Lanes

Road Guy Rob is a civil engineer who delights in explaining traffic engineering to the public. This time around he is looking at edge lane or advisory lane roads for cycling, just like the one in Victoria that raised a few voices there in 2019.

The case of Close v Tigas involves a collision on 18th Street at the lane west of Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver. Andria Close was driving her Volkswagen Golf westbound on 18th Street and Ryan Tigas was driving his Mitsubishi Outlander northbound in the lane approaching 18th. Mr. Tigas' view to the east was obstructed by a truck and camper parked to the right of the lane on the south side of 18th Street.

Vehicles containing more people than just the driver are a relative rarity on our highways. Some estimates place them at less than 10% of the total number of vehicles on the highway! In order to encourage the efficient movement of more people, High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes were created. There is an added benefit, filling up the vehicle means a "greener" journey as well.

Are some of us such poor drivers that we can't even stay between the lines on the highway? I was driving home and met a pickup truck completely onto my side of the double solid line in a set of winding curves. Was the driver not paying attention or was he so intent on not slowing down that he straightened out the corners to avoid braking? I suspect that it was the latter.

I watched a particularly foolish driver the other afternoon who decided to cross over two lanes of traffic in order to prepare for a left turn about a kilometer ahead. This driver zoomed across all the lanes without pause, ending up in the left hand lane about three vehicle lengths ahead of a heavy truck.

Here is another video from Road Guy Rob who explains about advisory bike lanes, just like the ones installed recently Victoria. In this case the installation was in San Diego, California and "the people living nearby lost their collective minds.  Here's why these lanes aren't quite as bad as local TV coverage claims."

The case of Bains v Watkins might be a classic He Said / She Said situation. The purpose of the trial was to decide who was on the wrong side of the road when a head on collision between vehicles driven by Janice Watkins and Surinder Bains occurred. The incident occurred on 84 Avenue near the 135A Street intersection in Surrey.

I am often asked to tell the motoring public that it is illegal to change lanes in an intersection. I cannot do this, because there is no specific rule prohibiting this driving action in B.C.'s Motor Vehicle Act. However, a defensive driver will choose not to do this, even if it is legal.

When I used an unmarked car for enforcement, one of the tactics that I would use on multi-laned highways involved finding a vehicle traveling at the speed limit in the left hand lane. I would take up a position in the right hand lane a few vehicles lengths back and wait. It did not take long before another driver was dangerously close to the vehicle that I was following, trying to bulldoze them out of the way.

I enjoy these videos by Road Guy Rob. He explains how the road structures that we use daily function in an easy to understand manner. In this video he takes on the subject of raised medians. On one hand, they prevent crashes, but on the other, they keep us from turning left where we might want to. This video explains how engineers decide how to build raised medians.