Equipment

B.C.'s vehicle inspection manual has been revised and the new edition will become the standard effective on September 2, 2025. The manual is used by inspectors at Designated Inspection Facilities to guide the approval of vehicles presented for inspection. It can also be used by police to guide decisions on enforcement at the roadside.

Question: How is it that car manufacturers are allowed to use reverse lights for functions other than reversing? I find it very confusing in a parking lot when I am slowing down for a vehicle that has the backup lights on, only to find people walking towards it or away from it.

Question: I was driving into work this morning and I went through a seat belt check and of course I had mine on but they pulled me over for my 6000K HID head lights and amber LED turn single lights. The police officer told me they were illegal because they were not factory equipment.

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.

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.

A few times every summer I'm riding my motorcycle and come up to a set of traffic lights and have to stop. I find myself behind a diesel pickup as we both wait for the light to turn green. When it does, the driver hits the throttle and I become another victim of "rolling coal". What am I to do?

Question: Is there a certain distance apart the front and rear signal lights have to be apart on a motorcycle? Is there also a distance for how high off the ground they should be? I believe the signals have to be two separate units apart from the head lamps, or tail lamps correct?

Question: Is it correct that the maximum a vehicles OEM height can be modified is 10cm either up or down? Then why do we see trucks on the road with lift kits that are obviously more than 10cm high?

Thinking back over my years of doing mechanical inspections at the roadside, one of the most common deficiencies in older vehicles was a parking brake that was either seriously out of adjustment or didn't function at all.

Sometimes our urge to use the latest technology can backfire when it is not thoroughly considered and tested. Using a touch screen instead of the usual physical controls on our vehicle's dash has turned out to be a bad idea. Regulators will require buttons to get top safety ratings starting in 2026.