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The partial brake drum would have been travelling at about 80 km/h when it struck the windshield of this SUV, killing a Calgary woman. (CBC)

A Calgary woman is dead after a piece of a brake drum shot through her windshield at 80 kilometres an hour as she was driving on the Trans-Canada Highway.

The woman, 25, was driving alone in her Toyota SUV westbound behind a tractor-trailer near the Stoney Trail exit on Monday night, said Calgary police.

Police said the partial steel drum — believed to be from a large commercial vehicle — was lying on the road and was kicked into the air as the semi drove over it.

The circular steel piece weighing about 13.6 kilograms would have hurtled back at the woman's SUV at about 80 km/h, said acting Sgt. Colin Foster from the Calgary police traffic unit.

The woman suffered head injuries and was rushed to Foothills Medical Centre, where she died. The semi driver stayed at the scene to help police with their investigation.

More than 1,000 pieces of hazardous debris have been picked up from Stoney Trail alone in the last six months. (CBC)
Police are looking for the driver of the commercial vehicle from which the drum fell.

"What we are seeking is for any commercial vehicle driver to examine his vehicle and come forward so we can complete a thorough and full investigation on behalf of the deceased's family," said Foster.

"I can't comment as to whether any charges are pending on that case. The driver … may not know that this defect has occurred on this vehicle."

Foster said this type of event is "exceptionally rare," but encouraged drivers to keep a safe space between their vehicle and the one in front.

"So that if something does happen they may have a chance they can avoid it," he explained.

Call 911 to report dangerous debris
Records for Carmacks, the company in charge of patrolling Stoney Trail for debris, show a crew went through the area about an hour before the accident, said Gary Brooks, a highway division manager.

"We do routine patrols in the weekdays every two hours between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and every four hours after that," he told CBC News.

In the last six months, Carmacks has picked up more than 1,000 pieces of hazardous debris from Stoney Trail alone, Brooks added.

Foster encouraged the public to call 911 if they notice any debris or dangerous items lying on the road.

"Those are sort of hazards of the road that everybody has got to be aware of, and the sooner we know that there is debris out there, the sooner we can get that stuff addressed and removed," said Jack Brown, an operations manager with Volker Stevin, the company that maintains highways in southern Alberta.

Item 5.1 Okanagan Similkameen Airshed Coalition.pdf

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Item 6.1 Bylaw Dispute Adjudication Program.pdf (for some reason RDCO has this under Bylaw Dispute Adjudication)

*This is only a portion of the agenda ... please click link for entire contents

3.6. BC Transit strategic Planning Session held November 17,2009

Discussion:
.. It was noted that not one of the top five priorities of the Transit Plan dealt with greenhouse gas reductions. As this is a provincially mandated requirement for local governments discussion ensued as to why this is not a priority.

MOTION:
Whereas the average British Columbia community has 2.5% of its citizens using public transportation and that the current BC Transit objective is to double ridership to 5% and

Whereas the BC Transit Strategic Plan is being developed to the year 2030, and the Province has set the green house gas emission reduction targets to be reduced by 80% to the year 2050;

AND Whereas not one of the top five priorities of BC Transits draft strategic transit plan deals with greenhouse gas reductions,

THEREFORE, the Okanagan Similkameen Airshed Coalition recommends that the BC Transit Strategic Plan include in their strategic plan a higher objective than doubling ridership in order to reduce greenhouse gases;

AND FURTHER THAT BC Transit should consider green house gas reduction and improving air quality as part of their list of major priorities to address Provincial climate change and air quality
mandates.

AND FURTHER THAT this resolution be forwarded to the three Regional Districts Boards for support of the resolution prior to a letter being forwarded to BC Transit.

MOVED BY: Sharon Shepherd SECONDED BY: Buffy Baumbrough

CARRIED

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4.5. Anti-idling - Mayor Shepherd, Nicole Marzinzik

Staff provided information to guide the Coalition in a discussion on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from idling vehicles and provide recommendations to the participating Regional Districts.

Ideas:
• Educating and modeling should be the priority, target schools and corporations.
• Develop broad based campaigns (plans) working on behavioral changes using social marketing (resources may be available from Fraser Basin).
• Have sectors set up their own clear objectives on how to reduce emissions.
• Participating Regional Districts should lead by example regarding anti-idling awareness.
• Need to determine where the resources of the emissions are (traffic patterns, talking on cell phone, drive thrus) and who can look at this through their portfolios and promote the reduction of idling.
• Inquire if the Federal Government has funding and if they are providing anti-idling ambassadors again this year.

