New Motorcycle Laws for British Columbia, Canada
 

There are some new motorcycle laws in British Columbia, Canada that will take effect June 1 2012. The helmet law has been defined and the law now requires all helmets to be DOT, Snell M2005, Snell M2010 or ECE certified.
The interesting law for Dual-Sport riders will be the "Keep Your Butt In The Seat" law. Section 55 of the Motor Vehicle Act, states; "the operator of a motorcycle must be seated astride the driver's seat." Myself, I sit on a riders seat, not a drivers seat... and the law will be left for the police officer's interpretation. The fine will range between $109 to $121, and in addition to the fines, the riders motorcycle will be impounded. Although Section 55 is meant to target stunting it does not rule out Dual-Sport riders as it is applicable to all roads, both paved and dirt, in British Columbia.
Keep this in mind when traveling the roads of British Columbia, Canada.

Thanks for that, good to know.

The other new-ish law that would be of interest to riders passing through B.C. on their way to and from Alaska and/or the Yukon is the 40km/h law.

Bascially if you are caught more that 40 km/h over, they can impound your bike for 7 days.

It's not usually a problem, but there are more than a few places in the interior that you can be riding at highway speeds (i.e. >110 km/h) and then the limit drops suddenly due to road conditions or passing small communities and if you aren't paying attention, it's not that hard to be in violation.

There are a couple stories of unlucky tourists driving poor old mum from the UK on a sight seeing trip through the mountains only to run afoul of the law. They quickly were deposited on the roadside a long way from civilization and were forced to get an expensive cab ride to the next town where they had to rent a car to continue the journey.


Details:

Starting Sept. 20, 2010 drivers caught going more than 40 km/h over the posted speed limit will have their vehicle impounded for seven days, the provincial government announced.

A driver caught committing the same speeding offence a second time will lose the vehicle for 30 days.
The penalty will be 60 days for drivers who are caught for a third time or more within a two-year period.

Additional penalties


Impoundment will be in addition to existing penalties, which include:

• A fine of $368 to $483, depending on how excessive the speed.
• Three penalty points on the driver's licence.
• An ICBC driver-risk premium of $320 a year for three years, over and above regular insurance premiums.

riding from regina up to Alaska and back down to BC
 

anyone travelling up to Alaska and back. I plan to leave Regina on or about 23rd June2012 and get back to Vancouver for about 11th July i would love some company -a welsh lone biker - good advice on the speeding issues!