Unsafe Driving Practices

We take many of our driving cues from what is happening around us when we are in traffic. If we are paying attention and watching for the correct cues all goes well. Stop paying full attention to the driving task, accidentally take the wrong cue and you can easily cause a collision.

I try very hard to maintain at least a two second following distance when I drive. This can sometimes be quite a challenge as it often seems that I am the only driver present that thinks this is a worthwhile accomplishment.

I learned early in my policing career that driving on a flooded road could be hazardous. What looked to be a few inches of water running on a city street hid a 2 m deep hole caused by a broken water line.

Now that the snow has arrived I've noticed so many drivers who don't clean off their vehicles. The wiper blade is the only cleaning tool used before driving and frankly that's a collision waiting to happen. Then there are the vehicles behind them who get the blowing snow off the roof and trunk of the vehicle.

Mirror, signal left, brake and stop before the marked stop line. Look left, look right and the pickup that was following behind stops ahead of me on my right, half on and half off the roadway, to make a right turn. Of course, I can't see cross traffic to my right properly, so he gets to go before I do.

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. The same issue exists for the bike lanes. The horse carriages routinely use the bike lanes and cyclists are forced out of the designated lane into the car traffic to get around the carriage. I have also witnessed the horse carriages stopping traffic in all three directions while they make a u-turn in the intersection.

Vancouver's Worst Drivers is a YouTube channel that features submitted dash cam video from BC's Lower Mainland highlighting examples of terrible driving. The videos show collisions, people being dumb behind the wheel, people having no idea how rules of the road work, pedestrians doing stupid things, along with rants on things that drive the channel author nuts about other drivers.

Vancouver's Worst Drivers is a YouTube channel that features submitted dash cam video from BC's Lower Mainland highlighting examples of terrible driving. The videos show collisions, people being dumb behind the wheel, people having no idea how rules of the road work, pedestrians doing stupid things, along with rants on things that drive the channel author nuts about other drivers.

Vancouver's Worst Drivers is a YouTube channel that features submitted dash cam video from BC's Lower Mainland highlighting examples of terrible driving. The videos show collisions, people being dumb behind the wheel, people having no idea how rules of the road work, pedestrians doing stupid things, along with rants on things that drive the channel author nuts about other drivers.

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.