Pedestrians and crosswalks

     So I have been doing some light research lately on Crosswalks. The information I have found is from the "Summary Offence Ticket Booklet" I got online from the DMV which was current as of the date I downloaded it and last updated as of effective September 1, 2012.

     The first thing I have found is that Failing to yield to a pedestrian in crosswalk or even stopped and facing a crosswalk is a violation of section 125 subsection (1) (There is also the stipulation for a median divided road as well "roadway on which vehicle is travelling in roadway divided by median section 125 subsection (2)", this has the same fines and demerit points as subsection "1") of the "Motor Vehicle Act", there is a Out of Court Settlement option ('Guilty plea') The first offence will cost you $687.41, the second offence will then cost you $1262.41 and the final and subsequent offence will then cost you $2412.41.

     Now you also have the option in which to take it to court and fight the charge if you believe you have been charged for the offense unjustly, However if you do take this option and lose the cost of the fine will increase. Now if found guilty in court or if you plea guilty on your own their is the added fine of 4 demerit points that come off of your license as well.

     Now the question I pose is this. How does a pedestrian prove that the driver did not stop while he/she was trying to cross the road at a marked crosswalk?. Is the pedestrian able to video record the incident (where as most people now have wireless devices that can record high quality video and sound on them at almost all times)? If so who would they then take it to to report the incident; and would the would be offender be charged for the offense?.

     Leave a comment below and let me know what you think and or know.

Youth who are a minimum of 16 years old are considered adults when charged with offences under the Motor Vehicle Act or the Motor Vehicle Inspection Regulations.

Gas And Dash is a crime

     OK so I am an employee with a gas station in the Maritime's, we do enforce the prepay system as of 7pm AST, but yet people still get upset that they have to prepay.
     We still have 2 or more Drive Offs a week and for normally $50+ dollars and that is just the 1 site I work at that is 24/7 site. There are hundreds of gas stations throughout the Maritime's/Canada.
     Every time there is a drive off we have to call the cops, they have investigate it, thus taking them away from other priorities in the area that are more important than a Gas And Dash, that is alot of man hours wasted every year.
CBC just aired a video article on this as well http://bit.ly/Gas-and-Dash. There is no difference between prepaying your fuel and paying once your done other than the Gas company is not out the cost of the fuel when you have to prepay first.
     The order you have to go through to get your gas currently is

1. Pump your gas
2. Walk inside
3. Wait in line (If there is 1)
4. Pay
5. Walk back out of the store
6. Get in your vehicle and then leave

     Prepaying just requires you to go inside and pay then pump then leave, this only changes point number #1 & #4. now for the people that say they do not know how much gas they are going to need, well 75% or more of people these days pay with a credit card or a debit card or gas gift card, almost all gas stations now do pre-authorization's for the gas, thus if you under pump you are only charged for what you pumped and not the original amount you selected, no fuss no muss.
     As for the people that pay cash a little more exercise wont kill anyone by walking back in to get your change and or receipt, it is not hard to do at all.
     People just do not like change (or in some situations exercise) and the fact that the thief's ruin it for the whole.
     (also why do you have to pay for your groceries before you can leave the store and eat them! why can't you eat them then pay for them?)
      Also the thief's are getting smarter as well, I have seen them take their license plate off and then gas and dash, I have seen them use stolen plates, I have even seen 1 guy use a stolen car with a stolen plate from another car, the thief's are getting smarter and more brazen as well. make sure you make a comment here and at this site here http://bit.ly/WilcreNews957, that is where I posted this at originally but expanded upon it here.
     Also there are people out there that say the offender should have to do jail time for their crime, I do agree in a way, but why should they go to jail and live free, get free meals, a roof over their head, TV time and exercise and such all on our tax dollars (This is really another topic all together), make them do time yes, but do not give them creature comforts and make them do hard labor while they are in prison, they are there for a reason not a vacation.
     CBC News ran a article on Wednesday October 4, 2006 1:21PM PT about "B.C. to implement 'Grant's Law' to protect gas station workers", more info on BC's Grant's Law can be found at this link HERE with contact information for the Director of Communications for the BC Federation of Labour.

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Nova Scotia Child Maintenance & its effects

     The child support in Nova Scotia is 1 sided for the parent that has the children. the monthly money that is given to the parent that has the children is solely based on the income of the parent that does not have the children no matter how much the parent that has the children makes, for most they have a minimum wage job but there are a few of the lucky people that do not, that goes for either parent.

     I like many others have the minimum wage job while my ex has a job that pays well above minimum wage but yet what she makes hourly is not taken in to account for the money that has to be paid out by me to her, she gets my money plus money from the government and her job as well as more GST when it is issued plus baby bonus and or any other government program for single parents that is out there. most people that have the kids get more money monthly than they make at work while the one that does not have the children don't make much more than you would get while being on social assistance. The only way for the parent that does not have the children to get ahead is to have a job that is off the books (Which if you speak to a lawyer they will even agree to that) but even then that can come back and bite you in the end.

     also if at any time the parent that doesn't have the children gets a pay raise in any way other than a minimum wage increase it has to be claimed and thus the monthly payout is increased again so any pay increase is nullified and a hindrance for the one that got the raise for they are no better off. Also if child maintenance says you owe back pay then they will take their normal cut of your pay cheque plus they will take the arrears as well bit by bit, but in most cases like mine they were taking up to and including 90-95% percent of my pay every 2 weeks, so working 50+ hours a week on the books can net you after tax's $100-$150 if your lucky. but yet when you go and try to point out to the system what they are doing to you everyone says you called the wrong person and or department and you have to talk to so and so and the cycle restarts itself again. And with all of that being said the person paying the child support has no say in how the money is spent once it has been paid out which is wrong and should be changed.

