Motor vehicle law column by Tim Schewe

This is a column on etiquette and consideration for others that has little to do with safety, and everything to do with respect. I was asked to write on the subject of funeral processions by the friend of a family whose members were upset at the lack of thought shown by other drivers entering and leaving the procession to the cemetery.

The Motor Vehicle Act grants the power to a municipality to regulate and control processions on highways within the municipality. A check with the municipalities near where I live revealed no rules in their current traffic by-laws regarding a funeral procession.

Further, the Motor Vehicle Act exempts the driver of a motor vehicle in a funeral procession from the requirement to leave sufficient space between his or her vehicle and another vehicle to enable a vehicle to enter and occupy that space without danger.

In past, the line of slow moving traffic with headlights on was readily identifiable, even if you didn’t see the hearse or family limousine. Today daytime running lights make it more difficult to recognize a funeral procession. A driver may have to watch and consider a bit more than usual, then politely wait a few moments while the procession passes by. It’s a small price to pay for the same consideration if you ever find yourself in the family limousine one day.

I was listening to the investigation of a driving complaint unfold the other day. A member of the public had complained about the way a business vehicle was being driven and the constable had asked the dispatcher to inquire about the driver with the business. "He's a pretty bad driver" the dispatcher relayed from the business owner, "he should probably get a ticket."

My first reaction on hearing this was if that's the case, why was the business owner allowing the employee to drive? He clearly knew that his employee was either lacking in driving skill or had personal difficulties with the driving rules. Why take the risk? The employer could be held liable both criminally and civilly if this employee were to cause a collision.

Anyone who employs a driver, large business or small, should have a safe driving policy in effect that employees must signify that they are aware of and are expected to adhere to at all times while operating a business vehicle, whether for work purposes or not. Further, this policy should be even more comprehensive if the employee uses their personal vehicle for work purposes.

"Speed Kills!" is a popular road safety slogan that we hear often. It's pretty simplistic and when I look around me on the highway I am convinced that drivers either don't believe it or live in a world of denial. Speed alone doesn't kill, but combine it with poor driving skills or a bad decision and it definitely makes a bad situation worse.

The most obvious drawback of speed is that the faster you go, the more likely some road user is going to get hurt or killed when things go wrong. Energy increases as the square of the speed and our bodies can only deal with sudden changes in energy to a certain extent. Exceed that threshold and we tend to come apart at the seams.

The faster you go, the less time you have to deal with issues. These issues may be caused by you or they may be caused by another road user. Either way, if you are going too fast to react and recover, it's going to hurt someone.

"Go with the flow." Yes, I agree that is a good idea until the flow exceeds the speed limit. I like to obey the rules of the road and we have some drivers who are unsafe at speeds above the limit.

Perhaps the next time the news tells you that a collision was a result of speed, think that it probably means inappropriate speed made a driving error unrecoverable.

Cyclists are entitled to their share of the highway, just as motor vehicle drivers are. When they are overtaken by a motor vehicle, it is the driver's responsibility to pass the cyclist safely. It is not the cyclists responsibility to get out of the way of the driver if the cyclist is legally occupying the lane.

When you approach a cyclist and prepare to overtake, slow down, just as you would any other vehicle on the road. You need to survey the situation and make sure that it is safe to pass. If it would not be safe to pass another vehicle at that spot, it is probably not safe to pass the cyclist either.

If you have to wait for a gap in traffic to pass, remember to leave a reasonable following distance between your vehicle and the cycle. This will give you more time to be aware and react if the cyclist needs to move left to avoid an obstacle as you follow them.

Leave at least one meter of space between you and the cyclist as you pass by, more if possible. If it is multi-laned highway, change lanes. Remember that if you have a right side mirror that extends a significant distance that the space must be measured from the outside edge of your mirror, not the side of the vehicle.