RESEARCH - More Than Paint Needed to Keep Cyclists Safe

painted cycle laneResearch by Dr. Ben Beck at Australia's Monash University collected data on 60 cyclists in Melbourne who rode their bicycles with a custom device (the 'MetreBox') installed to quantify the distance that motor vehicle drivers provide when passing them. More than 18,000 vehicle passing events from 422 trips were recorded.

Pedestrians & Drivers Turning Left

Alexander Zacher was walking to work early on the morning of October 31, 2014 in Tsawwassen. He followed the walk signal on 12th Avenue at the intersection of 52nd Street using the marked crosswalk. When he was about two-thirds of the way across he was struck by a left turning vehicle driven by Glenn Prescesky and suffered serious injuries.

Q&A - Right of Way at Hudson & 70th

Q&A ImageQ: I have a question about right-of-way at Hudson street and 70th avenue in Vancouver. If traveling northbound on Hudson and you have the green light wanting to turn West onto 70th avenue and someone traveling southbound on Hudson street turns West onto 70th avenue, who has the right-of-way? Traveling southbound on Hudson, there is a stop sign for entering 70th avenue and Hudson street is offset. I hope my question is clear enough.

Tailgating in Richmond

Car In Rear View MirrorThe following article is a study of tailgating from a 26-second video of Highway 91 submitted by a North Cowichan resident who visits Richmond often to get treatment for the brain injury he suffered after being rear-ended.

If you go by the Two-Second Rule, 79% of drivers were tailgating. And 26% were recklessly tailgating with less than one second separation. In this video, one driver is only 1.5 car lengths behind.

Q&A - Crossing a Solid Line

Q&A ImageQ: I was on a highway in bumper-to-bumper traffic approaching my exit for work and changed lanes to the right once I saw the end of HOV lane sign, and in doing so crossed a solid white line. An RCMP officer was on the side of the highway and waved me over. I explained that I would be exiting the highway and that's why I changed lanes. He gave me a ticket for violation of Section 151(b) - crossing a solid line.

I appealed the ticket and intend to plead not guilty on the basis of section 156, which suspends sections 151 and 155 under certain conditions.

Q&A - Difficulty Entering a Traffic Circle

Q&A ImageQ: I live near a small traffic circle at Peatt and Brock Roads in Langford. What often happens is a large volume of traffic flows south down Peatt Road and proceeds straight through. There can be 10 or 15 cars in a row. Meanwhile, there will be a vehicle on Brock Road waiting for a break in traffic to proceed into the circle. I have been told that this situation needs to be treated as a "lazy 4 way stop."

Q&A - No Pedestrian Crossing

Q&A ImageQ: I am confused by this sign on Pandora Avenue in Victoria that seems to indicate no pedestrian crossing to vehicle traffic yet there is nothing to tell the pedestrian not to cross the street here. There is even a wheelchair ramp encouraging pedestrians to cross. I suspect that there are more examples of this in the area. Can you explain what that sign means?