Happy Friday; Motoring message:
please watch for motorcyclists on the roads.
Motorcyclists; watch for inattentive, distracted car drivers and sand!
metalman.

Motorcyclists with the straight pipes please get real exhaust systems or only ride between 8 am and 4 pm so you don’t wake people up

For those that are going to say “straight pipes saves lives” explain how people not hearing sirens saves lives ?

Ding, dong, the Witch is dead!
The “Iron Lady” is gone…may she rust in peace.

Now, how about that Royal Bank, sending good jobs overseas after making those they displace train the foreigners? Still banking with the Big Banks? Move to a credit union where the jobs and investments stay in Canada.

P Val same could be said about diesel pickups with mod. Pipes

No comparison stonekiker

Alexander Heit’s final text cut off in mid-sentence.

Before he could send it, police say, the 22-year-old University of Northern Colorado student drifted into oncoming traffic, jerked the steering wheel and went off the road, rolling his car.

Heit died shortly after the April 3 crash, but his parents and police are hoping the photo of the mundane text on his iPhone will serve as a stark reminder to drivers.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/11/17704463-parents-students-fatal-text-serves-as-warning

Now that the snow on our boulevard is mostly gone, we can see what fury the graders hath wrought on the edges over winter. In 8 years on this street, I’ve never seen the damage to the lawn part of the boulevard like we have this year. In some places the grader blade dug 3 to 4 feet into the lawn section and in other places took the concrete curb out altogether. Similar damage is apparent along some of the nearby streets as well.

Why? machine operators getting leaned on to be “quick about it”? New, inexperienced gradermen?

Whatever the case, not good enough!

Krusty, I used to live on the corner of a culdesac and every year the city came by to assess the damage to my lawn and then would mark the damage with spray paint, then a crew would come repair it mediocrely . I was always amazed that someone actually had to mark the damage, I guess giving just the address of the damage to the repair crew was expecting to much from them :)

Speaking of spray painting, I saw a city crew removing the snow from a ditch yesterday in order to unblock the culvert and prevent some flooding. Good move on the city’s part but I couldn’t quite understand why there were two “workers” on site. One guy was running the backhoe while the second guy was spray painting the pile of snow. Seriously, he was colouring the snow orange.

I was thinking the same thing north of town the other day. The grader operator has pushed back almost every road sign / stop sign. The angles all vary some with some leaned over close to 45 degrees. Does the grader operator get written up when the summer crews have to repair or replace all these signs?

“…move to a Credit Union” by all means, Sardonic. But resist any moves towards ‘bigness’ by the one you deal with. The ‘urge to merge’ with others elsewhere, in the interests of efficiency, or whatever. Or you’ll find you’re dealing with a ‘big bank’, too. One that’s hitting you with all manner of new ‘fees’ and ‘charges’ for services you previously received as a matter of doing business with them. While any dividends paid on your Equity Shares, or interest on your savings, will be in freefall.

Any one know the real reason the court case between commonwealth and NDIT was adjouned? THE REAL REASON.

Over the past few weeks have noted that the number of drivers with the need for speed has increased and a great portion of those had radar dection devices mounted. This clearly announces to everyone that they intend to speed, they just don’t wish to get caught. Slow down and live. There is nothing so important that is worth dying for that you couldn’t take a few extra minutes to get to your destination. We live in a beautiful part of the world, take the time to live and enjoy it. Have a great weekend.

Something occurred to me recently. I’ve started riding my mountain bike and have discovered that riding in bike lanes on the side of the roads opens me up to serious injury or death. These days there are a lot of people still texting or talking on their cell phones and I see quite a few people crossing over the white line and INTO the cycling lanes.

So I started paying more attention.

Even when I drive my car I watch for this and am shocked at the amount of people who drift over the white line into the bike lanes. I’ve even personally witnessed people drifting so far over that they are into the gravel portion of the shoulder.

Every one of the people I’ve seen doing this are looking down towards their lap for extended periods of time. Obviously I have no concrete proof as to what exactly they are doing but it doesn’t really matter because whatever they’re doing it’s DISTRACTING them! I have no idea why more cyclists are not being hit by these drivers. It’s got to be a mathematical miracle.

Here’s my problem. The law does NOT allow me to ride on the sidewalk and I can be fined for that (not that I’ve ever heard of it happening). So I am essentially forced by the law to ride in the bike lanes next to automobiles that out-weigh me dramatically and where the risk of serious injury or death (from distracted drivers) has risen quite a bit.