It was agreed that the Coalition should raise awareness and show leadership in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, before recommending an anti-idling Bylaw to their Regional Districts. The marketing could be done by one Regional District and then share the message throughout the valley. It was noted that it would be a challenge for the RDNO, as there is no
dedicated staff person for Air Quality.

Page 3 of 7

MOTION: SHEPHERD/EDGSON

WHEREAS the UBCM Climate Action Charter, requires each Municipality to become carbon neutral by 2012 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2020 to meet the BC Climate targets,

THEREFORE the Okanagan Similkameen Airshed Coalition recommends to the three Regional District Boards that they receive the anti-idling discussion and the Cracking Down on Idling papers and request that they consider a social marketing program for anti-idling,

AND FURTHER THAT the Okanagan Similkameen Airshed Coalition request regional and municipal governments forward any anti-idling policies to the Okanagan Similkameen Airshed Coalition for their review.

CARRIED

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4.9. Highway Expansion
Chair Patton noted that expansion to a four-lane highway north of Osoyoos is occurring and businesses along the highway are going to be negatively impacted. It was felt that this will become the corridor for Highway 97.

MOTION: LITKE/SHEPHERD
That the Okanagan Similkameen Airshed Coalition recommend to the Regional Boards that a letter be sent to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure asking that they support public transportation as an economical and environmental alternative to Highway expansion.

CARRIED

To the all area volunteer or otherwise:
ROAD CLEANUP CREWS

When out on the roadside collecting garbage, it would be advisable to have proper signage uprighted at the roadside instead of just the hi-visibility vests in order to be seen properly WELL AHEAD of your area of work. Due to an incident on April 18/2009 at approximately 10:40 AM involving two motorcyclists and one of your members, a potentially lethal situation could have been created. I am fully aware of some of the concerns local residents have with motorcycles on Westside Rd in general, but taking the law into your own hands is blatantly unacceptable, and quite frankly it makes the offending party much more in the wrong than any motorcyclist out there can ever be. The incident in question involves myself and a friend from out of town while we were proceeding to travel to Vernon on our motorcycles, where one of your members assumed we were speeding, he stepped out into the middle of Westside Rd right before the turnoff to the transfer site, and attempted to knock me off my motorcycle with his fully loaded bag of garbage he had in his hand. I managed to avoid hitting him, but he forced my friend to stop by standing in the middle of the northbound lane and attempted to push over his motorcycle. While attempting to push over the motorcycle, he took a swing at my friend’s helmet and demanded an apology and ID while all the while trying to push the motorcycle over. This kind of behavior is a hazardous attempt at vigilante justice and could have resulted in my death, and this WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! The member in question would be wise to remember that vigilant justice is illegal and he can count his blessings that two assault charges have not been placed upon him. One should remember that if speeding or other motor vehicle infractions are suspected, one is to take down any pertinent information and forward them to the RCMP, and NOT take measures into their own hands. It is incidents such as this, that are destroying the credibility of the citizens in the area, that they are fair and just citizens representing the views and best interests of the North Westside. To the coward, and that’s what you are, who chooses to use a weapon, to knock someone off their motorcycle, you are on very thin ice legally. Personally, I think you are a coward, and if you have a spine and any decency I’d love an apology to myself and my friend. I’m also sure by now the RCMP have been in contact with you regarding this. If you choose to contact me and my friend, you can call myself.

Lynn Dirks 250-260-4084
and
Robert Uthoff 604-323-0122

The 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid goes on sale April 22 (Earth Day). It has an estimated average combined fuel consumption of 4.7L/100 km or 60 mpg.

Honda has passed the next great milestone on the road to a greener future with the 2010 Insight Hybrid.

Smaller than a Honda Civic, the Insight five-door hatchback seats five adults, has a flat cargo floor with the back seat folded and can travel up to 640 km on one 40-litre tank of gas.

Fuel economy is estimated at 4.8/4.5/4.7L/100 km (58/62/60 mpg) city/highway/combined.

The Insight doesn’t go on sale until Earth Day (April 22) and pricing has yet to be announced, but it will be “competitive” with its main rival, the Toyota Prius.

The heart of the Insight is its fifth generation IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) system that first bowed on the original two-seat Honda Insight a decade ago.

