For those who love to drive
In BC many people have to drive for a living, and others have a heavy commute just to get to work. Driving may be a necessity and it may be a chore. But there’s nothing quite like getting where you want to go with a set of wheels. You can accomplish so much in a day if you’ve got a vehicle and you can drive. And in a very pure sense the act of controlling a vehicle, as the wheels turn and push you along in the direction of your choice, is a delight to the senses. We’re driving lawyers and we love to drive. And for those who love to drive, we salute you.
You might be able to get your kicks on Route 66, but for those who love to drive, BC has some surprisingly nice roads.
British Columbia may not have an Autobahn, and there’s no public road where you can lawfully spin your Porsche up to its natural healthy 240 kph top speed, but by virtue mainly of geography, we have some fantastic roads for those who love to drive.
The windy roads
Consider the twists, turns and smooth pavement of Highway 99 – the Sea to Sky Highway. Driving northbound, at virtually every right hand turn there is a grand vista before you. For the Olympics the entire route was improved and repaved. The road architecture is as attractive and clean as some of the newest highways of Germany and France.
If you haven’t driven the Sea to Sky recently, take a trip to Whistler for the day. Enter the corners smoothly; do the braking beforehand, and take care to prepare for the bend. When you’re about 1/3 of the way in, punch it a little. You’ll release endorphins that will remind you why it is that you love to drive. Remember too, that in law the speed limit is the cut off. The police in West Vancouver tend to use stationary radar traps to catch alleged speeders. Moving radar is commonly used by the RCMP once you get out of West Van, and occasionally on longer stretches they set up impromptu laser traps.
If you’re up to a real challenge, continue on to Lillooet. Parts of the highway are as windy as a roller coaster. Drop it into third and hit the throttle. And remember, past Pemberton there’s no one to hear you scream.
Fresh blacktop in the Lower Mainland
The new stretch of Highway 17 from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal to the Trans Canada Highway is one of the smoothest stretches of road you’ll ever find. And of course, this is because the entire road is new.
Because it’s new, many people haven’t incorporated this heavenly pavement into their regular routes and it’s not nearly as busy as we expect it will become over this summer. The road has some nicely banked curves, interesting scenery and only a few traffic lights to spoil the mood.
The west end of the highway falls under the jurisdiction of the Delta Police Department. We’ve found that their equipment is not always performing to spec, so if you find yourself with a speeding ticket from the Delta PD, have some optimism and give us a call.
Further along, if you’re traveling eastbound, you enter the jurisdiction of the RCMP. One thing about the RCMP is that it’s a big bureaucracy that’s slow to change and recognize new obligations. We’re staring to suspect that they haven’t recognized that there is a new stretch of highway to patrol, or at least they haven’t got around to organizing the regular and irregular patrols and speed traps we see in other locations. It’ll change, no doubt, and we still encourage everyone to abide. But we can’t condemn anyone for wanting to move along at a nice clip on a new stretch of asphalt.
You might be able to get your kicks on Route 66, but for those who love to drive, BC has some surprisingly nice roads.
Autobahn für Alle
The Island Highway and the Coquihalla are the closest thing to the Autobahn in BC. Both are highways built for speed and when the conditions are good you can punch it. The Island Highway owes its wide lanes to a previous NDP government that wanted to appease their voters on the Island and win over others with smooth pavement. Smooth black pavement usually wins more votes than free tie-dyed shirts for unemployed hippies.
The nice thing about the Coquihalla, aside from the great vistas and the fact that you get to drive pretty much to the top of a mountain, is that the RCMP aren’t zealous in nailing people who are a few kms over the limit. That is, until you start to descend to Merritt. The RCMP used to have a hard-ass commander in Merritt who seemed to view alleged speeders as either a worse than murderers or a potential goldmine from the fines they levied. Some RCMP traffic cops from Merritt tell us that things have changed and that now they take a more balanced approach.
As we’ve noted, however, the RCMP are slow to change. The safest approach is to avoid drawing attention to yourself. If your speed is remarkable enough to make a cop put down their doughnut, let off a little.
BC Driving Lawyers love to drive
We’re BC Driving Lawyers and like you, we love to drive. Although our daily work takes us to the courthouses all around the Lower Mainland, we don’t restrict ourselves in any way, and we’ll head out to any corner of BC to defend speeding tickets, DUI and IRP cases, as well as all other types of driving prohibitions.
For those who love to drive, we defend you. And we’ll do our best to protect your drivers license if you have a run in with the police.
Our expertise is in driving law. If you’ve got a driving case, call us now: 604-608-1200.