Passing

Some incidents encountered during a career in policing stick with you for life and sometimes resurface later on as lessons learned. This memory involved a mother dropping her young son off for a birthday party by pulling over and stopping on the right side of the street. He exited the car and excited to join the festivities, ran to the back and darted across the street. He was struck and killed by a passing vehicle.

A signal light does not provide you with any protection when you make a left turn. This simple fact was discovered by a lady who slowed as she approached her driveway, signalled for a left turn, saw a truck approaching in her rearview mirror and started to make the turn. To her complete surprise, the truck passed by her on the left and they collided corner to corner.

David Cram was driving eastbound on Water Street in Kelowna, B.C. At the intersection with Clement Avenue, the vehicle in front of him stopped, signalling for a left turn. Mr. Cram slowed and after passing the sidewalk curb bulge passed by the stopped vehicle on the right hand side. The roadway at this point is marked for one lane of travel but is wide enough for two vehicles to use.

This case examines a collision between a cyclist, Kyle Ilett, and a driver, Leah Buckley, at the intersection of Admirals Road and Seenupin Road in Esquimalt, B.C. Mr. Ilett was riding northbound on the shoulder of Admirals Road nearing Seenupin Road. The shoulder was marked by a single solid white line on both sides of the road.

The matter at trial is the liability for a serious collision that took place on the Coquihalla Highway in an area known as Larson Hill on August 11, 2011. A pickup truck and camper driven by Mildred Eileen Boizard was travelling southbound in the rightmost of 3 southbound lanes at a speed of between 80 and 85 km/h in the posted 110 km/h speed zone. She overtook two tractor-trailer units, one in her lane and one in the center lane.

The topic of choice in the DriveSmartBC e-mail box this past week has been about drivers who pass you in the left lane of a multiple lane highway and then immediately change lanes back in front of you. This action leaves less (sometimes much less) than optimum following distance between you and the driver who passed you.

This case arises from a collision at the intersection of West 7th Avenue and Pine Street in Vancouver, B.C. A motorcycle driven by Rizwan Ali had stopped at the stop sign on 7th anticipating a left turn onto Pine. Shirley Fineblit was following behind Mr. Ali and decided to pass by him on the left because he had been driving his motorcycle slowly and she thought he was turning right. Mr. Ali turned left and collided with Ms. Fineblit as she passed by.

Richard Kaiser was ticketed for failing to slow while passing a police car while that car’s emergency lights were activated. He disputed that ticket on two grounds, the regulation offended the Charter by being too vague and that the officer was merely making notes concerning a previous violator at the time and so had entrapped Mr. Kaiser. Judge Takahashi convicted Mr. Kaiser.

Me and my fiancé are arguing about passing while driving. One of us says that no matter what, passing more than one vehicle at a time is illegal. The other says that, if it is safe to do so: no on coming traffic etc. one may pass more than one single vehicle. Please inform.