16 - Friday, February 2, 1996 - North Shore News cS TARR ATE TLE RAMNAA SY 8 PS ENR CISTI OORT IG BARR IT ONT LIE EAE BT Os MOR DRL APS B.C. Transit hopes to legislate our oma, | Shaun Conlin YOU’ VE PROBABLY heard the rumers, now here’s the skinny on B.C. Transit’s push to have yet another Transit Priority Measure passed through the legislature, this time giving buses attempting to pull out from a curb the . right-of-way over other vehi- cies already in traffic. T recently spoke with B.C. ‘Transit media relations manager Trace Acres to gain some insight into this concept. “We're very hopeful that this can be implemented fairly soon,” Acres said, “It’s one more of those items that will give transit (buses) priority over automobiles and make it com- petitive and a desirable transporta- tion alternative.” Being in media relations, Mr. Acres naturally had nothing but good things to say about the idea, but I have a few concerns. It’s a bold measure to be sure, if not a dangerous one. As I've men- tioned before, many courteous dri- vers are already in the habit of let- ting buses pull from the curb when . they’ve indicated a need to do so and when giving way to a bus does not adversely affect others. After ali, for every bus on the road there are up to 80 cars. It has become painfully clear, however, that there are too few such drivers on the road so we may soon be forced into being courteous. One predictably dangerous aspect will _ probably become an event when a frustrated or distracted bus driver pulls out abruptly whether other drivers intend to stop for them or not. In fact, this dangerous manoeu- vre is already occurring — I’ve seen it and many readers have relat- ed many exciting stories about near misses with buses. (Bus drivers, merely human with an ability to err, are considered professionals and therefore more farsighted than the _average driver, for the most part and for most of the time; not all of the time, unfortunately). The other likely problem will occur when overly cautious auto- mobile drivers decide to yield sud- denly for buses indicating an inten- tion to pull out, stopping with com- plete disregard for the drivers behind them that may not see the .reason for a sudden halt in traffic. ‘ ‘95 CHEVY LT BLAZER. A.3 litre, Vortec, “ABS leather, alloys, every option, low km’s NEWS photo Mike Wakefield SHAUN CONLIN predicts problems at intersections like North Van's Lonsdale Ava. at 15th Stroet (above) if legislation is enact- ed which gives transit buses the right-of-way when pulling away from bus stops. I can foresee brutal problems at Lonsdale and 15th Street, North Van's most congested little intersec- tion, and at Marine Drive and Taylor Way, which endures some of the harshest rush hours in the known universe. Furthermore, I anticipate huge problems when it comes to reading a bus’ signal. For some unexplained reason, many bus drivers put their hazard lights on when they’ve pulled into a bus stop for a moment or three. I find this silly to no end because the side of the road — a bus stop especially — is probably the least hazardous place to put a bus. The real problems begin to occur when a second bus pulls in behind and obstructs from view the right-side indicator of the first bus which gives everyone apprcaching from behind the impression that the bus in front wants to pull into traffic even though he doesn’t. Even more inexplicable, the hazard lights on wheelchair lift-equipped buses are ‘93 GEO 4X4 TRACKER , fein designed to go on automatically when the lift is engaged. Because of this misinformation, many drivers are reluctant to let a bus pull out because they're tired of guessing bus drivers’ true intentions (making eye-contact via the bus dri- ver's left mirror will often alleviate this confusion, folks). Apparently all of the municipali- ties have been given an opportunity to comment on this new Priority Measure Concept and the results will be heard this month at a Vancouver Regional! Transit Commission's meeting. Fortunately, we're talking about committees and the legislature here, so anything coming won't be com- ing soon at any rate. In the meantime, please be as courteous as possible. If it’s not dangerous, try giving a bus priority over you — you often get a wave of the hand for your efforts and that should make you feel like you've done a good thing, which you have. Be safe. Same owner, same high (COLLISION SPECIALISTS Our 37th Year 1.¢.8.¢. - B.C.A.A. - A.R.A. APPROVED CENTRE FREE COURTESY CARS FOR COLLISION REPAIRS “LIFETIME GUARANTEE” | AS LONG AS YOU OWN YOUR CAR TALKING. x Estimates x | Ra Consultation fziaisis.. 985-7455 pas Aaa: DON TAYLOR tech eavinped shop "O96 TOYOTA CORGLLA SD we willl oo _ Test transmission performance . . (road test) . eRepiace - transmission’ filter. * Clean & nee. . trans. } pan ‘92 CHEVY “LT” ig VI" HARDTOP 4 DOOR 4X4 |