I read with great concern that Council has taken the first of three steps to approve electric cars for use on city streets.
I have many concerns for the safety of their operators and occupants and that of other road users in our city. This concern is also shared by Transport Canada on their website. To quote: “Transport Canada does not encourage the use of LSVs on public roads, since they since they are not required to provide the same level of safety as mainstream vehicles.”
To ensure a suitable level of safety, a passenger car maker has to design, manufacture and test for up to forty safety standards, whereas a LSV manufacturer is required to meet only three minimal safety requirements. This is far fewer than for any other vehicle class that is regulated under the MVSA.
Note: LSV safety standards do not match the safety standards of conventional larger, heavier motor vehicle classes that travel our public roads. This poses a real threat to people inside LSVs, if they are operated on public roads.
There are no crash studies made on these vehicles, no air bags, no crumple zones, no padded areas, no construction standards that require them to meet any sort of realistic safety and construction standards. One could only imagine what would happen to the occupants of even a 10 kmh collision when it hits one of our signature diesel pickups with logger box and a tidy tank full of fuel in the back.
Campbell Rivers already know how well the Electric bicycles have integrated with our traffic flow. It’s hardly a pleasure to encounter them riding 20 kmh in traffic and their users seem to, by in large, ignore the traffic laws.
If council approves the electric cars, we will now add a vehicle with a maximum speed of 40 kmh to areas like Dogwood, Alder, Rockland and Galerno with their hills.
We will have permitted another “rock in the stream” around which other road users will have to flow.
If these vehicles had a traditional fossil-fuel engine they would not be permitted on any road because they lack the required existing safety features. Because they have a slow speed electric motor, all the safety standards that save lives in the other vehicles on the road, are waived in the name of Environmentalism.
I suggest that Council do some more research before they take the next step. Would you feel that your family is safe riding in one of these?
Dave Hay
Campbell River