In cities, transportation agencies have long understood that motor vehicle speed plays a key role in fatal and serious crashes, and have sought to reduce speeds through design and regulation in order to save lives.
Who is responsible when an autonomous vehicle is doing the driving and the police intend to take enforcement action for an error it commits? This question is explored in a report from the Rand Corporation. While the report looks at the perspective in the US, the same questions will have to be answered here in Canada.
Our society's tolerance for drinking and driving continues to narrow. When I started policing in the 1980s it was a major investigation to convict someone for impaired driving. An investigator had to develop skills and experience in the detection of alcohol impaired drivers to form grounds to make a breath demand and convince the court that it was an appropriate decision.
Many people complain about the speed of traffic in their neighbourhoods. Is it an accurate complaint? How do you justify your complaint to the authorities? Well, there's an app for that too.
I remember hearing about a person who was tired of this so he measured the distance between two utility poles beside the highway that he could see from his kitchen window. He would site and time vehicles between the poles with a stopwatch.
ICBC makes data on crashes, traffic tickets, auto crime, driver and vehicle licensing and insurance policies available to everyone via Tableau Public. The data sets are current and you can manipulate them yourself and then download the result.
Question: Is there a law in BC about leaving the propane appliances in my RV running while I am driving? I already know that I have to turn the propane off when I get on BC Ferries but I want to be sure that I can use it otherwise.
A DriveSmartBC web site visitor asks "Currently the City of Victoria is bringing in new Advisory bike lanes. I can find nothing in the drivers license training or bc motor vehicle act that gives a legal driving approach to these type of lanes or trains new and old drivers to manage these lanes? Please advise where this is covered in driver training."
Love 'em or hate 'em, intersection safety cameras that measure vehicle speed along with red light violations are part of the solution to reduce crashes on BC highways. Dr. Werner Antweiler of UBC's Sauder School of Business has written an analysis of "speed on green" cameras. He quotes Professor Richard Allsop's report from research conducted in Great Britain:
While this video is a genuine antique, it is still valid today. In fact, the company itself is still "the world's leading crash-avoidance training company according to their web site. The company focus today is on commercial vehicles but the system applies equally to and driver.
One sure sign of growing up when we were young was the ability to use our crayons and colour between the lines. An important skill for a "grown up" driver is also the ability to stay between the lines. Judging by the e-mails that I continually receive from readers who state that this is their main pet peeve, there is a sizable number of drivers out there who need to do a bit more skill improvement.