Miscellaneous

Who would have thought that among the most cost effective ways to improve road safety was to invest in public transit? Public transit can be 10 times safer to use than driving your own vehicle, so a modest increase in transit ridership can have disproportionally larger road safety benefits. A report by the American Public Transportation Association titled Public Transit's Safety Benefits explains.

QUESTION: A used car dealer here in Nanaimo has an advertising gimmick. It involves displaying a large dumpster with two or three wrecked cars standing on end sticking out of the top. Presumably it is one of those "push, pull, or drag" any car in for a generous trade-in allowance.

Starting September 1, 2016 the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has authorized a pilot project to allow golf carts to operate on certain approved local roads in the Town of Qualicum Beach and the Village of Chase. Expected to last up to two years, the project will assess the use of golf carts as an alternative transportation method on low volume, low speed roads. The initiative is aimed at people who are interested in using vehicles other than automobiles to make local, short trips.

Everyone would like to feel safe in their neighbourhood and that extends to having everyone else obey the driving rules when they are in it. So, what do you do when this is not the case? The answer depends on how much you want to become involved in solving your road safety problem.

It appears that sometimes you don't get what you pay for. A class action lawsuit in the US against Osram Sylvania over the advertised claims for their Silver Star headlight bulbs was successful. The suit alleged that Sylvania represented that the headlights are brighter, provide a wider beam and allow drivers to see farther down the road than standard halogen headlights.

I never know what I will find when I check the DriveSmartBC e-mail in-box. Today’s gem came from someone who identifies themself as Grumpy and suggested that they were thinking that maybe I could use the web site to contain a database such that when a bad driver is witnessed, the public could enter the details of the driving offence. No personal information need be provided.

I would like to tackle a subject that might be a bit odd for DriveSmartBC but the consequences could be related back to safety. I’m thinking about travel speed and fuel economy because the faster you go, the more it costs, probably in more ways than one. Slow down and save.

I sat in court to see what it is like in traffic court as I have never been to one before. I noticed that on many occasions, the officer would take the defendants outside of the courtroom to speak to them about their plea to the court. 

Question: I was hoping if someone could point me in the direction of any laws on cars using private driveways to turn around. I have many cars using my driveway to do two-point turns to change directions and it's driving me a bit crazy. One car nearly hit my daughter who was in the driveway having just got out of my car.

I find the interaction that I have with others on the subject of driving and traffic laws very interesting. Some people illustrate their points with incorrect information, some find that even after years of driving they don't have basic knowledge and I am always learning something new for myself.