DriveSmartBC

Commercial Vehicle Safety & Enforcement is aware of provincial vehicle inspections being conducted on manufactured Restricted Use Motorcycles (RUM). These vehicles are identified as vehicle type ‘RUM’ on the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS) compliance label. These vehicles are manufactured and intended STRICTLY FOR OFF HIGHWAY USE and do not meet applicable standards for operation as highway vehicles.

Section control is a method of speed enforcement involving a series of cameras installed over a stretch of road. An image and data are recorded for each vehicle as they enter and leave two points in the system (a section of road).

We are small, but we are not bugs! is a video produced by the Norwegian Motorcycle Union. It highlights the fact that 8 out of 10 collisions occur when the driver of the other vehicle involved failed to see the motorcycle.

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation has released a report titled "An evaluation of graduated driver licensing programs in North America." The report concludes that graduated licensing reduces a 16 year old's chance of a fatal collision by 19%, chiefly by reducing the number of people in the vehicle driven by the teen. Negligible effects were seen for drivers in the 17 to 19 year old age groups.

The European Transport Safety Council has released the first of it's thematic reports in the PRAISE series asking the question "How can in-vehicle safety equipment improve road safety at work?"

Safe Kids USA has released a report that explores the extent to which drivers are engaging in other activities while traveling through school zones. It is very likely that the observations made in this report are representative of distracted driving behaviours that occur in BC school zones as well.

This short video examines physical tests that police may use at the roadside in the UK to detect a drug impaired driver. They are equally applicable here in Canada as part of an examination by a Drug Recognition Expert, especially since recent amendments to the Criminal Code require that the driver participate in them.

Chances are, if you've ever gone to a car dealership and test driven a vehicle, you were driving a vehicle equipped with demonstration license plates. These license plates are commonly known as dealer plates and may be attached to any vehicle owned by or under sale consignment to the dealer intended for use by a customer.

I've read an article advising that you should carry a photocopy of your vehicle licence with your name and address blacked out. If the vehicle was stolen with the keys or garage door opener in it, the thieves would not have easy access to your home and address. It went on to say that all the info that the police require would be on your drivers licence. Is this a good idea?

In the time that I have been writing this column I have accumulated many different topics. The requests have been varied, but I must admit, I never would have come up with this week's topic myself. A reader has asked about vehicles owned by dead people.