     The intent of the money is to be there for the children to get them what they need food/clothes/schooling, but unfortunately most parents that get the money spend it on stuff they want or say they need instead of using it for the children. it is not uncommon for the single parent to have the newest toys TV's, Cell Phones, Computers, cars and such all because of the monthly income they have from the Ex's and the government and their own jobs as well (They live high on the hog while the other is living on the slop).

     What should be done is have the monthly maintenance fees be accounted for as to where they go and how it is spent, also the actual monthly payment should be calculated on both parents income, for example, my income from my job is lower than my ex's; so say if i make $11/H and she makes $13/H the $2 difference should come off of what Is paid to her (Putting me at a lower rate of pay and making it a little easier for us to live), this way the parent without the children can live in a 1 bedroom place and not a low income place and afford to have food on a regular basis instead of depending on friends and or family for help with money and or food to survive pay cheque to pay cheque. People have always cried unfair and or discrimination for one reason or another yet no one has ever done anything about the child maintenance that is paid on a monthly basis by the large portion of the population.

     This link here http://bit.ly/P6TzEV will give you a calculation of approximately how much you would have to pay monthly based on the number of children you have and what province you live in.

     And as it states on that link

• The number of children;
• The province or territory where the paying parent lives; and
• The paying parent's gross annual income.

     At no time does it mention the person that has the children because to the government it does not matter how much they make just what you make and how much they can take from you. Also the rates that are to be paid have a habit of changing, the last change was done on December 31, 2011.

     If you base the monthly payment say on $26000 gross income a year the new payment http://bit.ly/NIEs6p would be $380.00 + 1.3% where as the old payment http://bit.ly/N72lmU would of been $388.00 + 1.67%. As for the % after the dollar amount I assume is a monthly fee collected by the government probably for handling or what not.

     Now the $26000 gross income is based at $11/H, but after tax's all that is seen is $22039 (Approximate), that is almost $4000 that is not seen by the average person but yet is taken in to account when paying child support and should not be, that should make the monthly child support payment be $312 + 1.72% that's a difference of $68 a month, that can and does go along way for food and such.

     Now the Total Monthly Income (Gross) for $13/H is $2253.33 which in turn is Annually $27040.00 but has a tax pay out over the year of $4209 which in turn leaves them $22831 yearly ($1902.58 monthly) after tax's.

Canadian Income Tax Calculator 2012 was used http://bit.ly/MzQhtt

     With that stated  without any deductions of any sorts there is no real big difference in the pay at the end of the year, but when filing tax's there is a big difference in the returns that are given back between the 2 people. So why is it that child maintenance is taken before tax's are deducted yet when filing for your yearly tax return you can not claim it in any form.  "Q - Can parents claim or deduct child support payments for income tax purposes? A – This depends when the child support order was made. The Income Tax Act was amended in 1997. Before the amendments the rules were that the paying parent could claim child support payments as a tax deduction, and the receiving parent had to claim the support as income. If your child support order or agreement was made before May 1, 1997, the old tax rules continue to apply, unless you obtain a new order or agreement or vary the order after May 1,1997. Child support orders made or varied since May 1, 1997, cannot be claimed as a deduction by the paying parent and the receiving parent does not have to claim the support as income." Source http://bit.ly/L70Zds

Tufts Cove to cost $93 Million

Nova Scotia Power was given the OK on Monday to spend an extra $8.7 million on its Tufts Cove waste heat recovery project. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff / File)

     Here is another article that I was able to come across, this time done by JUDY MYRDEN; It is about NSP (Nova Scotia Power) and the Tufts Cove project to cost $93 million which is up from the original cost that put out on Sept. 12, 2007 in the amount of $66.2 million, this is the second increase since it was put out 3 years ago, the first increase was approved on May 28, 2008 to increase the budget for the project to $84.3 million.

     This means that they were approved to increase the spending to get this project done the first time by 18.2 Million not even 1 year after it got started; Now we are in to year 3+ and the project is still not done but they were approved for another financial increase for the project of $8.7 Million more, this does not seam right to me, power rates seem to go up every other year, yet the company is consistently making a profit every year, Nova Scotia Power Inc. earnings rose to $22.4 million from $16.6 million, so they have had almost 8 Million more in profits this year, but yet they still want a rate hike for the consumers, when is enough enough for large companies, no company needs to make this much money after all is said and done; at what point is this going to be considered greed, when all the poor/old age and such can no longer afford to have power where they live.

     Who here wants to have a possible rate increase from Nova Scotia Power of 18% (industrial) and 12% (residential), I know I do not, sure I use power, but I know I am using right around the same amount now as I was back in 2000, my rates have gone from Basic Charge of $21.00 to $21.66 and a per KWH of $0.0835 to 0.11612. That is a basic charge increase of $0.66 (3.1%) and a increase of 0.03262 (71.9%) per KWH used and yet get hit with a high wind storm and we lose power for who knows how long; I say increases like that should have results that can be seen and tested.