Motor vehicle law column by Tim Schewe

I read the Victoria Times Colonist on line each morning and today's story about jaywalking caught my attention. After reading the story all I am left with is the feeling that the situation was poorly explained and readers were left with the impression that the police should have been doing more important things. Jaywalking is something that everyone does and it isn't a bad thing to do.

The two sections in the Motor Vehicle Act that regulate pedestrians not in a crosswalk only do so when the pedestrian has either failed to yield to vehicular traffic or stepped off the curb at a time when the driver could not yield to them even if they tried to. Both of these situations are dangerous, interrupt traffic flow and potentially result in injury or death. The adults being dealt with in this story that feel put upon definitely know better and have no room to complain.

A spokesperson for the City of Victoria says that jaywalking is allowed in that area because of an exemption to the traffic bylaw used to promote a pedestrian friendly area. What they might have said is that crossing at a place other than a crosswalk is not prohibited, but pedestrians still must yield to vehicles if they do so. Municipalities are not permitted to create bylaws that are at odds to the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act.

This is a dangerous time of year for my morning commute. The sun is just above the horizon and in four locations I am looking directly into it while I drive. Even with my visor down and one hand up to block the reflection from the hood, it is still very difficult to see ahead of me. The rear end collision that I passed at one set of traffic lights tells me that I am not the only one having problems being blinded by the glare.

A good set of polarized sunglasses would probably be of significant help in this situation, but there are many other things that I can do to increase my margin of safety and avoid a very close examination of the back end of the vehicle I am following.

Undoubtedly, the first thing I should be doing is maintaining a safe following distance, especially since I drive this highway every weekday and can anticipate the problem. Slowing down where I know the problem is worst will do two things, increase my following distance further and in the event that I do crash will result in less damage to both me and my vehicle if I hit someone else or am struck from behind.

It was not uncommon to be told that a new driver sign was not being displayed because adults took the sign as a signal to bully the new driver. I thought that was just a convenient excuse to give the policeman when you couldn't be bothered to make sure that the required sign was in place. After all, who wouldn't realize that a new driver deserved more room and a little leeway for mistakes because they were just beginning their driving career?

Fast forward to today's drive home from work. I looked left to see that I had been overtaken by a Jeep being driven by a driver displaying the N of a novice driver. That driver wasn't significantly over the speed limit but it was the behaviour of the adult piloting the four wheel drive pickup twice the size of that Jeep following behind it that upset me. There was about 2 meters of space between their bumpers at 80+ km/h. While the Jeep was centered in the fast lane, the truck was half on the left shoulder and half in the fast lane. He wanted by NOW!

I've often thought to myself over the years that if I ever wanted to kill someone the best way to do it would be to drive over them. I would wait until I found them stepping into a crosswalk and make sure that I hit them while I was turning onto the street they were crossing. I would then screech to a halt, return and scream "Oh no, I didn't see them, I'm sorry!" If I planned it just right, I might get away with a traffic ticket and have my insurer pay the bills.

Of course I'm being facetious but the thought ran through my mind again this evening when I was watching the news. A road rage driver had run someone off the road and then returned and succeeded in driving over and killing one of the vehicle occupants after they had exited their vehicle and stood on the shoulder of the road. The question posed by someone close to the deceased was why hadn't the driver been charged with homicide?

The Criminal Code of Canada says that homicide occurs when someone directly or indirectly, by any means, causes the death of a human being. Homicide is not an offence unless it is culpable, meaning that the death is caused by an unlawful act, criminal negligence, causing someone to kill themselves by threats, fear of violence or deception or wilfully frightening them, in the case of a child or sick person.