If you鈥檝e ever travelled down a one-way during rush hour, there鈥檚 a good chance you鈥檝e been held up by a vehicle attempting to turn left across a double yellow line.
According to Const. James Grandy with the Penticton RCMP, this is a common traffic violation that the RCMP watch for.
鈥淭urning left on a double solid line, especially on Main Street when it鈥檚 quite busy, is a concern,鈥� said Grandy. 鈥淲e are actively ticketing, or at least warning, drivers that it鈥檚 just not acceptable. Especially when you have streams of traffic behind you.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not only unsafe, but it鈥檚 making Main Street a lot more congested.鈥�
In B.C., 840 tickets were issued in 2017 for crossing a solid double line. Penticton RCMP could not provide statistics for how many tickets are issued within the city when it comes to illegal left turns.
鈥淚t comes down to the fact that there are hundreds of motor vehicle act (tickets) that can be issued to drivers,鈥� said Grandy.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just not enough police officers and traffic unit members to be able to enforce all these motor vehicle act (provisions).
鈥淛ust pulling people over for turning left on a double solid line, you could spend weeks and every day you could continually ticket different people for doing it. There鈥檚 no end to it.鈥�
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Penticton also has two one-way streets that leave many drivers confused about the legality of turning left onto them when the light is red.
In 2017, 207 tickets were issued in the province in relation to drivers performing improper left turns.
鈥淏eing able to turn left on a one-way street, which we have a couple of in Penticton, is legal on a red light as long as it is safe to do so,鈥� said Grandy. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 see a lot of legal issues with that.鈥�
He did note that if a driver were to turn left onto a one-way and it was not safe or caused a traffic accident, he or she could be found at fault by ICBC.
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鈥淯ltimately, in the case of turning left onto a one-way when the light is red and it鈥檚 unsafe to do so, it鈥檚 not different than being at a stop sign and proceeding too quickly or not quickly enough and not giving drivers enough time to stop,鈥� said Grandy.
Grandy said while RCMP are watching for these types of illegal left turns, ultimately they are more concerned with more serious offences such as operating a cellphone while driving.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge priority for finding drivers committing more serious offences, like talking on your cellphone, running red lights, excessive speeds and things like that.鈥�
To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.
<>Jordyn Thomson | Reporter
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