The publisher's commentary in the January 2013 edition of Blue Line Magazine takes a position that I strongly agree with. The police are responsible for traffic safety. If there are no consequences for bad driving behaviour, then there is no need to behave properly.
A car enters a 6-lane deep intersection on a green light with intentions to go straight through but the car in front of him stops mid-intersection and turns on it's left turn signal, causing the car behind to stop and wait. The light turns yellow and then red before the vehicle turning left is able to proceed. The car behind now must exit the intersection but the perpendicular lanes of traffic now have a green light.
Does a person being investigated for committing an offence under the Motor Vehicle Act have to provide their full name and address to the officer who demands it? It is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada to obstruct an officer in the execution of their duty. A jaywalker in North Vancouver learned this the hard way.
Have you ever wondered why road maintenance contractors spread a mixture of gravel and crushed stone on B.C.'s highways in winter rather than using just sand? At first glance, it would appear that sand would be the better choice as it does not damage windshields the way gravel and crushed stones will. However, it's not that simple, and this TranBC web page explains why.
Every year on the first of January I restart the collision counter on the DriveSmartBC web site. In order to try and keep it accurate I check ICBC's latest collision statistics, calculate the daily average and tweak the code that produces the display. This year, I can't get data on the number of people injured by impaired drivers. I'm sure that you will agree that it is an important statistic to know.
This is the story of Lenord Russell, who exited a bakery in a mall and walked forward into a parking stall at the same time that Kenneth Parks drove into it to park his vehicle. A collision occurred in which Mr. Russell suffered injury to his knee and foot. The case before the court was to decide who was liable for the collision and discusses first that the mall parking lot is a highway and then goes on to examine the duties that Mr. Russell and Mr. Parks had to each other as pedestrian and driver.
I was involved in a traffic accident 2 nights ago in Vancouver. I hit another vehicle at an intersection and called the police. I could not remember the details of the accident but I told the police that I was not sure what colour the light was and admitted responsibility that I hit the other car. The police took down all the information, asked me to report to ICBC but did not give me a ticket and did not say th
A new commercial vehicle driver is pulling a B-train with the rear trailer loaded and the first trailer empty ... at least that's the way I understand it.
He is driving from Alberta to BC and claims to be getting stuck in the winter conditions. I believe this load should be illegal but can't find any regs covering it.
This video from the Motor Accident Commission of South Australia explains clearly how the risk of a crash increases significantly with only a slight increase in speed. For me, the most interesting point is the idea that we tend to discount the risk because we disregard the speed limit frequently and nothing happens to us.
We've had some interesting weather in southwestern British Columbia over the last few days! It's included some less than ideal driving conditions due to ice, snow and rain, often in combination. A common bit of advice heard in the media is "if you don't have to travel, stay home!