The dreaded Right Hook: Where a driver passes by on the cyclist's left and then makes a right hand turn, oblivious to the fact that the cyclist was there and had to be yielded to. A study by University of Toronto Engineering found that drivers often fail to adequately scan for non-motorists when they turn right at intersections. In fact, more than half of 19 participants aged between 35 and 54 years old were guilty of this.
The case of Steinebach v Skittrell involves a collision between a car driven by Katherine Skittrell turning right over a bicycle lane to enter the Gables townhouse complex and Mark Steinebach, a cyclist who was using that bicycle lane. Ms. Skittrell should have been aware of Mr. Steinebach, as she had nearly collided with him in the intersection of Promotory Road and Teskey Way a short distance away.
I have grave concerns about the safety of mobility scooters and about the dangers involved for car drivers in dealing with their activities on the road. For instance, are these electric wheelchairs allowed legally on the roadways? I'm all in favour of personal navigation being available for those unable to drive anymore but isn't that the reason the cities make our sidewalk curbs manageable for wheelchairs?
In 2008, the Centre for Automotive Safety Research at the University of Adelaide, Australia, released a report that explored the role of tailgating in rear end crashes. It surprised me to learn that driver inattention was a bigger risk than following too closely.
When I was relatively new to police work I was patrolling behind a car that had stopped at a red light with the left turn signal blinking. The next thing I knew, this car had turned left against the red light! Well, on went the lights and siren and I chased down this alleged red light runner. This would be an easy ticket, or so I thought.
Webinar hosted by the BC Injury Prevention Unit and conducted by Dr. Jeff Brubacher, Associate Professor, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia. Unfortunately, the video sound is poor.
The case of DeHeer v Mamdooh involves a collision that took place at the intersection of Pinetree Way and Anson Avenue in Coquitlam. Anthony DeHeer was driving on Anson Avenue and turned right onto Pinetree Way, traveling in the direction of the Lougheed Highway. Pejman Mamdooh was driving southbound on Pinetree Way, also traveling in the direction of the Lougheed Highway. The two collided.
"Are there rules for riding bicycles?" a reader asks after narrowly missing a collision with a bicyclist. "They seem to ride wherever they feel like it. How is a driver supposed to know what bicycle riders are going to do?"
Here is another video from Road Guy Rob who explains about how red light cameras know when to take a picture of a red light runner. It explains how engineers build a camera system that takes pictures of vehicles that don't stop when they must. Called Intersection Safety Cameras in British Columbia, there are currently 140 of them installed at intersections with a high crash risk from red light runners.
A common message that arrives in the DriveSmartBC inbox concerns the perception of a local problem and either no response or an unexpected response from local government. The writer is usually looking for someone to solve their problem for them with little or no effort on their part beyond the initial complaint. Chances are excellent that the problem will continue to be a problem unless there is a concerted effort to resolve it.