DriveSmartBC

If Tenessa Nikirk could undo the moments in her life that caused this collision, I have no doubt that she would. The bad judgment (and driving) that she exhibited on December 20, 2017 in Saanich lead to a collision with 11 year old Leila Bui in a crosswalk leaving the girl with life shattering injuries that she will never recover from. Nikirk has been convicted of dangerous driving causing bodily injury.

This incident involves a collision between a cyclist, Valerie Charlton-Miner and a driver, Reginald Hedgecock at the intersection of Hollywood Road South and Highway 33 in Kelowna. Ms. Charlton-Miner was riding northbound in Hollywood Road cycle lane approaching Highway 33. From left to right at the intersection approach is a left turn lane, a through lane, a right turn lane and the cycle lane.

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."

According to Road Safety at Work every year, on average, 19 workers are killed and 1,319 are injured and miss time from work due to motor vehicle crashes. Vehicles used for work are considered to be part of the workplace regardless of who owns the vehicle. This means that both the employer and the employee have a responsibility to be safe.

A person that left a nightclub had one drink early in the evening and drank water rest of the night because they knew they were driving. This person spoke with many officers upon leaving, went for coffee and gas and saw another officer and spoke with him. He left, driving down the highway a little faster than he should have at approximately 2 am.

Our provincial government has announced that all 35 intersections with speed cameras will be in full operation by spring of this year. First introduced in 2019 fifteen red light cameras with the added ability to check vehicle speeds were installed at high risk intersections.

One wouldn't think that stopping at a stop sign would be such a problem for drivers. It seems relatively simple, come to a complete stop, look both ways and then go if it is safe to do so. With the poor compliance rate, we should ask is the stop sign the best form of traffic control for intersections that are not controlled by traffic signals?

Life is interesting. I spent my traffic enforcement career making sure that "other" forms of transportation did not share our highways. Cars and trucks, motorcycles and bicycles, fine. Segways, skateboards, go karts, bicycles with gas motors, not here in B.C. thank you. Now the B.C. government has made changes to the Motor Vehicle Act to allow some of these "other" vehicles and is soliciting municipalities to conduct pilot projects on their use.

Question: I was asked to comment on an interesting "exchange of views" on Facebook regarding a no left turn sign posted by the Delta School District at Richardson Elementary School. It began as a discussion about whether a driver had to obey the sign or not and then deteriorated into less than respectful exchanges.

I read an article recently about conspicuity for police officers working on the highway. It suggested that the reflective vests and jackets that we use to stand out and be identified by drivers at night were not very effective.