Speed

A sizeable proportion of British Columbians would like to see changes to municipal speed limits, a new Research Co. poll has found.

35 intersection safety cameras in British Columbia have been upgraded to perform automated speed enforcement in addition to penalizing red light runners. The cameras capture the images and speeds of the fastest vehicles passing through monitored intersections on red, yellow and green lights.

Tejveer Parmar successfully used the defence of necessity to defend himself against a charge of speeding. He was initially convicted in traffic court but appealed the conviction. The justice agreed, allowed the appeal, quashed the ticket conviction and acquitted him of speeding.

On the 14th of November, 2015 at about 9:00 am, Ken Chung was operating an Audi northbound on Oak Street approaching West 41st Avenue in Vancouver. Evidence suggested that his speed was about 140 km/h in the 50 km/h zone.

Q: I was issued two tickets in June of 2018, one of them for excessive speed. I was and still am an N driver. It occurred at 142 Street and 72nd Avenue in Surrey in a speed trap. I acknowledge the fact that I was speeding but did not reach the over 40km/h threshold. I have evidence from my iPhone 8 Plus and the Life 360 app that shows the speed I reached was 3km/h fewer than 40km/h over the limit. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Zihe Ren was convicted of speeding for traveling in excess of 80 km/h in the posted 50 km/h zone of the 4900 block of West 16th Avenue in Vancouver. He appealed the conviction citing that:

1. The investigating officer, by mistaking the model of his vehicle on the traffic violation ticket, demonstrated that he was “obviously absent-minded" and it should be assumed that he was equally absent-minded about his estimate of the accused’s speed; and
2. The decision is invalid because the investigating officer did not provide calibration records of his “speeding radar".

Colt Chamberlain was convicted in traffic court for driving at a speed of 145 km/h in a posted 90 km/h zone on highway 19 in Delta. He appealed the conviction saying that the Crown had not proven who had put up the speed limit sign. Only the minister responsible for the administration of the Transportation Act has the authority to do this.

Jeremy Duplissie was riding his motorcycle in the 10,300 block of 272 Street in Maple Ridge. This road has a posted speed limit of 50 km/h. The speed chosen by Mr. Duplissie was measured at just over 100 km/h by Corporal Martin. A ticket for excessive speeding was issued and subsequently disputed.

Some sections of rural highways in British Columbia saw an increase in the posted speed limit in 2014 following a provincial government review which included a poll of the population. Within two years some of these increases were rolled back due to rising collision rates. Today a research report released by academics from the University of British Columbia evaluates the effect that the initial speed increases have had since they were implemented.

Many drivers believe speeding alone does not actually cause crashes. While not totally inaccurate, this over-simplified phrase does not paint the whole picture. The fact is, very few crashes are caused by one factor alone, and this includes speeding, but downplaying the impact of speeding can prove to be deadly.