Unsafe Driving Practices

Question: I have a question/concern about horse carriages in a very busy downtown area and at a very busy intersection blocking the pedestrian crossing, forcing pedestrians to walk around the horse and into the traffic.

Transportation Alternatives' mission is to "reclaim New York City from cars, transforming our streets into safe, sustainable, and equitable places to walk, bike, take transit, gather, and thrive." To advance that mission the group has furnished two freely available toolkits to assist the public in making their neighbourhoods a safer place.

Before I watched this video warning against driving most cars through water on the road that is 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) deep, I probably would not have considered it to be worth my while to find another way around. With flood warnings currently being issued for various parts of BC, the knowledge shared here could help you avoid thousands of dollars in repair costs.

Some days are better than others, but I met more than the usual number of bad drivers on my last one. Tailgaters, speeders and drivers who insisted on changing lanes into the space directly in front of me were well represented. Apparently I'm not alone in my experiences as a ResearchCo poll found that just under half of Canadians dread their local drivers.

When there is a fire, we need fire trucks to get there as quickly as possible. Literally, seconds count. Once on scene, a safe working area, free of other traffic, is required so that firefighters can concentrate on the task. Our Motor Vehicle Act provides for both situations.

Have you ever given any thought to how far you can see at night as you are driving along down the highway? High beam headlights seem to overpower the dark, but there are a lot of situations where we are limited to using just the low beams. I was required to calculate the safe speed using only low beam headlights at a seminar and I was surprised at the result.

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) has released a study on the Impact of the Pandemic on Road Safety & Mobility. The 17 page fact sheet examines the effects of the pandemic on the road safety attitudes, beliefs and practices of Canadians and the information that it contains was gathered from an on line survey consisting of a random representative sample.

A reader explains that several times they've been on the highway and had someone, usually in a big truck or old car come right up behind, so close that they can't really see the front of the vehicle. The reader drives a small Toyota and is frightened by this bullying behaviour. The question is, what do you do when you find yourself in this situation?

Have you ever felt upset enough about something that happened around you in traffic that you wanted to report it to the police? I'm sure that we've all felt that way at one time or another but haven't followed through.

I live beside a road where I can watch an "S" curve out of my window where visibility is limited due to vegetation on both sides. I don't have to watch for long before a see a driver who straightens out the S by driving more or less in a straight line through the corners.