Drivers Make Two Kinds of Mistakes

I appreciate the fact that you want to avoid what might turn into an unpleasant confrontation. I wouldn't want that either. On the other hand, how would you feel if that person causes an accident, "as this was the time of day when children could be present coming home from school", and you didn't say anything?

As you said, "If she is a reasonable person maybe that is all that is required to insure that she stops next time." If a confrontation ensues then you will know that the driver is neither reasonable nor responsible, and I would consider notifying both the Police and the employer. The next time you are using that intersection and you happen to be the one she hits, perhaps you won't survive to say anything, and we would be deprived of your wonderful blog :-((

To our site host: if you were a Traffic Engineer, would you have placed a 'Stop' sign at that intersection, or perhaps a 'Yield' sign?

Is there a sidewalk of any description, a stop line, a marked crosswalk, even? How are the sight lines?

Making no excuses for the driver's illegal behaviour, I wonder if these circumstances might have any relevance. Any chance of a Google Maps link?

Meanwhile, if I have understood things correctly, it seems probable that this driver, in her clearly marked company vehicle, follows this route at more or less the same time eac|h day; and likely then that this is a repetitive behaviour on her part; in which case it would be easy enough to park nearby with your dashcam on.

It seems probable that uploading a short video of her driving behaviour, and sending a link to her company of this video, could provide the best solution.

Companies usually take a keen interest in, and stern attitude toward, the way their vehicles are driven. Major corporations in particular! This has been made evident to me from my work, that has included conducting Driver Assessments for a number of them, including Shell Canada, UBC Lands & Buildings, City of Richmond, Accenture, Fortis BC, and various others.

So clearly presented evidence of this woman's driving - which does not need to be splashed across the internet for everyone to comment and make judgment on - could prove most effective. I would speculate that the repercussions could range from removing her corporate vehicle use privileges to a major safety promotion on the part of the company.

Yeah, my saddle is sore too.  I encouter bad drivers almost everyday.  I walk 5 miles a day, not always the same path, but mostly.  The confrontation issue isn't an issue, for the most part, most of us are not afraid of being right.  However, when you challenge these bad drivers with their errors (like cell phone using while driving) they give you one of two responses, or sometimes both, the salute or the "mind your own business" quote.  Can't fix stupid.  And I think the reservations with confronting these violaters is the arrogant response that deters us.  I do note, that the police enforcement is very invisible.  I rarely see traffic cops doing..... traffic.  Guess its boring and all the young coppers don't want to do boring duties so they all scramble to be a part of the drug squad, I guess.  I like the cop from North Van (correct me if I'm wrong) who does traffic everyday and tries, as a lone copper, to keep the traffic violators to a minimum.  Good for him amd thank you for doing your duty.  I'd like him to clone him for my community.  However, Canada's Worst Drivers comes to miind and that show never ceases to amaze me, how do these BAD drivers ever get their license?  And there's thousands of them out there!  Perhaps we need to start at issuance so we can minimize this bad driving.  Let it be known, I'm not without making a few errors myself. albeit nothing life treatening, but if I'm witnessed to my mistake, I'm the 1st one to say, sorry to the offended other.  It's amazing how owning what belongs to you will decipate the upset and anger of the other driver you've wronged.  Own it.  And apologize.  AND learn from it.  

However, Canada's Worst Drivers comes to miind and that show never ceases to amaze me, how do these BAD drivers ever get their license?  And there's thousands of them out there!  Perhaps we need to start at issuance so we can minimize this bad driving.

Are you suggesting that when they originally 'earned' their driving license, they were demonstrating the same poor behaviour as you have watched on a 'reality' show about bad drivers?

Really?

Driver Examiners can only test according to set criteria, and observed behaviour, at the time of the test. What each individual does from there, how they conduct themselves when they think nobody is watching, is another matter entirely.

Fact is, many - and I dare say this includes you and I and many others reading this - actually and deliberately improve our driving skills after passing 'The Test'. They could make a show based on this, called 'Canada's Best Drivers' ... only it would be so boring nobody would watch it, just as nobody really notices the good drivers ... because uh they're good drivers.

Either way, you have made a lot clear, young lady.

When did that area go to community mail boxes? Could it be the stop sign was installed with the mail boxes to prevent accidents from people pulling in and out?

To say something to a driver is a difficult decision and one that I would base on the seriousness of the infraction. If you are walking down the street you saw the amount of traffic, how fast it was going and if kids were on the street. Use this as a criteria. If you feel strongly enough I would report it to the company with just the vague fact that you observed one of their vehicles failing to stop and that they may want to have a safe driving course for all personnel.

I once stopped a loaded semi for blowing a stop light I was waiting for. The driver offered a feeble excuse that it was a lot harder for him to start from a stop than it was for me to let him go through on a red light. I took down the unit number, licence plate, trailer info and reported it to the company. Never even received an acknowledgement.

As one who deliberately ignore the rules of the road in the form of normally driving above the speed limit I am not in favour of immediately taking a persons licence for an infraction. I still say the speed limits on most highways outside of the greater Vancouver/Victoria area are set below what they should be. This was confirmed when the government raised some of the roads. Now if you were to have taken my licence away for life for speeding and then the speed limit was raised could I have it back? I may have broken the law of the day but I was only doing the speed it should have been all the time.

On the other hand I saw the complete waste of thousands of dollars yesterday in our varying speed limit signs. There was rain, snow, fog, pooling of water and still the sign said 100. Some people were doing the speed limit most of us were down to 75+/-. Talking to a local she described it as regular government incompetence. By time they get around to changing the signs road conditions have changed. In other words these variable signs our a history lesson of what the speed should have been. Saw no SUV's or cars in the ditch but did see a semi resulting in one lane traffic. So much for the ability of Class 1 drivers in B.C.

In GB and Europe there have been some intersections where the stop signs were removed and traffic flow has improved, fewer accidents and less problems for pedestrians. Could it be that most of our traffic laws should be removed and use common sense? It has worked at intersections, and most countries which have lower accident rates than Canada have higher speed limits. Stop wasting Officers time enforcing laws that only make people that obey that law happy and have them watching for dangerous habits instead?

The sight line to the left is excellent; the one to the right is not as good, but still quite clear.

We should consider what the Europeans do - only use stop signs when sight lines are compromised.  In fact, it would be typical in a low volume traffic situation such as this to use no signage at all, simply applying right of way/priority rules.

There are traffic engineering warrants for these things.  I think that stop signs are the default because they are easy, with no need to document traffic volumes or monitor over time.  I would submit that stop signs are very over-used in Canada, and upwards of 90% of them could be safely and reasonably replaced with yield signs.  In fact, "rolling stops" (an oxymoron?) are rarely unsafe, provided they are done by a careful, attentive motorist. 

Perhaps our system of traffic regulation encourages us not to think for ourselves.