DriveSmartBC

A recent study by Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute (VTPI) concluded that the average city spent about 1 percent of its infrastructure budget on sidewalks, even though walking accounted for 11 percent of residents’ trips every day and pedestrian fatalities constituted 17 percent of all traffic deaths. Walking (including wheelchair, scooter and handcart use) is the universal travel mode. Improving walking conditions can provide many benefits

Nine lamps and six reflectors are the minimum required by law to be installed and functional on your trailer. If that trailer is not a small one, the number grows rapidly to stay in compliance depending on its length and width. Not just any lamp or reflector will do either, they all must be the right device for the right place and comply with standards.

The University of British Columbia's Research on Active Transportation Lab has released information on their study about the Perceived Safety and Comfort of Pedestrian Interactions with Self-driving Vehicles (SDVs). The study was conducted to inform strategies for the responsible introduction of SDVs in a way that does not degrade the walking experience.

Question: I have a question/concern about horse carriages in a very busy downtown area and at a very busy intersection blocking the pedestrian crossing, forcing pedestrians to walk around the horse and into the traffic.

A visitor to this website remarked that the term "school days" in relation to school zone signs is becoming more and more ambiguous. The Motor Vehicle Act merely refers to "A person driving a vehicle on a regular school day" and I no longer know what a regular school day is, particularly since I don't have kids in school and when I am in an unfamiliar area of the province..

"The Ministry builds and maintains safe and resilient roadways and infrastructure, plans integrated transportation hubs and networks, provides affordable, efficient and accessible transportation options for all people in British Columbia, partners with Crown corporations and other entities to deliver transportation services, develops and implements transportation policies, and administers many related acts, regulations and federal-provincial funding programs."

When an officer writes a traffic ticket the description of the offence is required to give the driver enough information to understand what they are being charged with. If that is not the case, the judicial justice could choose to dismiss the offence. This case is an example of that.

Here's another question from the DriveSmartBC inbox: I've noticed recently that often drivers are impatient of people parallel parking and pass them on the left rather than waiting in the right hand lane for the driver to finish parking before moving forward. In the event of a collision who is at fault - the person parallel parking or the person trying to go around the parallel parking car?

Rose Keith of the Harper Grey LLP has published a fact sheet about Under Insured Motorist Protection (UMP). UMP is meant to provide financial protection if you are involved in a collision with another driver who is either under insured or who has no insurance coverage. Prior to the latest changes to ICBC the legal counsel that I received was to buy as much UMP as I could afford.

Transfers Magazine references a study published in the Journal of Planning and Education Research in 2022. The authors observe that one way streets were created by suburbanization to allow a quick and simple drive in and out of suburbs commuting to city jobs. They allowed for higher speeds over greater distances with fewer stops. This led to unpleasant, often dangerous streets for other road users.