Turn away from dumb, dangerous driving
You see them every day — the seemingly normal, logical people doing dumb and dangerous things during their daily commute. Here are some examples.
The left-turn winder-upper is my favourite. This driver turns the steering wheel all the way left, while in the intersection preparing to turn left. The oncoming traffic prevents the immediate left turn by the stationary driver in the intersection, who is endangering himself and others by cocking the steering wheels in advance of the turn opportunity. If such a driver is ever hit from behind, he will go directly into the path of that very oncoming traffic, endangering everyone in the resulting scenario. Keeping the wheels straight ahead in anticipation of the left turn is the proper and safe thing to do.
Drivers who stop at the beginning or end of a well-engineered highway-onramp merge lane risk getting hit from behind. Safe and skilful drivers are often caught by surprise by those who balk at the prospect of matching the speed of freeway traffic while merging. Relatively innocent drivers who glance back over the shoulder to check for an adequate space to fill, are shocked to have rear-ended a stopped driver at the beginning or end of a long merge lane. The drivers who hit others from behind are always deemed to be at fault. Despite this fact, I still feel sorry for them. It is about time police issued tickets to the immobile mergers as well.
The most common crash is the rear-end collision. Tailgating is the most common cause of such a crash. There are times when this kind of collision pushes another stopped driver into the intersection, exposing the driver who was hit to a further more dangerous T-bone side impact.
It is dumb and dangerous to follow too closely. Drivers who are the victims of such behaviour should activate the four-way flashers. Most tailgaters do not even know they’re doing it. A flashing reminder is usually enough to get them to back off.
Changing lanes or slowing marginally, if no lanechange opportunity is available, also works to one’s advantage when being followed too closely.
Distracted driving is rampant amongst daily commuters. It is now the leading cause of vehicle death in Canada and the U.S. (and even exceeds drunk driving). Cellphone use while driving is the No. 1 reason for distracteddriving crashes.
There are other reasons drivers can be distracted. Eating when driving is a common travellers’ travesty. Pets on the driver’s shoulder or uncaged can be a recipe for disaster. Applying makeup, reading a map or looking at a GPS or in-car entertainment device can cause predictable problems.
All red traffic lights mean “stop,” whether flashing or otherwise. The solid amber traffic light also means stop, unless one is in the intersection or beyond a point of approach to stop safely. It is just plain dumb to run a red light. The danger of doing so is compounded by the most common location of death on the road — the highway intersection.
Dumb and dangerous actions are not confined to drivers alone.
The cyclist riding with “no hands,” helmetless, tex- ting and wearing dark clothing at night without lights is the closest thing to a death wish that I have seen.
The pedestrian who believes the “Don’t walk” sign means “run” is also an example of the laws of natural selection at work.
The single greatest cause of accidental death is a motor-vehicle crash. In fact, this single greatest cause of accidental death is greater than all other such accidental deaths combined.
(August is a dangerous month for all travellers, but particularly teens. More teens are killed in crashes in the third week of August than in any other week of the year.)
Steve Wallace is the owner of Wallace Driving School on Vancouver Island. He is a former vice-president of the Driving Schools Association of the Americas, a registered B.C. teacher and a University of Manitoba graduate.