This was a question that I asked myself more frequently as my time in traffic enforcement with the RCMP grew longer. Everyone wants to do their job well, and mine was to encourage the motoring public to conform to the law in the hope that doing so would minimize the number of collisions in my patrol area. If I was successful, no one would be hurt, our insurance rates would fall and I wouldn’t have to write so many tickets.
I was driving North bound on Hwy 97 approaching Summerland. As usual I was passed by a speeding vehicle (I confess, I'm a "speeder" but I confine my illegal activity to 10 kph over) So when I say a speeder, I'm not describing someone going 12 kph over a limit, while I'm travellling 2 kph under. In the appropriete conditions (dry, light traffic, day time) if I say I'm passed by a speed
I received a excessive speeding ticket while on my motorcycle in June 2016. I stated to the police officer that I was attempting to elude a tailgater, which he did not see of course.
The tailgater positioned himself behind my bike 3 times in 3 kilometers before I sped off to go to a public venue with cameras should the tailgater cause me trouble.
It was necessary for me to move my 50cc scooter 3 miles from one storage location to another. It was daylight, the weather was good and there was no other traffic on the road at the time. I made an error of judgment and decided to make this move on my scooter without current tags since I would not be using it for several months. It did not occur to me to think about a day pass.
I recently passed the scene of what appears to be a serious motorcycle/car accident on the Connector between Cumberland and Courtenay. There were 3 police cars there and very professional traffic control devices and flag people. The investigation appears to be underway.
You might be surprised to learn that this was a topic of conversation among my colleagues when we sat down for a coffee break during a shift. Most often one of us would have been travelling during their vacation and the remark would be something along the lines of “I drove all the way to X and back and didn’t see anyone stopping violators!” Maybe there is something to the remark “Where’s a cop when you need one?”
One way of preparing for a traffic ticket dispute is to request disclosure from the officer who issued it. It was relatively rare to receive such a request but when one did appear the disputant often asked for everything, including the tread depth of the right rear tire on the police car. It was fairly clear that the request was based on advice found on the internet rather than obtained from a lawyer. Disclosing less than what was requested (but still reasonable in the circumstances) resulted in complaints to the justice at the hearing.
I have been a property owner in Mirror Lake BC for over 5 years & have yet to see any speeding related citations being created here. Hwy 31 at Mirror lake is posted 50 kmh but rarely see anyone obeying the speed limit.
Rather than try and tie together many comments in disparate places places around this site, I will make a topic here about the Capital Regional District Integrated Road Safety Unit (CRD IRSU) and the Malahat Drive portion of Highway 1 for user Phil:
I contacted the CRD IRSU via their Twitter account (@CRDIRSU) and learned the following about speed enforcement activity on the Malahat by them:
Is it legal for the traffic police to hide when conducting enforcement? For example, hiding some where or at night and drivers cannot see them.
