Viewpoint

This article was submitted by a B.C. resident who would like to share his ideas for creating safer streets at low cost to taxpayers. He is a cyclist of 50+ years, and a driver for the past 38 years.

Tonight's six o'clock news contained a story about how police had issued over 5,500 tickets for using electronic devices while driving offences across the province in February 2013. More than 100 more were ticketed for driving without due care and attention. It means to me that lots of drivers aren't obeying the law and more than 100 were caught doing something dangerous because of it.

It has always struck me that warning of a speed trap is a violation no different to being an accessory to a crime by warning the bank robber that the police are coming. Certainly very difficult to enforce.

And to take it a step further, what about radio stations that warn drivers over the air of speed enforcement areas. Could they increase the scope of what they perceive as public service to include DUI stop checks?

Taking away someone's privilege to drive is viewed as a drastic step in correcting driving behaviour. Currently, a fully licensed driver has to accumulate a significant number of points in a year before the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles takes steps to apply this penalty. In my experience, the traffic courts are also reluctant to take this step, saying "I'll leave that up to the Superintendent." when the officer prosecuting requests a prohibition as part of the penalty.

I am 79 years old and I consider myself a very safe driver. I have driven hundreds of thousand of miles, from city bus in Edmonton, to semi trailer from Edmonton to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Fort Mac. and Yellow Knife, and thousands of miles by private auto. I have never been the cause of an accident, and I have only gotten one (1) speeding ticket. That was not entirely my fault.

The following story arrived in the DriveSmartBC inbox requesting advice on a defensive driving technique that would avoid a crash when starting on a trip. Doing a circle check before getting into the vehicle is probably the best prevention tactic.

I'm not sure if you have covered this in previous columns but two of my biggest peeves is people that can't maintain proper lane positioning and people that shave corners. This is extremely dangerous if the offending driver is coming into your lane and a friggin' nuisance when following behind someone that 'gets into the gravel" and spits it up. What happened to the drivers courtesy today?

I was just reading the account of the head on that happened on Shannon Lake Road. I certainly have sympathy for the people involved, but I noticed that one person received a charge of "Speeding Relative to Conditions."

I am over 82 and have failed my first road test . However I hope with refresher lessons at driving school to do better next time.

Just perused an interesting map, it shows the location of crashes in our area. We have a difference of opinion as to the RCMP and their use of speed traps and were both entitled to this and I always respect others opinions.