SHARING - PART OF A WEEKLY COLUMN

The population of the world is continually growing. As each person reaches that magic age they all want to own a vehicle. Nowhere is this more evident than on downtown streets. Each of us can help reduce `Road Rage' by simply being courteous to our fellow users of the streets.

Cars today are partially computerized, newer cars will be even more so. Some vehicles are partially powered by electricity and a couple are completely electric. In the not too distant future; fuel burning, and atmosphere polluting vehicles, and most of the motor vehicle act, will become as obsolete as service stations.

Speed signs will be replaced by transmitters. A sensor in your car will pick up the signal and your car will not be able to move at speeds above the posted (unposted) limit.

If you are travelling too slow and impeding others a computerized voice will tell you to pick up your speed. (Sure wish we had that now.)

If you turn on your signal light the car's computer will pick up a signal from a sensor and the voice will tell you, "You may not turn left at this intersection between three and six PM. Please proceed to the next intersection and turn right."

Sensors will pick up the lines in the road and prevent you from changing lanes or passing when it is dangerous to do so.

Gone will be the fun and exhilaration of careening through traffic. Gone will be the danger and mayhem of fools behind the wheel. Gone will be the long hours the police officer has to stand in the rain while the ambulance crews remove human remains from a twisted hunk of metal.

But those cars and those days are not here yet. In the meantime we must all learn to control ourselves, and our vehicles. We must learn the rules of the road so that at the end of each hectic day we can return to our loved ones safely.

And, if it is our day off and we are just goofing about, there are still rules that we should obey to help make our leisure time more enjoyable. In this column I will give you some safety and courtesy tips, courtesy of the many years that I have spent as a driver and a pedestrian.

I hope you enjoy my comments and criticisms over the next year. As I have learned from you I hope you will learn from me. Vancouver is a beautiful city. With a little courtesy and common sense we can all enjoy and share the streets.

Next week I want to talk about backing up at intersections.

Bear has been driving professionally for over thirty years. He has driven police cars, taxis, busses, and trucks. He has driven tractor trailers from coast to coast accumulating over one million accident free miles.

Comments in this column are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily shared by this website.

Re: the HST.
Previously Christy Clark said that if the people didn’t support her on the HST she would call a provincial election after the referendum.
Well, she lost.
But is she going to keep her word?
No!
She is such a poor loser she has reneged on her promise and says she will hold the election in 2013. Not only that, but, like a spoiled child she seeks to punish us by saying it will take 19 months to remove the HST.
It didn’t take anywhere near that long to implement it.
And it doesn’t take anywhere near that long to disassemble it.
A mere 24 hours of announcements in the media is all it will take to tell; purchasers they no longer need to pay HST, and businesses they no longer need to collect it.
At the same time they tell all businesses that any HST collected, and not filed, to date, need to be submitted by Sept. 30.
Also at the same time they notify all employees of the HST that all rebates must be sent out by Oct. 31. And finally the same announcement informs the gov’t employees that they will be laid off by Nov. 30 which gives them time to; clean out their offices, wipe all their hard drives, send all their desks and office equipment to the store room, and apply for transfer to another dept.
All told, a lot less than 19 months.
Then, the people will see that Christy is an honourable person who believes in democracy and maybe, just maybe, she will win the next election, whenever it is held.
Lee A. Wood