DriveSmartBC

The province of British Columbia intends to make  significant changes to the way drivers are penalized for disobeying the driving laws. The current Violation Ticket and traffic court system will be replaced with something similar called a Driving Notice and a system of dispute adjudication under the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.

One day in the not too distant future police will swipe your driver's licence through a card reader, pick the offence from a list on their computer screen and click print to issue you a traffic ticket. No more hand written ticket forms for BC drivers.

Yesterday's edition of the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper contained an article about Justice Minister Shirley Bond considering making the driving record of B.C. drivers public knowledge. The idea is that if conventional methods of convincing drivers to follow the driving rules are not successful, then it is time to find other solutions. This one would be aimed at embarrassing a non-compliant driver publicly.

I was issued a ticket for Speed Against a Municipal Sign for driving over 30km/hr in a playground zone. The officer had no laser and no radar; she flagged me over, saying "The speed limit here is 30--you were not doing 30." I can't say whether I was doing 31 or 51; my best guess based on the location I was pulled over would be somewhere between 30-40.

In this case Allen Lukas appeals his conviction for speeding based on the visual observation of his vehicle's speed made by Cst. Neid of the Kelowna R.C.M.P. Detachment.

Would you please explain section 219(1) of the Motor Vehicle Act? My driver window gear stopped working on the Labour Day weekend (4 days ago) and I have not had time to get back to the dealer to have it repaired. The officer informed me that this is a safety issue if the vehicle ended up in the river I would be trapped.

I am curious how is it that it is possible for an officer to issue a ticket without actually witnessing the alleged offense, and only going by a couple of witness calls that likely do not have the plate number of the alleged offender and in a location that is not specific?

I have been ticketed for crossing a double yellow line just before the end of the right hand lane in a passing zone. The reason for this manoeuvre was I had been in the right lane and catching up to another vehicle, I switched to the left lane to overtake the slower moving vehicle, I estimate the speed variation to be around 30 KPH.

What do I need to know to properly look after my interests if I receive a traffic ticket?

Have you ever been traveling a long distance from home and received a traffic ticket that you felt you should dispute in court? Were you disappointed to learn that in order to dispute the allegation you would have to travel all the way back to the court nearest to the place where the ticket was written?