How far can you see when night driving?
Jun 15, 2013 / 5:00 am
Freeways in British Columbia are governed by a posted speed limit of 110 km/h and for the most part are only lit by a driver's headlights at night. The opposing lanes are fairly close together and require the use of low beam headlamps when other traffic approaches. When the highway is busy...
Collisions: acceptable risk of driving?
Jun 8, 2013 / 5:00 am
Collisions have not been required by law to be reported to the police for quite some time now. In many municipalities today the police don't even attend collisions unless someone has been hurt or killed. Instead, the fire department may show up and the firefighters help participants exchange...
Right turns over cycle lanes
Jun 1, 2013 / 5:00 am
It seems appropriate to write an article on cycling as we are in the middle of May 27 to 31, 2013 which is Bike to Work Week. A topic in the DriveSmartBC Forum this week highlights a dangerous situation that is well worth discussing, vehicles making right turns across cycle lanes. Drivers may not...
Transporting flammable gases
May 25, 2013 / 5:00 am
Photo: Thinkstock.com While most of us don't carry around cylinders of acetylene in our vehicles, many people do carry propane tanks regularly and we use propane as a fuel in our RVs. I asked the attendant about it the last time I had one of my barbeque tanks filled and he said that...
Keep back from fire apparatus
May 18, 2013 / 5:00 am
Fire apparatus have a special privilege granted to no other emergency vehicle in British Columbia. You must not follow them within 150 meters or 500 feet unless you are also driving an emergency vehicle. Having never been a firefighter I was curious and thought that I would ask the experts and...
Bicycle lanes, signs and markings
May 11, 2013 / 5:00 am
A reader from Vancouver asked me where the rules came from for bicycle lanes and signs as they could not be found in the provincial driving manual, Learn to Drive Smart. Included in the e-mail was a link to the City of Vancouver's website which showed a collection of signs and markings that...
Out of touch or vote for me?
May 4, 2013 / 5:00 am
I spent most of my policing career as a traffic cop. Yes, I have an outlook that many in the public don't share, but they haven't spent 25 years investigating collisions and seeing the aftermath either. Thank goodness for that, but maybe our politicians need a bit of experience similar...
Unsafe headlight conversions
Apr 27, 2013 / 5:00 am
"Could you perhaps comment on poorly focused hi-intensity illegal conversions done to forward lighting on vehicles?", asks a reader. He has had many of his friends comment on how newer vehicles with hi tech headlights have made night driving uncomfortable and unsafe for them. I've...
The government didn't tell me
Apr 20, 2013 / 5:00 am
I've been watching a number of conversations in the newspaper and social media lately, mostly with regard to B.C.'s slow down, move over law, but including changes to other traffic laws as well. The general theme has been that the government has been doing a poor job of telling the...
Traffic safety responsibility
Apr 13, 2013 / 5:00 am
The aim of traffic enforcement is not to raise revenue for the government. Too often I hear the words "cash grab" in relation to traffic tickets. Like it or not, this is our current system for attempting to dissuade drivers from practicing behaviours that put themselves or others at...
Nuisance lights
Apr 6, 2013 / 5:00 am
Lights, without a doubt are the subject that generates the greatest number of requests for DriveSmartBC articles. We've looked at almost every kind of light connected with the operation of a vehicle or cycle on a highway in British Columbia, so it's time to widen our view to the...
Skateboarders in traffic
Mar 30, 2013 / 5:00 am
A teen stepped off of the sidewalk as I approached, hopped onto his skateboard and began to weave slightly along the curb in front of my vehicle. He either trusted me with his life or had not given much thought to his own as he was far enough into the lane to be a hazard and had his back to...
Police vehicles: expect the unexpected
Mar 23, 2013 / 5:00 am
I used to smile when I saw closely spaced traffic, a large gap, a police vehicle, another large gap and finally more closely spaced traffic. Everyone is afraid of the cop I thought. Having spent 25 years driving a marked police vehicle I recognize both that I rarely see this anymore and that it...
Be a careful, good Samaritan
Mar 16, 2013 / 5:00 am
Even though our winter driving season is almost over, the situation of stopping to pull an unfortunate driver out of the ditch came to mind. I think everyone realizes that care has to be exercised in pulling the vehicle out so that another collision doesn't occur. However, being a good...
Justifying our misbehaviour
Mar 9, 2013 / 5:00 am
Tonight's six o'clock news contained a story about how police had issued over 5,500 tickets for "using electronic devices while driving" offences across the province in February 2013. More than 100 more were ticketed for driving without due care and attention. It means to me...
Emerging from alleys and driveways
Mar 2, 2013 / 5:00 am
How often have you seen a driver exit an alley, parking lot or parkade and either zoom right across the sidewalk or make a first stop directly over top of it? This can make life difficult for pedestrians who may happen to be in the way. It shows that the driver is not thinking ahead as the...
Texting while stopped at a red light
Feb 23, 2013 / 5:00 am
Intersections can be dangerous places both because it is a place of high crash risk, but also because it can be a place with a significant risk for being ticketed. Traffic police have become creative when working at intersections as related in the article Beware the Flower Clown and Other...
Where is our traffic enforcement?
Feb 16, 2013 / 5:00 am
Having spent 20 years in traffic enforcement I'm always curious if I will see any of it being done when I travel on our highways. Unfortunately I have to say that I very rarely see a police vehicle in my travels, much less one stopped at the side of the road dealing with a driver. The...
'Bright' pedestrians
Feb 9, 2013 / 5:00 am
At the beginning of last December I wrote about my experiences as a pedestrian at night in the lower mainland of BC and how dangerous it can be. This time I'm going to admire my neighbour who goes out in all weather to walk her dogs. When it's dark she wears a white LED headlight with a...
Vehicle lighting
Feb 2, 2013 / 5:00 am
Without a doubt, one of the most popular topic suggestions that I receive has to do with vehicle lighting. Either they are not being replaced when burned out, aren't being used properly (or at all) by drivers or are causing problems because of brightness or colour. Most include the complaint...
About the author...
Tim Schewe has been writing his column for most of the 20 years in his traffic enforcement service in the RCMP. It was 'The Beat Goes On' in Fort St. John, 'Traffic Tips' in the South Okanagan and now 'Behind the Wheel' on Vancouver Island and now Castanet.net. Schewe retired from the Force in January of 2006, but the column became a habit and continues.
E-mail him your questions or concerns: comments@drivesmartbc.ca
The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet.
Castanet presents its columns "as is" and does not warrant the contents.
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