October 2023

“That’s one thing that could lead to police involvement – if you’re using your fireworks unsafely, or if you’re using them when you’re not permitted to do so… If you’re violating those rules that could really get you into trouble because those are considered explosives and they are considered dangerous and there are a number of injuries that people can suffer…”

Mo Amir, host of the podcast This is VANCOLOUR, and Kyla Lee, a Vancouver criminal lawyer for Acumen Law Corporation, weigh in on B.C. politicians trying to make their nicknames for opponents stick, a Vancouver councillor’s attempt to make intersections safer with speed and red-light cameras — and how they handle handing out candy on Halloween.

“In some jurisdictions they’re using intersection cameras to issue distracted driving tickets by using really high-powered lenses to look through the windows of motor vehicles – we probably won’t ever see that in British Columbia because of the privacy concerns.”

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“Intersection cameras can’t identify who was driving the vehicle and the result of that is that the government has made this compromise where if we’re going to be policed by robot, we’re not going to get the tickets added to our driving record and we’re not going to get penalty points which is what most people are concerned about.”

Listen here.

London Drugs says they’re seeing more shoplifting and violence at their stores, and the province is clamping down on short-term rentals. These are just some of the topics we covered with our Soapbox Social panel today.

“There’s not a lot you can do. Unless you actually witness somebody commit the offence, you don’t have a lot of rights to stop somebody. The laws in Canada related to citizen’s arrest make it so have to be effectively very, very sure that what you’re doing is lawful before you take any steps to physically apprehend a person.”

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“There’s a lot of development applications for hotels in this city and there’s a lot of abandoned development in the city that could be turned into more hotel stock. So I think there is a long term strategy in relation to building more hotels but I do have a concern about tourism…”

Listen here.

“It feels a lot like blaming the victim considering the pedestrian was the only one who was following the law.”

“Although the video has generated a lot of controversy online… it’s generating a lot of buzz surrounding pedestrian safety. Even though the execution (of the video) was terrible.”

“As a driver, put your phone away… It’s not worth it for one text message.”

Listen to the segment here.

Richmond RCMP releases a video to help inform pedestrians and drivers about how everyone has roles to play to make our roadways safer.

“How many laws does the driver break in this video?”

“…the driver picks up the phone, clearly something you’re not supposed to do when you’re behind the wheel, picks up the phone , is looking at the phone and at that point almost hits the pedestrian in the crosswalk”

“Wow, this feels a lot like blaming the victim, like here’s this woman, fair enough she’s wearing all black and she’s got her headphones in, so she can’t hear what’s around her. But she’s in a marked crosswalk, and somebody who is using her cellphone while driving almost mows her down and they’re sort of pointing the finger at her for not protecting her own safety? That’s really bad.”

“…not a situation where, as a pedestrian, you’re expecting you’re going to be seen regardless of what you’re wearing in that situation”

“Oh absolutely, as a pedestrian you should take actions to make sure you keep yourself safe because I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect every driver is going to be driving perfectly”

Listen to the full episode here.