Re: “Paint a rainbow in Chilliwack and you will face possible prosecution,” Lee Keane, Nov. 22.
Ms/Mr. Keane, thank you for the brief criminal code lesson. You referenced the ‘Canadian criminal code,’ however, even in your own argument, you fail to make a point in your favour. You recite the criminal code but don’t in fact make any correlation between it and the rainbow crosswalks.
Unfortunately you are trying to apply a federal criminal offence to the rainbow crosswalks. However, B.C. roadways fall under provincial jurisdiction through The Motor Vehicle Act of B.C.
The Motor Vehicle Act of BC includes Chapter 18 part 3 section 119:
“crosswalk” means
(a) a portion of the roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs or by lines or other markings on the surface, or
(b) the portion of a highway at an intersection that is included within the connection of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on the opposite sides of the highway, or within the extension of the lateral lines of the sidewalk on one side of the highway, measured from the curbs, or in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the roadway.
From what I can see, according to our provincial traffic laws, there doesn’t actually appear to be any specific bylaw or regulation that dictates the colour a crosswalk can or cannot be painted. It does however state a crosswalk must be “distinctly indicated for a pedestrian by signs or by lines, or other markings.”
If a crosswalk painted in rainbow colours is not “distinctly indicated” enough for you, then I suggest you have your eyes checked, and I worry about your own safety as a pedestrian.
Clarke Fryer