[Canada] Near miss in Vancouver - Driver cut off by left-turner [swearing]

[M---]

For any Vancouverite, the location's at King Edward and Oak St.

 

[I Killed It With Fire]

Making a run for the yellow... was red by the time he entered the intersection... tsk tsk!

 

[M---]

It's pretty similar to my November crash-- but in my crash, the roads were dry, and the car cutting me off was moving too fast.

For this guy, had there been a crash, the left-turner would've been 100% at-fault. The road was wet, and I'm pretty sure he couldn't have stopped before the stop-line (remember: wide-angle lenses make things look farther than they actually are).

 

[dashy]

Making a run for the yellow... was red by the time he entered the intersection... tsk tsk!

.

Incorrect, read what m.... Said.
What is the speed limit?

 

[M---]

Speed limit in the city: 50 km/h, and note that the intersection starts at the crosswalk-- he definitely entered the intersection on the orange.

 

[dashy]

And didn't make a run for the yellow either, roads are wet so he deemed it safer to keep going. 2 seconds till he reached the lights and one second later it turned red, we can see more of the red light due to cam car hitting the brake maybe and taking a longer path, although not that much more.

Looking at the left turner, he hits his gas pedal 1 or 1.2seconds after seeing orange......that is bad.

 

[I Killed It With Fire]

Not sure how the rules are in other countries or even provinces, but here (Quebec, Canada) if you go thru a yellow and are involved in an accident, you are automatically at fault. Yellows are quite long here and means "slow down and prepare to stop" (and at 50km/h - 30 mph that's not hard to do within the lenght of a normal yellow, even if the road is wet). Police here often hand out tickets for going thru a yellow. Same fine as a red, but no demerits, unless you are in an accident.

The car turning looks like it was already engaged in the intersection (passed it's stopping line), when his light changed, he cannot back up and has priority to complete his turn. It is not considered running the yellow or red here.

I used to work as a clerk at the municipal/traffic court and heard the "no time to stop" argument over and over. Never seen a judge accept it as the yellow lights here are timed to give you ample time to stop if you are following the speed limit (plus a bit more time for adverse road conditions, remember we have real winters here). Of course road laws are of provincial jurisdiction, but I doubt things are very different in British-Columbia.

 

[M---]

if you go thru a yellow and are involved in an accident, you are automatically at fault.

Are you sure you're not accidentally mistaking it with people running a red? What if the light just turned yellow? If a light turned yellow 0.5 seconds before you entered an intersection, is it your fault if you crash? Most people can't react in 0.5s, let along bring a car to a stop.

I'm from BC, and here it's VERY different from what you've described. The yellow light means you have to stop, unless you cannot do so safely.

Authority: I crashed late on a yellow last fall, and was judged not-at-fault by the government insurance company. The cop who attended the crash scene reviewed my dashcam footage and said 100% the other guy's fault. Further authority: discussion with the bodyshop manager, who gets to see whose insurance claims are at-fault or not.

The was this situation would play out in BC if he had crashed:
1) He entered on a yellow, going straight through.
2) In BC, the car going straight through has the right of way.
2) Turning car started to turn, without ensuring that the way was clear, and that oncoming traffic was actually going to stop in time.
3) In BC, the turning car doesn't have the right of way, and has to yield to oncoming traffic.

Simple and straighrforward.

Where it gets messy is if if a car runs the red. If straight-through traffic runs the red, and the turning car proceeds, the turning car *may* still end up 100% the responsibility of the turning car. That's what the bodyshop manager tells me, anyhow. I don't know if any of those situations had dashcams, though, so it might be that the decisions tend to go this way due to he-said/she-said. Perhaps dashcams would vindicate the turner in this situation, where straight-through traffic runs a red.

 

[I Killed It With Fire]

Are you sure you're not accidentally mistaking it with people running a red?

No, they can be pretty severe on yellow runners who crash here. But re-watching the video, the yellow cycle was very short. Here the yellow cycle is long enough to stop (it's timed according to speed limit) so there really is no excuse.

 

[dashy]

But re-watching the video, the yellow cycle was very short. Here the yellow cycle is long enough to stop (it's timed according to speed limit) so there really is no excuse.

Could that be because it is 50kph as told by M-----???????
How about you time some longer yellows on those 50kph lights that you are telling us about.
We know it is timed according to the speed limit, so how long do you want the 50kph lights to be????? you are confusing things.
No excuse for what? trying not to lock your brakes because too close to the lights to stop under the conditions?

I just timed some of ours today.

60kph= 3.8sec
70kph= 4.5sec
80kph= 4.9sec
I'd imagine 50kph would be similar to the video here (3.4sec)

1)He reaches the lights at 2.1sec .
2)Still has 1.3sec before it went red.
3)Road is wet.

It is likely he was going at or above the speed limit which means more time lost for reaction and less capable his car would be to stop. He might have spun his car by trying to stop.
If you are going at 40kph in a 50kph zone and are 25m from the light in wet roads you can be confident you can stop safely each and every time, but if you are going at 50kph or more, you might not have the confidence to stop.

The car turning looks like it was already engaged in the intersection (passed it's stopping line), when his light changed, he cannot back up and has priority to complete his turn. It is not considered running the yellow or red here.

Who is saying he should back up(reversing at lights is illegal)

And neither is it considered running yellow or red here too, all the more reason the turning driver should have waited longer, he only waited for 1.2sec.

 

[dashy]

Here is what happens when a bus does not give way....
Fatal for car driver in a 40kph zone I think.
Bus should not assume cars will stop and move in their path, bus should have made sure car slowed before moving....

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[Error7]

Here is what happens when a bus does not give way....
Fatal for car driver in a 40kph zone I think.
Bus should not assume cars will stop and move in their path, bus should have made sure car slowed before moving....

From LiveLeak "The car’s driver was rushed to Westmead Hospital in critical condition. He later died in hospital."

The car didn't look too badly damaged, perhaps he wasn't wearing a seat belt.

 

[Gibson99]

From LiveLeak "The car’s driver was rushed to Westmead Hospital in critical condition. He later died in hospital."

The car didn't look too badly damaged, perhaps he wasn't wearing a seat belt.

~60 km/h (effective) into what amounts to a brick wall... that's gonna give you some pretty major injuries even with belts/airbags. and that assumes the sedan was doing only 40 km/h. if he was speeding, all bets are off.

 

[dashy]

Just about everyone here wears a seatbelt.

 

[dashy]

Looks like a 60 kph zone, end of clip shows it

 

[DT MI]

Just about everyone here wears a seatbelt.

I can't imagine driving without one. Multiple studies have shown over and over again that you're much safer wearing one - I really don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to.

(Well, maybe if you don't want your pretty party dress getting wrinkled you might skip it - I'm sure everyone viewing at the funeral will be impressed. <--- sarcasm intended. )

I almost feel naked without one.

 

[flank]

Looks like that small car would have made it across in time too. Car driver didn't even have a chance. Poor guy. This is why I'm big on buying cars with the best safety ratings out there.

 

[dashy]

Yep, if he had hit red it would have been by 1 tenth of a second, bus driver should go to prison for a few months to think about what his stupidity resulted in.