IMA uses energy stored in a battery pack to provide extra power to the engine when needed. What is different is the new IMA allows the Insight to run on pure battery power under certain low load conditions. A 1.3-litre, four-cylinder gasoline engine and a 10-kilowatt electric motor are the power source of the IMA system. Combined, they produce 98 hp and 123 lb/ft of torque. An ultra-thin brushless DC motor is located between the engine and the CVT transmission. During acceleration, the motor adds power. Under braking or gentle deceleration, it acts as a generator capturing kinetic energy to recharge the battery.

When you come to a stop, the engine turns off and the Insight runs on the battery. When you move off, the engine comes back on. Honda calls this Idle Stop.

The seven-module nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery is composed of 84 D-size (1.2 volt) cells giving a total of 100.8 volts and a capacity of 5.7 ampere-hours.

Because it has fewer than the 11 modules in the Civic Hybrid, Honda engineers were able to place it under the floor along with the Intelligent Power Unit (IPU) that controls the IMA system.

Besides the battery pack, the IPU contains the power control unit (ECU) and electric control unit (ECU) along with the battery pack’s cooling system.

Compared to the IMA in the Civic Hybrid, the Insight’s IPU is 19 per cent smaller and 28 per cent lighter. The beauty is it all sits below the floor between the rear wheels instead of up behind the rear seat as in the Civic. The benefit is a flat cargo floor that is 1,935 mm long with a capacity of 891 litres.

Despite its complexity, the Insight is straightforward to drive, but there are some interesting extras. The layout of the instrument panel is like the Civic with an upper tier for the digital speed readout and a lower tier for the tachometre and fuel level.

But on the upper level, the speed is backed by a colour band that is coloured blue when fuel is being used aggressively. It turns blue-green when the driving style is moderate and then green when fuel is consumed efficiently.

On the lower tier to the left of the tach is a needle that swings up and down between blue at the top and green at the bottom to let the driver know when the battery is expending power or getting a charge.

At the centre of the lower tier is the Multi-Information Display (MID) that does a number of things like give range, instant mileage and average fuel economy.

But one of its functions is the Eco Guide. This is explained more fully in an accompanying story, but what it does is plot your fuel consumption. A series of five little plants are shown. As you temper your driving style, little leaves will sprout out. The better you are with the gas, the more leaves you get.

At the same time there is a line below the plants with a bar that extends out to the left or right. This shows how much power is being drained from the IPU under load and how much is going back under braking and coasting from regeneration. In real life, the system is easy to see and understand at a glance. But there’s more.

To the left of the steering wheel is a green button marked “ECON.” Push it and the IMA is recalibrated for enhanced fuel economy by limiting power by four per cent, making Idle Stop come into play sooner, running the air conditioning in recirculation mode and reducing fan speed while smoothing out the CVT gearing changes.

Why, you ask, if ECON is better, did Honda bother with two modes?

Hondas are supposed to always be responsive and sporty. So what the engineers decided was to have one mode for driving when you need more power like merging onto highways and another for stretching each litre to the max.

Several journalists at the press launch noted the Insight bore a passing resemblance to the current Prius. More than flattery, it’s a case of form following function.

Honda did everything to lower drag from moving the radio antenna to the back of the car and adding body strakes near the wheels to smooth out turbulence to making the underneath of the Insight like one, big flat panel. The result was a lozenge shape but with a drag coefficient better than a lot of racecars.

And don’t think that just because the Insight gives new meaning to the term “economy car” that it is cheaply produced.

There will be two trim levels in Canada starting with the LX that features climate control, power locks/windows/doors, remote entry, cruise control and more.

The EX adds stability control, alloy wheels, steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters, Honda’s navigation system with bilingual voice recognition and Bluetooth connectivity. Unsaid at the unveiling of the Insight was the sense Honda is turning its attention to positioning itself as the “affordable” green car company as the slightly larger Civic Hybrid will continue to be sold on the same showroom floor.

And with the 2010 Insight, Honda has made a great first step in that direction.

The next giant step along the hybrid highway.

http://icbc.com/faqs/tickets/reducePU.asp

Westside has been named in its first lawsuit—a small claims action.

Teenager Jared McNeely is seeking $4,277.17 in damages after an April 15 rollover accident on Boucherie Road.

McNeely is under 18 so he has to sue through his legal guardian, David McNeely, who is also named as a claimant in the suit.

The McNeelys did not return calls before press deadline Monday.

But, according to a writ filed with the Kelowna law courts last week, the young driver alleges both the District of Westside municipality and TT Contractors failed to post proper road construction signs.

The accident could have been avoided, claims McNeely, had advanced warning been given about the change in road conditions, .

