DriveSmartBC

A reader was travelling in a major municipality recently and was stopped in a large collection of vehicles waiting for a red light at the intersection of two multiple lane highways. Emergency vehicles using lights and sirens approached from the rear and tried to get through the traffic and the intersection. There was significant difficulty and the reader was curious how far forward vehicles could move into the cross flow of traffic to assist in clearing a path.

One of our local newspapers has a Beefs and Bouquets section that I often find entertaining. Many of the beefs concern drivers who don’t follow the rules but occasionally I scratch my head and wonder if the “beefer” could pass a driving knowledge test.

How do I deal with the legal system after my son was killed by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel? This was the plea in my in-box from a mother who was trying to understand in the recent aftermath of a catastrophe. The two haunting concerns that she has right now is that this driver is still legally allowed to drive and the most significant consequence that he might face for causing death is a traffic ticket.

Who would have thought that among the most cost effective ways to improve road safety was to invest in public transit? Public transit can be 10 times safer to use than driving your own vehicle, so a modest increase in transit ridership can have disproportionally larger road safety benefits. A report by the American Public Transportation Association titled Public Transit's Safety Benefits explains.

Suggestion about entering a busy roadway from an apartment parking lot. So easy to safely turn right, with traffic, instead of across traffic.

Can you advise the regulation(s) with respect to tire size on a passenger vehicle?

I am considering using existing winter tires on a newly acquired vehicle but the existing tires are slightly larger than the new vehicle tire size. The change would result in the larger tires being approx. 3.5% larger circumference than the new vehicle tires.

What is the law in this regard?

I received a very detailed e-mail this week from a lady who described walking beside Willingdon Road southbound, facing in North Saanich during the early morning darkness. She paused, looked both ways for traffic and continued to the point where Willingdon begins and Canora Road diverges to the northeast.

She stopped and checked for traffic again from the small island that is present between lanes. Finding none, she began to cross the single lane. At this point, a vehicle approached from the south began to accelerate and the driver switched from low to high beam headlights.

I’m not sure if your able to help or direct me, but I will try and see what you think. My 27 year old son was recently killed in a tragic motor vehicle accident. Another 25 year old young man was also killed in a different vehicle in the same accident and in fact another person in another vehicle was injured as well. I think broken bones.

This is the story of a left turning driver collision at the intersection of Columbia Street and Marine Drive in Vancouver, B.C. Qiang Li was traveling eastbound on Marine Drive attempting to turn left onto Columbia Street. He collided with a car driven by Jasvir Purewal traveling westbound on Marine Drive in the curb lane. Mr Li's vision was limited by other vehicles waiting in the intersection and he relied on a hand gesture given by Vita Sinclair who indicated to him that the curb lane used by Mr. Purewal was clear.

Had a nice policeman come talk to me today and give me a violation ticket for driving without consideration 144 (1)(b). The offence allegedly happened over 2 months ago in another town 4 hours north of me.