Speed

Welcome to wet weather season in British Columbia! Some areas are blessed with this situation more often than others, but drivers need to be aware of the perils of wet highways. The well being of you and other road users depend on it.

My highway patrol unit was issued its first laser speed measuring device back in the early 1990s. It was a popular tool to use because of both it's accuracy in targeting a specific vehicle and the measurement of that vehicle's speed. Case law regarding the use of the instrument developed over time in court the same way that it did with radar when that was introduced.

I am occasionally asked why construction speed zone is in effect when there is no work being carried out at the time. The standard response from government is that hazardous situations may exist and the reduced speed is necessary to be safe. Examples given are parked equipment, uneven pavement at the edges of lanes and no shoulder.

The left lane is so popular lately that when I keep right I often find myself behind fewer vehicles at the next red traffic light. In fact, at one particular intersection on my commute many times I can be first in line. Everyone else seems stuck in the left lane trying to get ahead, fuming, following too closely and making sudden lane changes.

The Victoria Times Colonist Comments section often contains interesting discussions on road safety. Today's edition shared a letter that raised the issue of slow cycling for me. It was not the writer's intention as the subject was about the need for cycle lanes in Central Saanich.

The neighbourhoods where we live are important to us. When we see problems like vehicles speeding past our homes or a volume of traffic that disturbs the peace and quiet we want to act to solve our problem. One of the first things that we demand is for the authorities to put up stop signs.

Passing zones always presented interesting situations for traffic enforcement. There were many times when I would find one driver in the right lane travelling at or near the speed limit and another overtaking on the left at a speed significantly in excess of that limit.

Question: The police officer used a radar gun and, according to him, there are no service or calibration records on the radar gun. This is a real, live issue for my trial. If the radar gun does not have service records, then how do we know that it is functioning correctly?

Question: For a few months now I have been trying to locate specific information on the rules of the road pertaining to back alleys. Simply trying to get a concrete source on the speed limit of back lanes, especially those running along school zones, has been incredibly difficult.

Can you please tell me what would be a safe speed to set speed limiters on our delivery drivers vans owned by the company? Is there a need to set speed limiters higher in order for the driver to be able to pass?