DriveSmartBC

The Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure has announced changes to the Motor Vehicle Act to make it easier for police to prosecute slow drivers using the fast lane on B.C.'s highways. The promised changes will occur later this spring according to Todd Stone, but there does not appear to be any indication of this in current first reading bills. Perhaps the first question that needs to be asked is whether or not this is really a significant cause of collisions and deserving of increased enforcement.

This web site, part of the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health, describes itself as "a research program investigating factors that encourage or discourage bicycling, transportation infrastructure associated with increased or decreased risks of cycling injuries, and air pollution and cycling."

Detecting and successfully prosecuting drug impaired drivers on B.C.'s highways is not a simple task. Currently the Criminal Code provisions for Drug Recognition Expert examination is the only method used to qualify drug induced impairment where the driver is not obviously incapable of physical control. One day in the not too distant future, the Cannabix marihuana breathalyzer may allow police to deal with the problem though a roadside breath test just as they would an alcohol impaired driver.

From YouTube: "Xavier, Chandler, Debbie, and Reggie all know the horrors of texting & driving firsthand. Acclaimed director Werner Herzog tells their stories in this powerful It Can Wait Documentary."

I have a trailer that is rated at 10,000 lbs. It is a pintle hook setup and we have two safety chains. What size is required? We would never be carrying anything over 4000 lbs on the trailer.

The BC Coroners Service released recommendations today with the hope of mitigating something that we are already aware of, the fact that motor vehicle collisions are the number one cause of death for youth aged 15 to 18. The first two suggest that we study aspects of the issue in more detail and the third that the Ministry of Justice should develop and implement automated speed enforcement.

While this tire may have adequate traction on dry pavement, add a little bit of water and you have a recipe for disaster. This is a photo contributed by a police officer who found this vehicle during his patrols. It can only be described as neglect and it is likely that the driver failed to consider his own safety much less that of others on the roadway with him.

Is a Police officer also an inspector under the motor vehicle regulations? For noisy exhausts it is the opinion of the inspector that seems to critical in determining whether the vehicle exhaust is too noisy.

So it would be great if a police officer could issue a ticket or a notice to correct just based on their opinion, which should be just more useful than trying to do decibel testing.

Be careful what you ask for! I needed a topic to write about here so I sent a message to DriveSmartBC followers on Twitter and asked for suggestions. The one that intrigued me the most came from fellow road safety blogger Scott Marshall, the Director of Training for Young Drivers of Canada. He asked if, when I learned to drive, was I really ready?

In a public opinion survey of Canadian knowledge of and attitudes towards vehicle safety features, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) found that a concerning 67.3% Canadians agree or strongly agree that vehicle safety improvements make being involved in a collision less likely, meaning that they can drive faster. In addition, 17.2% agreed or strongly agreed that they would drive the speed limit or faster if their vehicle had safety features, even though it was raining and they felt it might be risky to drive the speed limit.