by Dr. Radut

PHOTOS OF CONCERN - The Squeeze Play

Published by DriveSmartBC -

cameraThe driver of this car may not have noticed the flashing right turn signal on the bus, but learned the hard way that it was worth paying attention to.

front view of car vs bus collision rear view of car vs bus collision

Section 165(1) of the Motor Vehicle Act requires that a driver turning right at an intersection approach and make the turn as closely as is practical to the curb. In this case it is not practical for the bus to be in the same lane position as a car because of its length.

Section 158(2) of the Motor Vehicle Act forbids passing on the right when the movement cannot be made in safety. There is an onus on the driver of the car to keep behind and let the bus make the right turn.

This situation is explained on page 91 of Chapter 6 in the Learn to Drive Smart manual.

Published by CompetentDrivingBC - 2015/04/13 - 22:45 | Permalink

... the bus driver left too much room on his right; the smart, and legal, way to execute the turn is to ensure that you haven't left room for a car to try and get beside you.  Instead, you should go deep with the front end before commencing your turn.

That said, it's still incumbent on the driver of the large vehicle - whether it be a Garbage Truck or a Bus or whatever - to check the right mirrors for conflicts; cyclists are small, and narrow, and some of them are dumber than a bag full of hammers ...

Published by Check Ride - 2019/08/05 - 07:30 | Permalink

When I was teaching right turns with a trailer the first thing I taught my students was not to show the driver behind them the prize (a view of the road ahead of them between the trailer and the curb) because if they could see it they would go there. Keep as close to the curb, at a low speed, as possible until the last second before swinging the front end out into the second lane to set up for the turn. Slow truck, fast hands, this will restrict the view for the following driver. If there is too much traffic to do this slowly, straddle two lanes ahead of the intersection inhibiting traffic in both of them, just before the corner bring the front end as close to the curb as possible and quickly swing back out fully into lane two, this will keep the trailer as close as possible to the curb for as long as possible, not showing following drivers a clear path ahead.

Always watch out for bicycles as they will still be able to fit through the small space you have left and don't always pay attention to what is going on around them.

Commercial Vehicles
Intersections
Passing