This must have been Following Too Closely Week in British Columbia. I received the story of an incident in Sooke, an analysis of a video from Richmond and was subjected to this dangerous behaviour myself. You might be able to get away with ignoring the Motor Vehicle Act, but the laws of physics will eventually prevail.
The following article is a study of tailgating from a 26-second video of Highway 91 submitted by a North Cowichan resident who visits Richmond often to get treatment for the brain injury he suffered after being rear-ended.
If you go by the Two-Second Rule, 79% of drivers were tailgating. And 26% were recklessly tailgating with less than one second separation. In this video, one driver is only 1.5 car lengths behind.
ICBC premiums are rising! The corporation is losing billions, we have to get costs under control! Let's put out the ICBC dumpster fire by reducing what we pay out in claims, but assure crash victims that they will be properly taken care of.
Q: I was on a highway in bumper-to-bumper traffic approaching my exit for work and changed lanes to the right once I saw the end of HOV lane sign, and in doing so crossed a solid white line. An RCMP officer was on the side of the highway and waved me over. I explained that I would be exiting the highway and that's why I changed lanes. He gave me a ticket for violation of Section 151(b) - crossing a solid line.
I appealed the ticket and intend to plead not guilty on the basis of section 156, which suspends sections 151 and 155 under certain conditions.
Q: I live near a small traffic circle at Peatt and Brock Roads in Langford. What often happens is a large volume of traffic flows south down Peatt Road and proceeds straight through. There can be 10 or 15 cars in a row. Meanwhile, there will be a vehicle on Brock Road waiting for a break in traffic to proceed into the circle. I have been told that this situation needs to be treated as a "lazy 4 way stop."
The Malahat highway is the main north / south artery for southern Vancouver Island. Due, among other reasons, to it's relatively serious collision history that shuts down this highway for hours at a time, the provincial government is looking at ways to improve travel on the highway.
Q: I am confused by this sign on Pandora Avenue in Victoria that seems to indicate no pedestrian crossing to vehicle traffic yet there is nothing to tell the pedestrian not to cross the street here. There is even a wheelchair ramp encouraging pedestrians to cross. I suspect that there are more examples of this in the area. Can you explain what that sign means?
Left lane hogs were back in the news again this week. The CTV Vancouver news story that I watched complained that drivers were not being held to account by police for failing to move out of the left lane and letting other drivers pass. The report claims that based on ticket numbers reported by ICBC the number of drivers ticketed for failing to keep right fell from 799 in 2016 to 699 in 2018.
Q: I have a truck that the previous owner installed 4 point harness seat belts in. The previous owner drove the truck on the road regularly. I just want to see if the 4 point harness is legal to use or if I should swap them out for the stock seatbelts.
Oceanside Community Safety is a group of volunteers that want to make a difference. Their Traffic Watch program is an expansion of Speedwatch that now includes Cell Watch and Intersection Watch. Intersection Watch volunteers observe drivers at an intersection to check compliance with traffic laws and remind drivers of their obligations. The data collected is shared with the RCMP, ICBC and the public.