Close X
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
ADVT 
National

B.C. Woman Ticketed After Complaining To RCMP About Student Driver

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 16 Mar, 2018 06:42 PM
  • B.C. Woman Ticketed After Complaining To RCMP About Student Driver
WHISTLER, B.C. — A woman in British Columbia has been fined nearly $500 for traffic violations after she reported another motorist's driving to police.
 
 
Staff Sgt. Paul Hayes says Whistler RCMP received a complaint last July from a woman who said a driving school's vehicle was travelling well below the posted speed limit on Highway 99.
 
 
Officers investigated and found video footage that showed the woman, not the student driver, violating several traffic laws, including using a cellphone to take photos of the other vehicle while she was driving.
 
 
Hayes says the woman was issued two tickets and notes it was likely not the outcome she had anticipated.
 
 
Court records show Joanna Harrington was charged with one count of changing lanes over a solid line and one count of using a mobile device while driving, infractions that come with fines of $109 and $368 respectively.
 
 
Harrington declined comment to The Canadian Press, but in a statement to CBC News she says she was wrong to use her cellphone to document the driving school car, and in overtaking the vehicle before the solid white line ended.
 
 
Harrington was due in court on Monday, but her statement says she missed the appearance because she didn't realize an attempt to postpone the court date had been unsuccessful.
 
 
The statement also says Harrington believes the driving instructor was "more focused on using his student to play games with other drivers than focusing on what he should have been focusing on."
 
 
But driving instructor Todd McGivern said he was simply teaching his student, a woman in her 20s, how to safely respond to tailgating.
 
 
McGivern said it would not have been safe for the student to pull over because shoulders on the stretch of highway between Pemberton and Whistler are narrow and often filled with gravel.
 
 
Instead, he instructed the student to slow down slightly then increase her speed back to the posted limit in an attempt to put safe distance between the vehicles.
 
 
The longer they refused to pull over, the more agitated the other driver became, McGivern said.
 
 
"She's honking her horn, waving her arms around, flashing her lights, using her turn signals, even, to tell us to get off the road," he said.
 
 
The driving school's car was equipped with front and rear cameras, and McGivern later turned video footage of the incident over to police.
 
 
Hayes said the incident is a reminder for all drivers to exercise patience behind the wheel.

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. Unveils Housing Plan That Raises Foreign Buyers Levy And Taxes Speculators

B.C. Unveils Housing Plan That Raises Foreign Buyers Levy And Taxes Speculators
VICTORIA — British Columbia is raising its foreign buyers tax and expanding it to areas outside of Vancouver, while bringing in a new levy on speculators, as part of a sweeping plan to improve affordability in the province's overheated housing market.

B.C. Unveils Housing Plan That Raises Foreign Buyers Levy And Taxes Speculators

British Columbia To Eliminate Medical Service Plan Premiums In 2020

British Columbia To Eliminate Medical Service Plan Premiums In 2020
VICTORIA — A premium long viewed as a financial irritant in British Columbia that is paid by individuals and families for health care will be eliminated on Jan. 1, 2020.

British Columbia To Eliminate Medical Service Plan Premiums In 2020

Widow Of Avalanche Victim Sues Guides, Lodge Operator For Negligence

Widow Of Avalanche Victim Sues Guides, Lodge Operator For Negligence
VANCOUVER — The widow of an Alberta man who died in an avalanche near Golden, B.C., is suing the guides, their mountain guide association and the lodge operator for negligence.

Widow Of Avalanche Victim Sues Guides, Lodge Operator For Negligence

Coquitlam Piano Teacher Charged With Sexual Assault Of 3 Former Students

Coquitlam Piano Teacher Charged With Sexual Assault Of 3 Former Students
COQUITLAM, B.C. — Police in Coquitlam, B.C., are looking for potential victims of a piano teacher accused of sexually assaulting his students.

Coquitlam Piano Teacher Charged With Sexual Assault Of 3 Former Students

Walmart Partnering With Online Grocery Service To Bring Home Delivery To Vancouver

Walmart Partnering With Online Grocery Service To Bring Home Delivery To Vancouver
VANCOUVER — Walmart Canada Corp. says it is partnering with an online grocery service to bring home delivery to Vancouver by the summer, as the brick-and-mortar retailer ramps up its effort in the country to compete with Amazon.

Walmart Partnering With Online Grocery Service To Bring Home Delivery To Vancouver

Scarborough Centre MP Salma Zahid Diagnosed With Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Scarborough Centre MP Salma Zahid Diagnosed With Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
OTTAWA — Liberal MP Salma Zahid says she's taking a medical leave to be treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Scarborough Centre MP Salma Zahid Diagnosed With Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma