Viewpoint

I hear many drivers these days talking amongst themselves how they stay in the fastest lane when the traffic is backed up. To avoid the line they then attempt to merge by getting as close to the lane as possible and to the vehicle in order to intimidate the driver to let them in.

I was walking to my vehicle after work yesterday and watched the woman on the sidewalk ahead of me approach the intersection. She did not hesitate to step into the crosswalk even though a vehicle on her left had stopped halfway across it waiting to enter traffic. The driver was watching intently to her left waiting for a gap in traffic. The pedestrian checked her stride and I thought that she was going to wait for the driver to notice her before she crossed in front of the vehicle.

Well, most crashes are preventable, even mechanical failure to some degree.

This rainy morning, as I was descending down a 10% grade coming up on an intersection, I observed two cars: grey Pontiac G5 being followed at about 3 feet distance by a large black Dodge Ram 1500.

Both vehicles were in the middle lane of a 3 lane street, where traffic 'typically' travels around 60km/h.

Today's Vancouver Sun newspaper excitedly proclaimed on the front page that 'Failing eyesight (is) a driving issue for aging motorists', citing information from the CAA's website.

Traffic Calming in my opinion is a good idea on paper but mostly ineffective in reality. Many municipalities are starting Traffic Calming measures however few are successful in achieving what is effective.

Have car headlights, beams, power, brightness gotten out of control in terms of what is allowed legally on the road, if there ever were any rules?

Are truck drivers and other cars, like SUV’s that sit high off the road aware of the power of their headlight on smaller cars due to the height of the car beams?

I've recently attended traffic court for a speeding in a municipality charge. When I arrived the officer greeted me in the hallway outside the courtroom and invited me into a small meeting room. He then asked me what my intentions were, and after a quick run down of the possible options, I replied that I was here to plead not guilty.

My Definition of Lane filtering:  When a motorcycle moves through traffic in between stationary vehicles.

Being a Driver in England I am very familiar with filtering through stopped traffic, as as Car driver I would allow space for motorcycles to pass. As a Motorcycle Driver I would drive very slowly between the vehicles (under 10kph) 

New Bill 52, to amend traffic court, is this proposed change scaring the crap out of anyone else? It looks the BC Government is further eroding any illusion that drivers of this province have any rights at all.

This article was submitted by a B.C. resident who would like to share his ideas for creating safer streets at low cost to taxpayers. He is a cyclist of 50+ years, and a driver for the past 38 years.