DriveSmartBC

When winter weather turned bad suddenly I would often find my shift was a busy one, driving from vehicle to vehicle in the ditch at the side of the road. Of course, we were obligated to check collisions and insure that no one was hurt but in this situation manpower often did not match the number of incidents reported. The situation was made worse by repeated reports of the same vehicle with a different description and location.

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.

Slow Streets is a Vancouver based urban planning and design group. Their website features the biography of Darren Proulx who describes himself as a plangineer of places, active transportation and tactical urbanism to create great cities for people. The group's position is that "A street is more than simply about moving automobiles. Reconsidering the use of streets can achieve significant and positive impacts for cities."

I usually talk about driver perception and reaction times in relation to using a signal light but it applies equally well to many other areas of driving such as following distances or why the speed limit might seem low on what appears to be a straight road. The question is "How long do I need to do something such as signalling before I change lanes?"

The Canadian Center for Drug Abuse and Addiction has released a report titled Measuring the Impact of Drug Impaired Driving. The report suggests that not enough is known about driving while impaired by drugs other than alcohol and its effects on people living in Canada.

Wikipedia defines road rage as "aggressive or angry behavior exhibited by motorists." Robert asked me to write about it after reading last week's article on aggressive driving. He attributes most road rage incidents to slow drivers, especially those who block the left lane. People dislike having their driving controlled by someone else he said.

The US National Safety Council in partnership with Toyota and the University of Iowa has created the "My Car Does What?" website in response to the finding that many drivers do not know how to use the safety features that are found in the modern vehicle. The site is meant to be a simple answer to: how do safety features work? When should they be used? Do I have them in my car? and How can I find answers to these questions?

The case of R v Alderson takes place in Campbell River. It involves Jason Alderson and Michael Brown, who met while Mr. Brown was backing out of a parking lot onto Leishman Road. Mr. Alderson drove by on Mr. Brown's left and was subsequently confronted by him a short distance away.

A good definition of an aggressive driver is "an individual committing a combination of moving traffic offences so as to endanger other persons or property." Do you fit this definition? Due to our built in optimism bias, the answer to this question is most likely "no."

The case of Small v Kanhai takes place in the Town Center mall parking lot in Coquitlam. A group of teens had gathered there and were watching Kesean Kanhai perform powerslides with a Mini Cooper. One of that group, Matthew Small, decided to leave and attend another gathering.