I'm sure that you have already determined that if I don't write this column based on reader requests, I write about something that I have seen happen around me in traffic. This column is no different, and it is about a behaviour that struck me when I was using the freeway in Vancouver recently.
My job requires me to pull over and park for a short period of time on the freeway. There is sufficient space to pull off and I'm not obstructing a lane but I'm wondering what the regulations are in respect to signaling and signage.
Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE) has received numerous complaints and enquiries regarding vehicles operating on the highway without the driver and / or passenger doors in place. Any vehicle operating on the highway without doors represents a serious safety concern for the occupants as side intrusion protection and passenger containment would be compromised in the event of a collision.
Question: Would you kindly comment on the spate of right hand drive (RHD) vehicles that have appeared in B.C. recently? I have always been under the impression that imported vehicles had either to meet, or be modified to meet, Canadian standards before being licensed in Canada.
It used to be common knowledge that you must report a collision to police if there is death, injury, aggregate damage over $1,000 for motor vehicles, $800 for motorcycles and $100 for cycles. After changes to the law effective on July 1, 2008 this is no longer the case. Collisions do not have to be reported to police, or anyone else, to fulfil the reporting requirements of the Motor Vehicle Act.
"Cash for Scrap Vehicles" reads the slogan spray painted on the side of a brightly coloured rust bucket parked precariously on the bank between a fence and the side street. Is it eye catching or an eyesore? I suppose that would depend on your point of view.
The Victoria Transport Policy Institute is an independent research organization based here in our province dedicated to developing innovative and practical solutions to transportation problems. They regularly make research papers available to the public and here are the most interesting from their last newsletter:
Last week I received an e-mail from a young lady who was a student at a university in eastern Canada. She was involved in a traffic safety program on the campus that aimed to make it more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. She said that they had posted a number of new signs and painted some crosswalks but the drivers largely ignored them and drove the way they always did, which wasn't courteous to other types of road users.
Who is responsible for a crash? This is a question that I am asked fairly frequently, usually by a driver who is expecting that the other driver is totally at fault for a collision that they have been involved in.
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? Many drivers decide at this point that the issue is not worth pursuing, pay the ticket and carry on.