Road Rules

Long weekends often prompt the police, through the media, to remind everyone about basic road safety. This spring the focus is on red-light running. RCMP Supt. Norm Gaumont is reported as saying, “I’ve told our people there will be no warnings, but tickets only. …The RCMP and Vancouver Police Department and all police forces in BC will be targeting infractions at intersections vigorously in the next couple of months, starting right now.”

The high degree of North American media interest in the recent British elections has been surprising and that contentious road safety issues have attracted some of this attention even more so.  Perhaps the new Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond’s command of the sound bite explains it.  On his first day on the job he said, “The war on the motorist is over,” which is surely an enticement.

The BC Coroners Service investigates and records “all unnatural, sudden and unexpected deaths in the province” and is thereby positioned to identify trends and risk factors in these types of deaths and, in consultation, to appropriately direct recommendations for preventative measures.

On April 27, 2010, BC’s Solicitor-General, Mike de Jong announced proposed legislation regarding penalties for drinking and driving.  There is multi-party support for these proposed changes and they are expected to come into effect in the fall of 2010.

 Visitors to Leonardo da Vinci The Mechanics of Man at the Vancouver Art Gallery (which ended May 2nd) will have been reminded of the marvelous complexity of human anatomy.  Leonardo, we learned, was the first artist to accurately depict the human spine and “five hundred years later no artist or anatomical illustrator has surpassed [this] accomplishment.”  And his studies of the neck and shoulder muscles are as fascinating as they are beautiful.