Behaviour

It's that time of year again, sunny and dry with a chance of careless smokers. I watched another one take the last puff and then toss the smouldering butt out the window onto the highway while he waited in front of me at a red light.

For the sake of making my point, I'm going to divide drivers who commit traffic violations into three categories; those that don't know the rules, those that make honest mistakes and those who are selfish and don't think about what their actions might result in.

It is fortunate that this type of collision is relatively rare because the consequences are severe. I am speaking of driving the wrong way on a divided highway or freeway.

A message in the DriveSmartBC inbox observes that there is such an incredible shortage of common sense about the practicalities of driving, as well as so many people who seem unable to think clearly any more. You cannot get people to drive better just by saying "drive better".

I watched a woman run a stop sign the other day while I was out for a walk. Drivers do make mistakes, but I knew that this was a route that she travelled often and she should be familiar with stopping there.

Ah courtesy, where have you gone? You are certainly scarce on the highways and byways of our fair province! When was the last time another driver did something nice for you to facilitate a movement? Did you wave to say thank you afterwards? We can all get along nicely with a bit of courtesy now and again.

I've written before about the three Es of road safety; education, engineering and enforcement. The enforcement component was the subject of a comment to me concerning a visible police presence on our highways. The observation was that the use of unmarked police cars contributes to what seems like minimal enforcement and creates an "I can get away with it" mindset.

Whenever we hear of a high speed crash involving a new driver we shake our heads in dismay. How could young drivers consider operating their vehicle at such speeds? Don't they know that it is dangerous to drive like this?

The left lane is so popular lately that when I keep right I often find myself behind fewer vehicles at the next red traffic light. In fact, at one particular intersection on my commute many times I can be first in line. Everyone else seems stuck in the left lane trying to get ahead, fuming, following too closely and making sudden lane changes.

Few of us like to live life on the edge. We save money for a rainy day, plan ahead in our lives and expect that everything around us has a built in safety factor. If it turns out that an insufficient safety factor injures us we expect someone to be responsible for it.