Safety Equipment

Buying a set of tire chains and stowing them in the trunk without ever trying to install them might not be a good idea. The first time you will be called to use them will mean installing them in the worst of conditions and taking too long to do the task could even mean being hit by a passing vehicle. A little practice now, as shown in this video, might make life easier somewhere down the road....

The province of British Columbia has not yet mandated that only true winter tread tires be used during the winter months on our highways. If you pass a sign requiring the use of winter tires between October 1 and April 30 each year, your vehicle must be properly equipped.

This video contains scenes of a graphic nature. A disturbing new ad campaign has started to encourage people to wear their seat belts. The Government commercial shows graphic images of the fatal damage car crashes can cause to internal organs in a bid to persuade people to belt up.

As of September 15, 2019 taxi drivers in British Columbia are no longer exempt from wearing their seatbelts if they are travelling at less than 70 km/h. I have never understood why this exemption was necessary, particularly in light of the fact that doing so actually endangers their passengers.

Wendy Dubbin was charged for failing to wear her seatbelt while using Highway 5 near Kamloops. She challenged the ticket under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms saying that seatbelts are dangerous because she might be injured or killed in an incident that she might survive if she was not wearing one.

This traffic safety advertisement from Finland is full of subtle humour and drives home the message "Even Dummies Wear Seatbelts." I especially liked the airbag inside the nut that the squirrel smashes open. Well worth the few seconds that it takes to view!

The Seat Belt and Child Restraint Guide for Policymakers manual was produced as a practical manual for policymakers by the FIA Foundation, the Global Road Safety Partnership, the World Bank and the World Health Organization providing advice to public authorities on introducing laws and improving seat belt compliance. It also contains information of interest on how these devices work in addition to why we should be using them.

Transport Canada publishes two types of notices with regard to child restraints on their web site. A Public Notice is issued when products do not comply with safety standards or are defective and a Consumer Information Notice is issued when there is a general problem with a restraint that does not relate to compliance or defect.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is a technology that should be standard on all vehicles. The system compares the driver's intended direction of travel with the actual travel of the vehicle many times per second. If they do not match, selective braking is applied to force the vehicle back to the intended path, averting a collision.

No one does traffic safety videos quite like the Australians. In this 30 second television ad you learn the value of wearing a seatbelt. Like it says at the end, no belt, no brain!