Today's hopeful new drivers must take a computer based knowledge test and pass with a score of at least 80% correct in order to obtain a learner's licence. Contrast that with the 20 question A or B test that I took when I was 16 or my mother who simply paid for her licence and then learned to drive!
"I almost lost my life at West Fourth and Blenheim in Vancouver this morning" reported a DriveSmartBC Twitter follower. "I was turning left. The traffic lights were red for the traffic on Fourth. I stopped for the stop sign on Blenheim, then moved into the intersection to make my turn. The vehicle approaching me from the opposite direction was speeding and didn't even slow down for the stop sign. She went straight through!"
Not all collision litigation resulting from crashes on our highways involve motor vehicles. In this case, the collision occurred between Rosario Perilli, a jogger, and Wendy Marlow, a 10 year old youth riding a bicycle. Mr. Perilli fell to the ground in his attempt to avoid the collision and suffered injuries, including one to his shoulder that required surgery to repair.
My question regards the right of way of pedestrians who are in the roadway illegally, i.e. they have disobeyed a control signal or have failed to yield to traffic as per section 180. The thought came to me after watching this clip from the United Kingdom, intended to illustrate proper horn use:
From the document description:
This report provides a compendium of knowledge on Safe System treatments and identifies real world experience in the practical application of solutions that can mitigate crash severity.
I wanted to turn left from one angled road onto another angled road.
Two vehicles were stopped at the stop sign.
The first vehicle was turning right and as he did, I prepared to turn left...suddenly I have a cyclist turning left from the same spot as the car; the cyclist was not obvious tucked beside the car. I could have hit the cyclist.
Would you voluntarily submit to electronic monitoring of your vehicle in order to save money on insurance? I've been thinking about this lately in the context of my experience with an electronic driver monitoring app, our current concerns with ICBC rates and the seeming lack of consequences for drivers who don't follow the rules. With the right privacy safeguards this could safely and efficiently solve a number of problems.
This is a case that dates back to November 1, 1962 in the British Columbia Supreme Court. It is the origin of what is known among police officers as the Schryvers Test and is used to assist in properly identifying the driver in traffic court as the accused.
This is a case where a runaway snowmobile collided with Angelo Passerin who had stopped to help another rider whose snowmobile was stuck in deep snow. In a way, this is an example of the perfect storm as the riderless snowmobile went over a 33 meter cliff, climbed out of a ravine and ran for more than a kilometer before striking Passerin.
Last week we looked at how we might define a bad driver. Views were varied, but there were two well thought out responses that did more than just express an opinion. This week, let's look at how bad drivers pay for the risk that they present to others using our highways.