last September found that more than three of five British Columbia residents agree with four different types of automated speed enforcement. Fixed speed cameras (76%), Speed on Green intersection cameras (72%), mobile speed cameras (66%) and finally point to point  speed enforcement cameras (61%) were surveyed.

The case of R v Tschampa involves the appeal of a speeding ticket conviction in Prince George traffic court. Paige Tschampa was ticketed for driving at a speed of 70 km/h in a posted 50 km/h zone by CN Police Service. She disputed the ticket and was subsequently convicted by the sitting judicial justice.

Road Guy Rob is a civil engineer who delights in explaining traffic engineering to the public. Although he is based in California, some of the information contained in his videos applies equally well here in British Columbia. In this episode he looks at a traffic calming project that went wrong. He asks the question "Have you ever seen a street get a DUI?"

Have you ever given any thought to how far you can see at night as you are driving along down the highway? High beam headlights seem to overpower the dark, but there are a lot of situations where we are limited to using just the low beams. I was required to calculate the safe speed using only low beam headlights at a seminar and I was surprised at the result.

Vision Zero takes the position that any loss of life in traffic is unacceptable. The driving environment should be build so that road users are protected. A self-enforcing road is a roadway that is planned and designed to encourage drivers to select operating speeds in harmony with the posted speed limit.

A reader asks: "If the posted speed limits on our roadways are not just suggestions, why are they not enforced? If we are permitted to drive above the posted limit, how far above, and if so, how is anyone ever cited for speeding?"

Adrian Vershinin was issued an Intersection Safety Camera ticket for speeding. He disputed the ticket and a trial was held in the North Vancouver provincial court before Administrative Judicial Justice Hayes. Mr. Vershinin argued that the image of the B.C. flag on the licence plate was too indistinct to allow the enforcement officer to determine that it was a B.C. licence plate.

The case of R v Francisco involves a collision on June 7, 2019 in Burnaby that resulted in the death of a pedestrian, Louise Landreth. Roberto Francisco was driving a BMW sedan erratically over a period of about one hour and twenty minutes until a collision at high speed resulted in a loss of control and Ms. Landreth being struck and killed.

Have you ever wondered about the instruments that the police use to measure vehicle speeds on our highways? My favourite tool was LIDAR because it gave me the ability to accurately measure the speeds of individual vehicles. Although the laser must be used from a stationary position, either hand held or on a tripod, being able to target a specific vehicle made it superior to RADAR on a busy highway.

Just because we can go fast doesn't mean that we should. When it comes to the speeds set on our highways, many drivers look at it solely from an engineering point of view. Letting physics and what you can (or can't) see as your guide to personal speed setting does not take in the larger picture.