I saw many things over the two decades that I spent in full time traffic enforcement. Some of those things left me shaking my head wondering why the driver ever thought their vehicle was still driveable! If you don't value the life of other road users, surely you value your own.
The question this week revolves around vehicle noise in quiet neighbourhoods. Why don’t the municipalities do more about it asks my correspondent. This may be a case of the squeaky wheel not getting the grease!
Question: I was stopped by a motorcycle officer over a 60 kph bridge. I was going over the posted limit and unaware of the excessive speed consequences. The officer said that he was pacing me and I was "pulling away from" him. I was asked initially how fast I thought I was going and ignorantly and mistakenly guessed 110.
Question: I have been driving home on Rupert Street in Vancouver lately and there are some lane markings I am not clear about. Between 12th Avenue and about Kingsway there is a narrow right hand lane that has a bicycle and a white diamond, there is no other signage. Are motorcycles allowed to use this lane because they regularly do.
You may be able to disregard the rules in the Motor Vehicle Act and survive, but disobeying the laws of physics when you drive will eventually result in a collision.
If you blow a warn, which means having a blood alcohol content (BAC) between 60 and 90 mg%, it will trigger an Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) for a driver today. This could also apply to the operators of e-bikes and e-scooters as well.
Many people think of traffic policing consists mostly of handing out speeding tickets. This is not the case as there are many other job functions that officers are responsible for. One that I often found to be an interesting challenge was conducting roadside mechanical inspections.
I asked a couple of truckers what bothered them about the drivers of small vehicles. We had a lively half hour discussion from which I gathered their top five concerns. Each of these concerns could have serious consequences for everyone on the highway.
Question: I get a lot of dirty looks when I'm in the HOV lane with my young child in the back seat. I'm sure he counts, doesn't he?!? I've tried asking various authoritative bodies, but no one seems to know for sure.
We don't hear a lot about B.C.'s Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing program except when the government is handing out grants to the municipalities. The money is supposed to be employed to "support community safety and address local policing priorities."