VIEWPOINT - Moving Toward a Culture of Safety
- Read more about VIEWPOINT - Moving Toward a Culture of Safety
- Log in to post comments
I couldn't have said it better myself! This short article by Dr. Robert Quinn Bracket explains that the conventional wisdom of emergency medical measures, engineering and enforcement can only go so far in the reduction of crash related trauma. Until we all embrace a culture of traffic safety rather than one of acceptable risk, there will no longer be significant gains in harm reduction.
Have you ever wanted to drive your special purpose utility vehicle on the highway? You won't be taking your golf cart downtown for groceries but you are able to use specific utility vehicles which sometimes require road use. A restricted licence plate and insurance is required in order to do this.
Researchers at the Monash University Accident Research Center (MUARC) have looked at the relationship between the criminal activity of individuals and the potential for their involvement in fatal or serious injury collisions. Not surprisingly, they found that those who engage in anti-social behaviour are also likely to exhibit risky driving behaviour.
This is a tragic case where a rear end collision resulted in the death of a taxi driver and severe burns to his passenger when the taxi caught fire post collision. The events that led up to the taxi being rear ended are no doubt common in every day traffic here in British Columbia, but in this case did not end in a near miss. 
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.
It was not uncommon to be told that a new driver sign was not being displayed because adults took the sign as a signal to bully the new driver. I thought that was just a convenient excuse to give the policeman when you couldn't be bothered to make sure that the required sign was in place. After all, who wouldn't realize that a new driver deserved more room and a little leeway for mistakes because they were just beginning their driving career?
Question: My 18 year old daughter would like to go to Victoria. She has her Washington state driver's licence. Is she allowed to drive by herself in BC with an out of province driver's licence? Is she allowed to carry passengers?
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! 
How did you influence your children to be safe road users? This research report by the British Department for Transport looks at how parents and other adults influence youth between birth and 16 years of age. While these adults see themselves as being responsible, the most common pedestrian tactic is to hold the child's hand.
We could soon see white strobe lights mounted on the roof of school buses in B.C. Standards allow for a white strobe to be mounted on the center of the roof on the rear third of the vehicle. It is meant to provide increased visibility and may be operated in fog or when the bus is stationary.