DriveSmartBC

Some incidents encountered during a career in policing stick with you for life and sometimes resurface later on as lessons learned. This memory involved a mother dropping her young son off for a birthday party by pulling over and stopping on the right side of the street. He exited the car and excited to join the festivities, ran to the back and darted across the street. He was struck and killed by a passing vehicle.

Paul examines an impaired driving crash in Vernon that occurred in October 2014 and recently concluded in court. Lori Vance is a mother of 4 with an unblemished driving record and was known for making sure that others did not drive while impaired. She made the choice to drive after drinking at a bar one night, running a red light, killing Erin Smith and seriously injuring Lindsey Hauck.

This video comes to us through the Road Safety Authority of Ireland. It draws attention to the serious risk presented by wearing a shoulder belt under the arm instead of over the shoulder. According to the information, this is a common occurrence among young women.

I have a question about the requirement for snowflake / M+S tires on recreational vehicles October 1 to March 31 because the highway warning sign does not specifically picture travel trailers.

On this site and elsewhere, it is sometimes asserted that under BC law, no one ever "has the right of way" -- that right of way can only be yielded. That is contradicted by the following from the Act:

This is the story about a fatal collision between an SUV and a motorcycle at the intersection of the Shawnigan Lake Road and the Trans-Canada Highway near the village of Shawnigan Lake on July 7, 2014. Shannon Ward was traveling eastbound on Shawnigan Lake Road and had stopped for the stop sign at the intersection with the Trans-Canada Highway.

Our provincial driving manual Learn to Drive Smart devotes an entire chapter to the concept of See - Think - Do Method. See: The pedestrian waiting to cross the street in the intersection. Think: There are no lines painted on the pavement, but it is an unmarked crosswalk and I have to stop for the pedestrian. Do: Yield the right of way to the pedestrian and allow them to cross the street.

I have a one ton truck, commercial, increased GVW (14,000 I believe), under NSC number, licenced for farm use. With this vehicle I do the following: 

Just pickup, running for parts errands etc

Pickup and commercially plated trailer to haul water

Pickup and commercially plated trailer to haul hay, farm supplies, cattle, farm equipment

Pickup to haul horse trailer with horses/tack

Here are two videos from Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement showing how to install tire chains on both light vehicles and heavy commercial vehicles. It is a good idea to try installing your tire chains when the weather is not miserable to gain experience and shorten the installation time when you really need them.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has announced the implementation of Pilot Car Load Movement Guidelines to regulate the safe movement of oversize vehicles on B.C.'s highways. Part of the Traffic Management Manual for Work on Highways, it also describes new temporary signs with a fluorescent pink background to warn of an emergency situation. In this case an example might be an overwidth load stopped so that it obstructed a lane of travel. It would be up to the pilot car operator to place the sign appropriately to warn approaching traffic.