I live in Vernon BC and last year a 17 year old girl was killed on the exact stretch of road that I ride on daily. She was riding in the bike lane as required by law. What’s sad and alarming about her death is that the vehicle driver in that particular bicyclist’s death was not even distracted; she suffered a “medical incident”.

So now we have distracted driving, medical incidents, drunks drivers, and dare I say “people with road rage” that all present risks of serious injury or death to cyclists adhering to the bike laws.

I’m not feeling very safe anymore.

The very fact that I am forced by the law to ride in bikes lanes where the risk of injury or death has increased -quite a bit- now seems unfair to me. It actually puts me at a disadvantage in respect to road-safety. Those laws may be partly responsible for past and future deaths of people who to ride their bikes in accordance with current bike laws.

I now ride on the side walks A LOT. I know it’s wrong and I know full well that it’s against the law, but I no longer trust in my safety when riding in the bike lanes. When I see pedestrians walking on the sidewalks I respect their rights to be there so I temporarily get into the bike lane (far in advance) until I pass them and then I immediately get back onto the sidewalk.

My attitude has become this; just because something is “law” doesn’t make it right, fair, or safe. I figure if I want to live to the average life-span of a Canadian then I’m going to have to be a sidewalk rider.

Why does the city use a backhoe to remove snow from culverts? On the logging roads they use steamers to melt it out, which has the advantage of not leaving a pile of snow that needs to be disposed of, and, apparently, painted.

it’s called job security billposer

Good points about graders. I think they do a ton of damage to roads and infrastructure every winter. It doesn’t help seeing graders plowing bare streets, blades scraping hard on the pavement.

Do we just have incompetent operators or is this par for the course?

Hi everyone have a good weekend.

“Do we just have incompetent operators or is this par for the course?”

I don’t it’s incompetence; it’s more an artifact of the “it’s not my responsibility” mentality that is so prevalent in today’s world.

I still haven’t seen any street cleaning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve seen the results of street cleaning on my way home from work this morning. It appears the big mound of gravel in the often used gravel parking lot for Moores meadow at Claxton and First is from street sweeping, but can’t believe the amount of garbage in that pile. So the (city?) just leaves it there? You’d think in this day and age, they’d be cleaning up park entrances, not leaving all that garbage there.

Call City Hall and ask them where the sweepers are worjing today. Make some popcorn, bring a good CD or Ipod, go there, park, and take in the joy of watching “street cleaning”.

;-)

The have been cleaning Ospika and Tabor this week. Also 1st Avenue in the Heritage area.

It is impossible to hold a bad operator accountable for damage to property unless it is reported to the city shortly after it happens. If it is left till spring to assess it cannot be determined if it is all the operators having an occasional oops moment or if a certain operator is a one man wrecking crew

Once reported the supervisor can begin the steps required to track which operator did the damage and take the necessary ensure it does not continue to happen.

I was fed up w/banks so I moved over to the Spruce Credit Union and have ever looked back. EXCELLENT customer service!!!!!

Happy Friday!

If you refresh the page, often the post loads twice. A good rule of thumb is to immediately click another link to load a separate page or go to another website then back to 250 after submitting a comment.

The NDP just can’t bring themselves to tax these institutions the same as banks just because they have the word “union” in it.

If it quacks like a duck…..

Those “dig by Braille” backhoe operators can close up the end of yer culvert pipes just like the end of a roll of Lifesavers. Every spring.

The city needs to enact a bylaw requiring businesses to clean up their parking lots in a timely manner.

I was at the Home Despot on Tuesday when it was quite windy outside and I could barely see through all the swirling dust.

If it brays like a jackass then it must be a Fiberal!

Opinionated: “I was fed up w/banks so I moved over to the Spruce Credit Union and have ever looked back. EXCELLENT customer service!!!!!”

I agree. There are banks have fee free accounts and chequing. ING Direct and President’s Choice just to name a couple. I don’t know why people would pay a monthly fee to have access to their own money.

I use VanCity. a CU here on the lower mainland. My chequing account is fee-less. The only requirement is that I keep $1000 as a base. That’s not too hard to do. I haven’t had to go under it yet. Most of the big banks make you have at least $5000 before they consider that option.

