Today, Richmond City Councilors voted 6 to 3 in favour of allowing the ZENN, an electric car that tops out at 40km/h (that’s just under 25 miles per hour) to roam Richmond streets. I was automatically reminded of a “driving too slow” ticket my mother received when she first arrived in Canada nearly 30 years ago. The officer cited her as a danger to the road.
The ZENN zero-emission vehicle.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the habits of Vancouver drivers, it’s pretty safe to say that the drivers here are a bunch of lunatics… especially in Richmond. There’s a lot of controversy around this. A lot of people tend to play the race card, laying the blame solely on Asian drivers. Some blame the driver education programs, where they hammer the rules of the road into your head… but not the practical rules. I learned on the same system; and failed my first class 5 road test with one violation – entering a bus lane (the route was tricky, I swear!).
The one thing that truly bugs me about allowing these ZENN cars to go around Richmond is that they’re too slow. Coun. Derek Dang was correct in protesting that these cars shouldn’t be on the road if they can’t keep up with the likes of Ed Lau*… Furthermore, Richmond has a pretty bad history of street racing. There have been several attempts at quelling the street race culture, mostly stemming from REVscene.net, an online forum comprised mostly of people who love modifying cars.
In fact, REVScene members have been pretty public about speaking against street racing, and how it’s a dangerous lifestyle. They’ve even teamed up with Constable Rob Quilley of the Richmond RCMP and Detective David Bruce-Thomas of the Vancouver PD, the two officers who formed Resist the Race to help educate young drivers on why it’s not the greatest idea to street race.
I don’t condone speeding, nor do I condone street racing, but Mr. Dang raises a pretty significant point. Richmond drivers simply are not willing to put up with people who drive slowly.
If it’s any consolation, you won’t be able to get these cars out of Richmond. Unlike city streets, highways have a mandatory minimum speed that you must be able to maintain.
So what does this mean for the future of Richmond drivers? Will we all be in a green 40km/h vehicle that has the possibility to cause traffic jams and congestion along major routes like Westminster Highway (the main turnoff to Knight Street Bridge), or along Gilbert, heading out to the airport/downtown Vancouver? Or even down Steveston Highway just to get to Silvercity Riverport? For $20,000 per car, I’d rather stick with my Mazda 3, thanks.
*Sorry, Ed. You’re a safe driver, we all know that.
Special thanks to Michael Kwan who helped me edit some grammatical errors in my post!
2 Comments
The concept of an electric car on the road isn’t so bad. The problem is that it only goes 40km/h. If it were able to attain the same 55-60km/h top speed that 49cc scooters are able to attain, then it would be much more acceptable.
Actually, that brings another interesting point. Since these cars are only able to do 40km/h, would you need a full license to drive one? You don’t for scooters under 49ccs.