Equipment

Many people think of traffic policing consists mostly of handing out speeding tickets. This is not the case as there are many other job functions that officers are responsible for. One that I often found to be an interesting challenge was conducting roadside mechanical inspections.

Q: How is it that car manufacturers are allowed to use reverse lights for functions other than reversing?

I find it very confusing in a parking lot when I am slowing down for a vehicle that has reverse lights on, only to find people walking towards it or away from it and the vehicle is simply using the reverse lights as a "parking light" or some such thing.

Jennifer Healey is a research scientist who works for the semiconductor giant Intel developing the mobile devices of the future. One of those devices might be your car, and it will talk to other vehicles around it. If we can solve the privacy concerns, vehicles may be able to insure that their drivers avoid collisions.

I am looking for clarification on Section 4.21 Reflective Devices of the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations, to make sure that my plans to put additional reflective tape on my personal-use vehicle will comply with regulations.

Commercial vehicle maintenance is carefully regulated in our province. Power units are subject to inspections at a designated inspection facility every 6 months and trailers once every year. Drivers must do a pre- and post-trip safety inspection each time they drive. Defects must be noted in a written log and repairs carried out promptly, sometimes before leaving the driveway.

One of the loneliest books in the world might just be your vehicle's owner's manual. Consigned to the glove box, many never see the light of day until they find a new home in the recycle bin. That's a shame because the manufacturer of your vehicle has put a lot of thought and important safety information on those pages.

I met a new Canadian yesterday, in his large car, and the visor was SO low that there is only (what looked to be, I didn't go over and measure) like 2 feet from the hood to the bottom of the visor. I understand the benefits of a drop visor, but this is taking an aftermarket improvement, to the absolute extreme.

I remember when I was a teenager working in my father's service station. On the day of the first snowfall our customers would be lined up in the driveway to have their winter tires installed when we arrived to start the day. We did nothing but install winter tire after winter tire and our air compressor didn't get any rest until after we had shut the bay doors and left for home.

I was thinking of getting a stubby bumper for my Jeep and the MVA says:

"...and where a replacement bumper has been installed, it shall give substantially the same protection as the original bumper."

Q: I have a question about legality around modifying the exterior of my car. I have seen many modified (often lowered suspension as well) cars with front lip spoilers/splitters and I was wondering around the legality of them for a street car.