Onus is on the person making the turn
I have just read Robert Barron’s column “My Thoughts On That” in today’s newspaper (Nov. 16). I have a couple of comments.
As a former collision analyst, I have attended numerous “T-bone” collisions like the one he described at the Nanaimo Airport. He makes some assumptions about the speed of the northbound vehicle.
The sides of a car have very little material to stop any collision damage. Also, vehicles are designed to absorb impacts and crush, thereby reducing the force on the occupants of the vehicle. Even slow speed collisions can make a vehicle look very heavily damaged and give a false impression on the speed of the vehicles involved. “…but I expect he was likely going pretty fast, even if it turns out that he was just doing the speed limit.” “Just doing the speed limit” is an interesting comment. That is a permissible speed under the Motor Vehicle Act. A person driving that speed, on a through highway, should feel that it is safe to do that speed.
Maybe he should be focussing on the fact that the “elderly lady” should not have turned in front of a northbound vehicle unless she was sure that she could make the turn safely. Drivers turning across through lanes of a highway have the onus on them to make sure that they can safely make that turn without interfering with the oncoming traffic, under the Motor Vehicle Act.
I know that the column is about the lowering of the speed limits, but, if that “elderly lady” had made sure she could turn safely, then there would not have been a collision, no matter what the speed was. The Trans-Canada Highway is not a country road and should not be treated as one, no matter what the age of the driver is. There are other ways into the Nanaimo airport that do not involve a left turn, although, they are more roundabout through Cedar Road.
David Vanderlinde
Cowichan Bay