Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did raise a committee issue in regard to review of this bill. I think it’s something that we have to be cognizant of. A lot of the time the road conditions that we operate on are basically because of the climate or weather conditions that we’re operating in. Especially when you’re driving on the highway such as the Dempster Highway and basically you’re in the fall time during the rainy season and you got mud from one end of your vehicle to the other end. I think we have to be realistic when we enforce some of these laws that we make. It has to be realistic to the climate and environment that we’re in. Regardless, it’s the person issuing the license. He’s going to have the same problem you have in regard to covered taillights by way of mud or even in the case of a lot of travelling public, especially tourists who come up the highway. For them especially with motorhomes, you’ve got mud from one end to the next and you’re looking for the next station to wash your vehicles off. In most cases, you’re talking a couple hundred kilometres apart.
I think that we have to be realistic that when people are issuing these licences they have to be aware of the condition of that particular day, especially with the condition of our highways. Unless you want to amend the bill and consider that this only applies to paved highways where you can see it, realistically you shouldn’t have muddy plates on paved highways. But highways that basically are built from gravel and mud and whatnot that during the rainy season you will see this problem.
The same thing applies to snow conditions that we see in the winter months when you you’re driving through a blizzard or a major snowstorm. There are going to be these times when basically…So I’d just like to get some clarification from the Minister if he had an opportunity to think about this.
I think that you have, whoever is issuing or basically charging someone under this offence, it should be either a summary conviction or some sort of notification that, you know, you have a problem in regard to the dirt and mud that is on your vehicle. Or even in this case snow conditions. I think that you don’t want to have someone get a criminal record simply because the condition of the road they’re driving on caused the effect that that person is being charged with. The person didn’t personally go out there and coat mud all over his signal lights. It’s a natural thing of how we operate vehicles in the climate that we’re in, in the condition of the highways we operate on. I’d just like to ask the Minister exactly has he had a chance to think about
this and see exactly how we can, you know, whoever’s enforcing this legislation don’t use it as a tool to start charging people every time they drive by with mud on their signal lights.