Police

Problems with vehicles can range from overdue maintenance to modifications that may be described as fashion over function. Responsibility for their correction rests principally with the owner and driver. When that fails, it now falls to the police and designated inspection facilities to either nudge or force correction. Depending on the severity of the defects, remedies can range from a simple reminder to a tow truck and seizure of the vehicle license and number plates.

I can remember the anticipation when our highway patrol unit was issued it's first laser speed measuring device, an LTI 20/20 Marksman. Imagine! Here was a device that we could point at a single vehicle in the traffic stream and accurately measure only it's speed. It was fast enough to re-target and measure the vehicles around it too. No one would want to use hand held radar once we were trained on this.

Is it legal for the traffic police to hide when conducting enforcement? For example, hiding some where or at night and drivers cannot see them.

This was a question that I asked myself more frequently as my time in traffic enforcement with the RCMP grew longer.  Everyone wants to do their job well, and mine was to encourage the motoring public to conform to the law in the hope that doing so would minimize the number of collisions in my patrol area.

Is our current traffic law enforcement system working? The reason I ask this question is because of driving behaviour that I watched as I was driving North bound on Hwy 97 approaching Summerland. As usual I was passed by a speeding vehicle (I confess, I'm a "speeder" but I confine my illegal activity to 10 kph over).

I received a excessive speed ticket while on my motorcycle. I stated to the police officer that I was attempting to elude a tailgater, which he had not seen of course. The tailgater positioned himself behind my bike 3 times in 3 kilometres before I sped off to go to a public venue with cameras should the tailgater cause me trouble.

It was necessary for me to move my 50cc scooter 3 miles from one storage location to another. It was daylight, the weather was good and there was no other traffic on the road at the time. I made an error of judgment and decided to make this move on my scooter without current tags since I would not be using it for several months. It did not occur to me to think about a day pass.

I recently passed the scene of what appears to be a serious motorcycle/car accident on the Connector between Cumberland and Courtenay. There were 3 police cars there and very professional traffic control devices and flag people. The investigation appears to be underway.

One way of preparing for a traffic ticket dispute is to request disclosure from the officer who issued it. It was relatively rare to receive such a request but when one did appear the disputant often asked for everything, including the tread depth of the right rear tire on the police car. It was fairly clear that the request was based on advice found on the internet rather than obtained from a lawyer. Disclosing less than what was requested (but still reasonable in the circumstances) resulted in complaints to the justice at the hearing.

I have been a property owner in Mirror Lake BC for over 5 years & have yet to see any speeding related citations being created here. Hwy 31 at Mirror lake is posted 50 kmh but rarely see anyone obeying the speed limit.