Transportation Minister Claire Trevena has announced the roll back of speed limit increases on 15 segments of highway that were raised in 2014. The new speed limit will be 10 km/h lower in the hope that the increase in crash rates seen after the previous change will return to what they were before.
"I'll pay the fine, I just don't want the points." This is not an uncommon desire expressed by drivers prior to a traffic court hearing when asked how they want to proceed. If the violation ticket was issued with the accused identified as the driver, penalty points follow the conviction as night follows day. There is no escaping them.
Increased penalties will come into effect today for drivers who put people at risk through excessive speeding, impaired driving, distracted driving and other violations.
I had an interesting conversation with @itsjim84 on Twitter this morning about the case law article I posted this week on driving over painted traffic islands. He observed that in the case of a left turn queue that had extended past the left turn bay due to insufficient length it was better to be stopped on the painted island instead of in the through lane. Stopping on the island would preclude being hit from behind by through traffic and allow traffic to flow.
This case resolves the liability for a crash where a driver making a left turn drove over the painted traffic island to get to the left turn lane rather than wait for traffic ahead. Unfortunately, the car ahead was also turning left and a collision occurred when that driver moved into the left turn lane without making a shoulder check first.
Is it legal to back out of a driveway across a lane of traffic? I thought this wasn't legal but I can't find anything in the MVA.
CBC's Marketplace has produced a program on commercial driver licensing in Canada. Their driver earned his commercial driver's licence in Saskatchewan and then failed the test for the same licence category in Ontario. At issue is the varying level of skill necessary to obtain a commercial driver's licence across the provinces.
When the drivers stop to give a pedestrian in a crosswalk the right of way, unless there is a compelling reason not to, the pedestrian should take it and proceed. Yesterday I stopped along with the driver to my left to enable a man standing in the middle of 4 lanes of traffic to cross.
I've looked at the regs for brakes on trailers, but I'm not sure how it would apply to flat towing a vehicle. My '92 Jeep weighs in around 3,000 lbs (spec curb weight is 2,855–3,241 lb (1,295–1,470 kg)). We'd be pulling it with a 2015 Yukon 4WD (rated towing weight 8200 lb/ 3719 kg, curb weight 5707 lb / 2588 kg).
The regs say:
I met a new Canadian yesterday, in his large car, and the visor was SO low that there is only (what looked to be, I didn't go over and measure) like 2 feet from the hood to the bottom of the visor. I understand the benefits of a drop visor, but this is taking an aftermarket improvement, to the absolute extreme.