I hear you newtechie. I ride in town a lot and I spend as much time looking in my mirror as I do ahead. One thing that has helped a lot is I got a cherrybomb light for the back of my bike. It’s a red strobe that you can see a km away and so far I haven’t had anyone come close to me. If they are texting, they see the light so to speak, pass me, then carry on texting.

In fact, people have been pretty decent. I’ve had more close calls on my motorbike than my bike bike. End of day, only I can protect me.

The budget allows the government to convert to equity any deposits that are uninsured. So if you have a million in a bank that goes into distress, you could unwillingly become a shareholder in the self same bank.

But this isn’t really that unusual. What a lot of people don’t understand is as a depositor, you are the bank’s creditor – they owe you. So like in any case of corporate insolvency, the creditors can force liquidation of the company, so company’s often do a CCAA whereby creditors end up as shareholders, in order not to close the doors.So if say RBC went insolvent, instead of their being months of uncertainty, the company creditor arrangement process would kick in immediately making those depositors shareholders, solving the insolvency process, but making it hard for those people whose cash become equity to pay their bills.

So, if you have more than $100,000 in a bank, you are at risk, and the solution is to move the excess to a different bank that is insured by CDC. There are some 80 institutions that qualify, so you can protect up to 8 million dollars

Pylot: “The only requirement is that I keep $1000 as a base.”

I’m pretty sure the other two banks I mentioned don’t have that necessity.

Cycling

Is bicycling allowed on provincial highways?

Almost all of the provincial highways may be accessed by bicyclists. The only exception is urban freeways (portions of Highway 99, Highway 1 in the Vancouver area) where bicycling is prohibited for safety reasons. In these cases cyclist are required to use the parallel street network which ends in the same destination.

Some segments of road may have narrower shoulders than what bicyclists desire. For further information on the ministry’s cycling policy see our special section on this webpage at: http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/BikeBC/

Why do bicyclist have to active the flashers before going into the tunnels on Highway 1 east of Hope?

The series of tunnels on this segment of Highway 1 were designed and constructed decades ago to the standards of the day. They have very narrow shoulders and some of the tunnels are on a curve so it is difficult for motorists to see cyclists in the tunnel. The ministry is piloting an active warning sign sign to warn motorist to be more aware of the fact that a bicyclist may be present in the tunnel, and to proceed with extra caution.

The rumble strips on the shoulders make bicycling difficult—is the ministry going to continue using them?

Yes, as long as there is adequate shoulder width for bicycling, ministry will consider using shoulder rumble strips. Studies have indicated that where rumble strips are in place, off-road accidents have been reduced. Gaps will be left in the rumble strips on highway segments to allow opportunities for cyclists to maneuver across the edge line to avoid obstacles on the shoulder. Rumble strips are also terminated prior to most driveways and intersections to allow comfortable turning movement by cyclists. See the Q&A under “Safety” for more information on this topic.

While we’re on the subject of bikes, from the motor vehicle act (below) – keep in mind under the MVA a bike is a vehicle. When passing a bicycle, you are required to use a safe distance – which isn’t two feet. A safe distance is the distance if the bike swerved to avoid a pothole, or fell over to the left, you wouldn’t hit them. Too many of you come up behind a bike, and squeeze between the bike and the oncoming car. You have another option (which is the legal one) – slow down, wait for the oncoming car to clear, then pass the bike, just like you would a car.

Duty when overtaking
157 (1) Except as provided in section 158, the driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle

(a) must cause the vehicle to pass to the left of the other vehicle at a safe distance, and
(b) must not cause or permit the vehicle to return to the right side of the highway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle.
(2) Except when overtaking and passing on the right is permitted, a driver of an overtaken vehicle,
(a) on hearing an audible signal given by the driver of the overtaking vehicle, must cause the vehicle to give way to the right in favour of the overtaking vehicle, and
(b) must not increase the speed of the vehicle until completely passed by the overtaking vehicle.

Costco getting gas pumps…yea!!!
now the thieving gas pushers in town have sumthin to worry bout…No collusion ??

`In my opinion texting while driving should carry a harsher penalty than impaired driving.It might make these people think twice before texting while driving. Could also save my or someone else`s life.

So is North Korea to become a big hole in the ground?

For those who think your overpriced hybrid is going to save the world have a read.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/10/is-the-tesla-model-s-green/

Terrible to think North Korea would want to nuke any country. The north and the south should unite. I know it’s not Germany. Sure opens up the cold war again doesn’t.

