DriveSmartBC

Am I the only one who has been intrigued by the law firms who post advertisements seeking witnesses to an "accident"?

The US Transportation Research Board has published the Summary of the 10th University Transportation Centers Spotlight Conference focusing on Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety held on December 1, 2016. This may be of interest to those of us in Canada as our regulatory agencies tend to follow the US lead.

The City of Kitchener, Ontario has worked with it's residents to create a Neighbourhood Strategy and Implementation Plan. The Neighbourhood Strategy recommendations; called Love My Hood; encourages residents to take a lead role in making their neighbourhood great, with a commitment that City of Kitchener staff will help them every step along the way.

While out for a walk the other afternoon I approached a driver who had stopped in his lane, in a corner, to talk to a couple of pedestrians on the other side of the road. Normally, this is a relatively quiet street but the driver is still making a poor choice. His action was unsafe due to poor sight lines for approaching drivers.

I was looking for anything on the legality of driving a Jeep with the windshield folded down but it seems the subject has never been brought up. It's being discussed on Facebook on the 4WDR Association of BC's page.

Here's an interesting item from the United Kingdom: Drivers may be ordered by the courts to retake their driving theory test and take an extended practical driving test to return to full licence status. This is may be part of the penalty for a dangerous driving conviction or conviction for any offence that carries a mandatory driving prohibition.

Do you have $212,000.00 in spare disposable income? Ryan Hamman rear ended a vehicle that was stopped on Highway 1 near 176 Street in Surrey, B.C. That vehicle was driven forward into the vehicle in front of it and the driver of the first vehicle was injured. ICBC denied coverage because Mr. Hamman was impaired by alcohol at the time of the collision. Litigation ensued with the final outcome being damages against Mr. Hamman and in favour of ICBC amounting to $212,000.00.

If it has a motor, gasoline or electric, and you operate it on a highway, chances are you need a driver's licence and the vehicle will need licence and insurance. There are very few exceptions to this rule.

This report, dated May 2017, produced for the New Zealand Transport Agency. It aimed to understand time saving as a motivation for New Zealand drivers’ speeding in the context of other motivations for speeding, and to investigate the effect of education that aimed to improve participants’ understanding of the costs and benefits of speeding.

B.C.'s Graduated Licensing Program (GLP) was implemented to develop driving skills in a safe, step by step manner. Today, they are a widely accepted, effective safety measure. The system of restrictions that have been evaluated have been found to be very effective in reducing crashes and injuries, and public acceptance is high.