Miscellaneous

Matthew Catling received two traffic tickets, one in Richmond for speeding in a municipality and one in Vancouver for using an electronic device. Mr. Catling filed separate Constitutional Question Act notices on both the Richmond and Robson Square prosecutions on November 2, 2017, and November 24, 2017, respectively. He asserted that s. 63.1 of the Offence Act violates Sections 7 and 11(d) of the Charter.

Have you ever given any thought to how efficiently traffic lights control the flow of vehicles? I found out last Friday afternoon at 5:30 pm as I traveled the 7.6 kilometers between Superior Road in Lantzville and Northwest Bay Road in Nanoose Bay on Highway 19. Total elapsed time: 40 minutes for a trip Google Maps says should take 5 minutes.

In general, traffic enforcement is a solitary effort for police outside of the province's municipalities. I've often wondered just how close I have come to something bad happening in a traffic stop while I was a long way away from the nearest backup. Since today is Thanksgiving, I want to tell a story where something bad did almost happen and I'm very thankful for the "almost."

I went to traffic court and officer asked for an adjournment due to fact he had not complied with my request for disclosure. My question is do I have to request for disclosure again or is it the officer's responsibility to give it to me now?

I think the issue was he was working for different jurisdictions at that time so there was some clerical error.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released a special edition of the Status Report on autonomous vehicles. From the introduction:

The idea of self-driving cars has garnered so much press that consumers can almost be forgiven for thinking the latest cars can drive themselves.

Just listened to this great interview between an active defense lawyer and a retired traffic officer.

The provincial courts handled 75,584 traffic and bylaw cases in 2016/2017, the lowest number in the past five years. Of possible interest in the report are complaints made against the judicial justices who hear these cases.

It's night and I'm driving into the gray cotton of fog caused by a lingering temperature inversion. Vision is limited, the roads are wet, it's just a few degrees above freezing and some of the traffic to my left is driving like it's a sunny afternoon in August. As they whoosh by me nose to tail at speeds exceeding the posted limit I marvel at what I imagine is their ability to see so much better than I can. I also admire their ability to anticipate and use quick reflexes to get themselves out of trouble if something unexpected happens ahead.

How many of us just throw that empty propane cylinder into the trunk and head off to have it filled? I've seen the results of a couple of explosions involving propane in vehicles and it wasn't pretty. The following video is from Technical Safety BC (formerly the BC Safety Authority) and shows you how to safely (and legally) transport a 20 pound propane cylinder in your car or RV.

One of the most recent items for discussion in an RV forum that I belong to was the issue of leaving your engine running while refuelling.

The owners with diesels say because of the low flash point of diesel that they never shut their  engines off because they need to cool their turbo.