“I know it’s not Germany.” Have been reading a bit on the occasion of her passing and learned that Thatcher pulled all kinds of international strings to prevent or postpone the reunification of Germany, including a secret meeting with Gorbachev. OMG.

The one time I did visit the wattsupwiththat website it looked like nothing more than a site that just compiles stories all from the same point of view. Before I make my mind up on a subject I read all sides and make an informed decision rather than mindlessly nod at a single source.

Good thing that you did not happen to land on the flat earth society site or you would be warning everybody not to go near the edge.

BTW if you look at the bottom of this page there are instructions on how to post a link.

All of a sudden the opinion poll has taken a huge change in direction. Seems more people are expecting to pay less under the PST system because they will be!

The change in the PST poll is known statistically as the “mattyc factor” he’s been hammering on it like a woodpecker on a bug filled tree.

Either that or is hiding under his blankee from the big bad CRA boogie man.

So where do I find the polls on this site? Thanks in advance.

I found it I just my page set up for news not the home page

So lonesome I guess you didn’t spend much time looking around the site. Too bad you would found links to many other sites. Care to refute any of the information.

What do you use for information, the CBC.

But I guess if your mind is made up I guess you are closed to facts.

Billions spent, one would think to check if the money is well spent. Hey even the IPCC is pulling back on their dire predictions.

Consumer Association of Canada states that the BC Liberal Government has drained $677 Million from ICBC profits in just the last 36 Months.

They estimate the transfer of profits will balloon to $1.2 Billion by 2015.

They state that drivers have been overcharged for basic and optional vehicle insurance for the last decade.

So there you have it. Another way for the Liberals to suck money out of your pockets, while claiming that they have reduced taxes.

Have a nice day.

I wonder what the final bill for the Owelympics really is. I know some people that doubled their incomes working to bring this show to the taxpayers of this province.

Seems like spring this year, is like a car that’s been sitting all winter, it needs a boost to get started!

Have a good and safe weekend everyone!

Just spotted this Vancouver Sun story on Google Finance. Thought it might be of interest to some:

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/economy/Standard+Poor+gives+highest+possible+rating+over+budget/8237125/story.html

Palopu: “So there you have it. Another way for the Liberals to suck money out of your pockets, while claiming that they have reduced taxes.”

Don’t believe for a second that the NDP will change things once in power. They sucked money out of ICBC too the last time they were in. They tried to buy our votes back in 2001 with ICBC ‘rebate cheques’. Anyone remember that?

ICBC has been masking itself as a ‘hidden tax’ for all British Columbians for many years. It needs to be shut down… only thing is, the government will get the lost money in some other way.

Legislature Votes to Outsource the Premier

Victoria BC– The Liberal house leader today announced that the office of the Premier of BC will be outsourced to India as of May 1, 2013. The move is being made in order to save the Premier’s $500,000 yearly salary, and also a record $521 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead that her office has incurred during the last 8 years. It is anticipated that $231 billion can be saved to the end of the Premier’s term after the next election. “We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge,” stated MLA Pat Bell (L-PG North). “We cannot remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay,” Bell noted.

Crispy was informed by e-mail this morning of her termination. Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time.

Gurvinder Singh of Indus Teleservices, Mumbai , India will assume the office of Premier as of July 1, 2008. Mr. Singh was born in Canada while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, ON, thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 a month, but no health coverage or other benefits.

It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between Canada and India, he will be working primarily at night. “Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the Dell Computer call centre,” stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview. “I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be Premier.” A Liberal spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of Premier, this should not be a problem as Premier Clark had never been familiar with the issues either.

Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issue at all. “We know these scripting tools work,” stated the spokesperson. “Premier Clark has used them successfully for years, with the result that some people actually thought she knew what he was talking about.”

Crispy will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until her final day of employment. Following a two-week waiting period, she will be eligible for $140 a week unemployment for 26 weeks. Unfortunately she will not be eligible for Medicare or unfair pharmacare.

Crispy has been provided with the outplacement services of Manpower, Inc. to help her write a resume and prepare for her upcoming job transition. According to Manpower, Ms. Clark may have difficulties in securing a new position due to a lack of any successful work experience during her lifetime. A greeter position at Wal-Mart was suggested due to Chrispy’s extensive experience at shaking hands, as well as her special smile and plaid campaign shirt which she is fond of wearing when visiting the “Hurtlands” of BC and travelling the Cariboo Con Highway.

Oldun:
That was FUNNY!