It’s been a busy week in B.C. for road safety related announcements by our provincial government. ICBC announced a distracted driving technology pilot project, dangerous drivers may expect to be subject to longer periods of driving prohibition, the CounterAttack program turns 40 years old and the investigation of cognitively impaired drivers will no longer include DriveABLE testing.
In my time as a driver I've seen headlight technology progress from tungsten filament glass sealed beams to quartz halogen, high intensity discharge and now LED and even laser. There is more light on the road today from the driver's point of view than there has ever been. While that can be a good thing if all that light is coming from your vehicle, it might not be so great if you are the one facing it.
Jewel Taylor was issued a 3 count violation ticket in North Vancouver and in February of 2016 paid the fines shown on the ticket. She subsequently received a bill from ICBC for the point penalties involved totalling $640. Shortly after that she applied for an extension of time to appeal her conviction. She was 18 months late in doing so according to the Criminal Rules of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
I am trying to get confirmation on the law regarding chain requirements for a BC commercial 55 passenger bus for winter driving.
The wording of the law is ambiguous. It states that school buses must carry chains and Commercial transport trucks must carry chains when driving on the highway, but that passenger vehicles are not required to carry chains.
Commercial drivers operating within a 160 km radius of their home base are not required to record their hours of service in a log book. However, they are still required to abide by the hours of service rules which, even with a log book, is not a simple task.
I was a bit taken aback after reading a discussion on Twitter the other day. The conversation was between a driver and a pedestrian who seemed to hold opposite points of view. The pedestrian felt that they should not have to wear reflective clothing and carry a flashlight to be seen at night.
At 437 pages, this is not a short reference document. Produced by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration, the publication is meant to be a basic reference for State Highway Safety Offices to help them select effective, evidence-based countermeasures for traffic safety problem areas:
All freeways in BC appear to have cross over sections that connect the separated highways. These sections all have do not enter signs on each side. What type of vehicle or driver is permitted to enter these sections of the highway?
NHTSA's Getting There Safely Team focuses on pedestrian safety in this 21 minute video designed to teach elementary school children to walk safely in environments that contain traffic or other safety hazards. Designed for pupils in grades 3 to 6, it teaches critical thinking skills for walking around traffic.
I saw many things over the two decades that I spent in full time traffic law enforcement. Some of those things left me shaking my head wondering why the driver ever chose to leave the driveway! If you don't value the life of other road users, surely you value your own.