One of the more common questions that I receive at this time of year is "Do I need winter tires to drive to ________." The Province of B.C. has provided maps of locations where winter tires (or carrying tire chains for commercial vehicles) is mandatory. Now you can go to the site, choose the appropriate map and answer that question.
This is a story from Chestnut Street in Parksville, but could just as easily take place on any residential street in British Columbia. It appears that both the residents there and the City Council are upset about the speeds of the drivers who use that street. What no one seemed to agree on was what to do about it beyond asking police to do enforcement and perhaps posting the speed limit at 40 km/h.
A survey of municipalities in 2015 found that they were interesting in having more knowledge on road safety planning, safety designs, and strategies. The toolkit will be built and distributed as part of the province's Vision Zero initiative and is intended for all agencies with a mandate related to road safety.
“My tires aren’t the greatest, there’s really no point living in Vancouver to get, you know, snow tires. But yeah, a little slippery, but just drive slow, you’ll be fine.” These words of wisdom came from a young woman standing on an icy city street with a dog under her arm and a small child in tow. Do you think that this is a reasonable outlook for winter driving in the lower mainland, or anywhere else in B.C. for that matter?
Here's a video about distracted driving with a different point of view: how to avoid them! DriveSafeRideSafe believes that all drivers need to be educated about the likelihood they will need to protect themselves from the mistakes of other drivers on the road.
Being able to go to our vehicle, put our key in the ignition and drive off to whatever destination suits us is a luxury that we seldom consider. I would dare say that for many of us the only time that we really consider our vehicle is when it fails us. Just for fun, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a professional driver and apply the mandatory daily pre-trip inspection to our personal vehicle.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has released it's final report on the safety of motor coach transportation in the province.
Mana Erfani received a two count traffic ticket for not having a valid driver's licence and using an electronic device while driving. She intended to dispute both counts, but on the advice of an insurance agent, paid the fine for the no driver's licence count. On the date set for the trial of the use electronic device count, Ms. Erfani failed to appear and was deemed convicted.
Ouch! My ICBC insurance rates are going up as much as 42% over the next five years according to an article in the Province newspaper. I already paid $630 this year for the privilege of having my fellow British Columbians help me pay for collision liability if I make a mistake and crash my pickup. I’m not looking forward to paying $895 in 2021, but when you consider how much you could be on the hook for if you didn’t have insurance, even that doesn’t look too bad.
Currently in BC, motorcycles are required to sit in traffic like any other automobile is expected to, but this is very dangerous for motorcyclists! The solution is 'lane filtering', a practice vilified by the general driving public in much of North America.