“I was travelling northbound on Boucherie Road, near Green Bay, when I suddenly and unexpectedly encountered an abrupt and significant change in road surface,” he says in his documents filed with the court.

The small claims court action states that Boucherie Road suddenly went from pavement to “compacted and loose material” at the time, causing him to lose control of his vehicle. A rollover accident resulted.

The youth is seeking damages for the loss of his vehicle, towing and storage charges, company search charges pertaining to the case and personal inconvenience, stress and discomfort.

RCMP will continue to enforce traffic laws on Westside Road.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled June 30 that Westside Road is a legal highway, meaning that the police have the authority to issue traffic tickets.

“It is a highway as defined under legislation,” said Gord Molendyk, spokesman for the RCMP.

The court case related to an incident in 2006 in which the police issued a $138 ticket to Okanagan Indian Band member Raymond Bonneau for speeding.

Bonneau challenged the ticket and a judge at the time acquitted Bonneau, saying that the Crown had failed to prove the road was highway as defined in the Motor Vehicle Act.

The government decided to appeal that decision, leading to June 30 decision by Justice Powers.

“The question is whether or not the road was used by the general public for the passage of vehicles,” states Powers.

“It is clear on the evidence of Mr. Bonneau and Const. Orb that it was. Therefore, the (previous) judge’s conclusion that the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this was a public highway did amount to an error of mixed fact and law.”

Powers goes on to say that, “the road passes through the Okanagan Indian Reserve and there are no impediments to any individuals travelling on that road.

There are no individuals barred from using that road. The evidence is that motor vehicles access the road from non-reserve land.”

Bonneau, who represented himself in court, had pointed to a permit system the band has in place primarily for commercial vehicles using the road.

“There is no enforcement of this system, but it simply operates on an honour basis,” said Powers.

“Mr. Bonneau confirmed that the road was paved and he was 100 per cent sure that the Department of Highways maintains that road.”

Despite legal questions since 2006, Molendyk says the police have continued to be responsible for the road.

Neither Bonneau or the Okanagan Indian Band could be reached for comment.

Abby man killed in road rage incident
By Monique Tamminga - Langley Times - March 13, 2008

Three long-time friends heading to Vancouver Airport for a dream vacation to Hawaii, when the unthinkable happened early Thursday morning.

Silas O'Brien, a 21-year-old Abbotsford man, was mowed down and killed and his two friends left deeply traumatized after the vehicle they were in was run off the road in what police are calling a deliberate act of road rage.

The three 21-year-olds, who are all members of Cloverdale Bible Way church, had just been at a prayer meeting the night before, joined by more than 500 members of their congregation including their families. They were there to wish the three a fond farewell.

Now the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has taken over the case and are looking for the white Ford F250 truck and the driver responsible for this deadly hit-and-run.

Langley RCMP say it started just after 2 a.m. as the young men's Chevy Silverado truck came up behind the Ford truck heading west in the 25800 block of 16 Avenue.

The Chevy, containing the three Abbotsford men, may have tried to pass the truck. The driver of the Ford pick-up then ran the Chevy off the road and into a ditch, said Langley RCMP.

The three men got out of the Chevy to survey the damage. Police believe the driver of a silver Honda stopped to make sure everyone was OK. The three said they were and the Honda driver went on his way.

That's when the driver of the Ford F250 drove back, deliberately heading straight for them.

Sam Dooley, 21, and Luke Stevens, 21, along with O'Brien, were all standing on the side of the road when the truck came right at them.

Dooley and Stevens jumped out of the way but O'Brien was hit.

He died at the scene. His two friends were brought to the Langley detachment and Victim Services was counselling them as they come to grips with what happened.

The three young men's senior pastor Ed Byskal arrived at the scene of the crime on Thursday morning. He had just led the young men in prayer the night before, wishing them a safe journey to Hawaii.

"These young men were well thought of. These are very fine young men," said Byskal. "Last night he got to say goodbye to his family."

Byskal said the three young men were like brothers to each other and have known one another for years.

O'Brien worked with his dad and the two are very close, said Byskal.

The three young men were part of a tight-knit youth group, he said.

IHIT is hoping to hear from anyone who may know something or may have passed by the truck at any point that night.

The Ford truck is a pick-up equipped with a rack able to hold recreational vehicles like snowmobiles. It will have front end damage, towards the driver's side.

Police would like to talk to the driver of the silver Honda that had pulled over earlier to make sure the three were OK.

Call the IHIT at 1-877-543-9217 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.