I have a differing opinion to offer to the one in your " Speed Tax Collection" section....in particular your reference to Highway Patrol's sole"raison d'être" being that of a tax collector.

As a HP Member who spends 10 hours a day in the traffic that you are explaining and describing to your clients I can assure you that it is NOT the case. My chosen career path is to help prevent crashes.....specially to motorcyclists. As a motorcycle rider of some 36 years who has owned more than 24 bikes over the years, both at work and on my off duty hours, I see the results of other people's mistakes. I have been going to crashes since 1980 and have seen very few "accidents". Invariably they are the result of driver/rider mistakes. I'm sure you are aware of, or have access to,  the same research materials that I do, so you know that a significant proportion are the fault of the rider. In single vehicle Motorcycle crashes speed is one of the main contributing factors.

I spend a certain amount of my duty hours writing speeding/excessive speed violation tickets, but I also write tickets for bald tyres, worn chains, unlicensed or uninsured riders, non-functioning signal/tail/brake lights, exposed primary drive systems and other mechanical problems.

I also issue tickets for passing over solid lines, failing to keep right, running stop signs, passing on the right, following too close, driving without reasonable consideration, driving without due care and dangerous driving & then go to court to hear these same folks perjure themselves on the stand.

I spend much of the rest of my time trying to remove impaired drivers from the Hwy you ride on, removing unsafe commercial vehicles, ticketing those slow drivers who hold up traffic, seizing alcohol and drugs, recovering stolen vehicles and property, arresting people wanted on warrants, helping stranded motorists in the middle of nowhere....and....oh yes....investigating all those "accidents". I'm the guy who gets to knock on your neighbour's door at midnight & tell him that his son has just killed himself in a crash (he was speeding & lost control) and spend the next 6 months writing the file up. I get to examine the body in the morgue from someone who was killed by hitting their head on the road while wearing a "beanie"...or had their $1000 full face fly off because the chin strap wasn't fastened.

I also spend some of my on duty time escorting kids from your school on
their "walk-a-thon", speak to them about road safety & how to avoid getting
killed on the Hwy and maybe even change a spare tyre for your wife & kids on the roadside or wait till the mechanic I called for them gets there. I also rush pregnant or injured folks to the hospital so that people can survive out there.

My job is typical of the other HP Members that I work with & have worked with over the years. In spite of what you might believe, our REAL "raison d'etre" is saving lives. Sometimes we attempt to adjust driver/rider styles by verbal warnings, written warnings and yes...even tickets. Some driver/riders just don't adjust on their own and in enough time...then we go to their crashes and get all the paperwork that follows. Sometimes that speeding ticket is the egg that needs to be broken to make the omelette. I don't apologise...I just care about what I see every day out there.

Dave Hay  hay@connected.bc.ca
GWRRA Assistant National Director Rider Education.
Canadian Rider Education Programme (Gold Wing Road Riders Association)

Brian's response:

We certainly don't disparage those many good things which you talk about doing in your job. We would always encourage people to wear complete safety protection and to always ride within their abilities. I don't envy you your experience of having to deal with the tragic results of those who do neither.

I'm pleased that you issue tickets to those motorists who fail to keep right and who drive too slowly. But I think you must be one of the few HP members who does this. I've certainly never heard of anyone receiving a ticket for either of these offences. I'm also impressed by the fact that you seem to give out tickets as a last resort. Again that has not been my experience, nor the experience of those I talk to.

Our real argument is with the inappropriate speed limits on many roads in BC. (One of my personal favourites is the ridiculous 80-90kmh limit on that marvelous piece of pavement between Whistler and Pemberton. Aside: why do we have different speed limits for trucks and cars in some areas but not for bikes?). I fail to see that, on a clear dry day, ticketing a properly dressed rider on a well maintained machine, going 81kmh in a 60kmh zone which has suddenly appeared for no apparent reason on a rural backroad, has anything to do with traffic safety and has everything to do with speed tax collection.  And you know what, Dave? I think much of the public looks at it that way.
  
I won't even get into the spreading scourge of double yellows. Perhaps a discussion for another day. I look forward to meeting you one day, maybe on the road.  I'll hope you are on a (non-police) bike.