Never have trusted the police.
When they were supposed to be there, they never were.
And this was more than just on one or two occasions.
Police, by simply being a “Peace Officer” as defined by the Criminal Code of Canada are often thought of as infallible and beyond reproach.
The roads in British Columbia are governed by the B.C. Motor Vehicle Act.
One would think that the police in this province would know the motor vehicle act like the back of their hand. But they don’t. And honestly they don’t care.
I find that the civilian police operate much the same as the military police.
“BLAME THE VICTIM”.
It’s just much easier that way.
Today I was on my way to get a bit to eat when I had a police officer in a cruiser no less, tell me that my scooter wasn’t a vehicle and that I shouldn’t be on the street.
No wonder alternate modes of transportation have never taken off in this city like they should. This place has year round cycling facilities that should make it second to none in the world, but Finland, Norway, and even Iceland have better year round cycling levels that Vancouver does.
With mis-informed police like this, no wonder no one in the city likes to ride on the city streets.
Bicycle riders, and via the pilot project in effect in the lower mainland, operators of e-scooters are required to operate their cycle following the same rules as car drivers.
Here is a link to the e-scooter pilot program.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/transportation-environment/active-transportation/scooter/safety
Under the motor vehicle act, a bicycle operator and an e-scooter operator wishing to turn left at an intersection must do so from the right side of the lane closest to the centre line of the road.
The only other requirement for bicycles and e-scooters making left hand turns at intersections is that in the case of multiple left hand turn lanes, the bicycle or e-scooter operator must only use the right most left-hand turn lane.
This is what this would look like in the real world.
Bicycles and e-scooters are permitted to make left hand turns from the right most left hand turn lane and never from the centre left hand turn lane.
When making a left hand turn from a two way to a one way on is to turn from the lane to the right of the centre line and one is to guide their vehicle into the driving lane closest to the left hand side of the one way street. If there had been parked cars on the left hand side of Nelson street I would have turned into the second lane from the left hand curb.
Well, I present to you the BC MVA COP. A transit cop. A transit cop that probably lives in Abbotsford or Langley where killing bicycle riders is a team sport.
Yep, you’re not imagining things. He rolls down his window to announce “you’re not a vehicle, get off the road”.
Beeshive 