Miscellaneous

I never know what I will find when I check the DriveSmartBC e-mail in-box. Today’s gem came from someone who identifies themself as Grumpy and suggested that they were thinking that maybe I could use the web site to contain a database such that when a bad driver is witnessed, the public could enter the details of the driving offence. No personal information need be provided.

I would like to tackle a subject that might be a bit odd for DriveSmartBC but the consequences could be related back to safety. I’m thinking about travel speed and fuel economy because the faster you go, the more it costs, probably in more ways than one. Slow down and save.

Question: Last week I received my first ticket in 41 years of driving. I had recently started driving taxi part time in Nanaimo. At the end of a 9 hour shift I dropped the taxi off and got into my own car. Five minutes later I went through a school zone without slowing down, having missed the school zone sign.

I sat in court to see what it is like in traffic court as I have never been to one before. I noticed that on many occasions, the officer would take the defendants outside of the courtroom to speak to them about their plea to the court. 

Question: I was hoping if someone could point me in the direction of any laws on cars using private driveways to turn around. I have many cars using my driveway to do two-point turns to change directions and it's driving me a bit crazy. One car nearly hit my daughter who was in the driveway having just got out of my car.

I find the interaction that I have with others on the subject of driving and traffic laws very interesting. Some people illustrate their points with incorrect information, some find that even after years of driving they don't have basic knowledge and I am always learning something new for myself.

It's easy to be lazy and just clean the windows of your vehicle in snowy weather. Leaving a little light snow to blow off isn't a big deal. However, when the snow is left there and turns into ice, the result of having a chunk of it blow off at speed can be serious. In this video a large chunk shatters the windshield of the vehicle following behind. Imagine what it might have done to an unlucky pedestrian.

I know a guy who has lived in BC for well over 25 years and still holds a Alberta drivers licence and registration. At one time he used my husbands and my address. Now we are in BC and switched over as soon as we got here.

A visitor to the site has asked the following: "I have seen a few trucks driving around residential areas that are really polluting. I wanted to report them somewhere with the hope of them getting a notice or something to hopefully look after this issue. I cannot find a phone number or an email where this can be done. Do you know how can I report this truck?" It's a great question as vehicles like this affect the air that you and I breathe. We should have some method to deal with problem vehicles that we encounter in our day to day life.

From the video's description on the TED web site:

Statistically, the least reliable part of the car is ... the driver. Chris Urmson heads up Google's driverless car program, one of several efforts to remove humans from the driver's seat. He talks about where his program is right now, and shares fascinating footage that shows how the car sees the road and makes autonomous decisions about what to do next.