Behaviour

I once stopped a vehicle being driven at 96 km/h in a posted 50 km/h construction zone. Approaching the passenger side, I spoke with the woman in the front seat and the young lady driving. When I explained why I stopped them, the woman suggested that she was unable to get the driver to slow down, and maybe I could do something about it.

I've been driving with eDriving's Mentor app for about a year now and know that it has made improvements in my skills. I haven't cracked the top 10% barrier yet, but I'm still trying! The secret to having a high score appears to be trying to anticipate and plan for what is happening around you as you drive.

This is a road rage incident that occurred near Saanich starting on McKenzie Avenue near Glanford Avenue and proceeding westbound. A pickup truck driven by Adam Gleeson engaged with a car driven by Ms. Kirkpatrick in what could be described as an episode of road rage culminating in Mr. Gleeson pulling up beside Ms. Kirkpatrick and spitting on her. This resulted in Mr. Gleeson being charged with assault and dangerous driving.

This must have been Following Too Closely Week in British Columbia. I received the story of an incident in Sooke, an analysis of a video from Richmond and was subjected to this dangerous behaviour myself. You might be able to get away with ignoring the Motor Vehicle Act, but the laws of physics will eventually prevail.

I had an interesting conversation with @itsjim84 on Twitter this morning about the case law article I posted this week on driving over painted traffic islands. He observed that in the case of a left turn queue that had extended past the left turn bay due to insufficient length it was better to be stopped on the painted island instead of in the through lane. Stopping on the island would preclude being hit from behind by through traffic and allow traffic to flow.

This video from Minnesota's Local Road Research Board explains why specialty warning signs often requested by the public to solve a perceived problem can actually make the problem worse instead of better. In fact, it can spread the problem as people learn to ignore these signs as just more background noise.

I never know what is going to wind up in the DriveSmartBC e-mail inbox, but it is bound to be entertaining, interesting, thought provoking or just plain letting off steam at an easy target. I read them all, try to reply with reason and civility and often use them as the basis for an article.

The Driver Code of Conduct from eDriving's on line road safety magazine Three60 is intended to be useful for helping parents to reinforce safe driving messages to young drivers. Having your teen commit to the principles in the guide while they are first learning to drive will help them to minimize or eliminate the risk inherent in motor vehicle operation.

A popular way to try and get speeding vehicles to slow down in residential neighbourhoods is to put up Slow Children at Play signs. Despite our good intentions, research says that there is no evidence that Children at Play signs are effective.

The theme last week among those that I follow on Twitter seemed to be "doesn't play well with others." Whether the subject of the Tweet was a driver, cyclist or pedestrian the behavior highlighted was either thoughtless or selfish. Add an over the top example that I witnessed on Saturday and I wonder why should I behave when I use the highway?