Bulldozers!

You may also wish to record their licence plate number as they pass and complain to police.

Well, in 2016 (most recent year for which I've seen the numbers) police forces in BC issued 2,300 tickets for Following Too Closely - even though it's highly dangerous, and a leading cause of collisions.

In the same year, police forces in BC issued 7,200 tickets for improper use of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes - even though it's not at all dangerous, comparatively, and cannot be cited as a cause of collisions.

Draw your own conclusions about police priorities in BC.

Now I am definitely bias in this conversation. I do admit that I turn off when I see comments such as usually a big truck or old car. Now could it be that big truck just by its sheer size takes up more of the mirror than say that little Civic? And that old car by nature also occupies more of the real estate behind you.

From my personal point of view speeders drive all types of vehicles and people that impede traffic are no different. So I am going to say personal bias plays a major role in this discussion.

Except for a section on the Coq I am usually over the speedlimit. I do not tailgate. If the car is well below the posted limit I give them more than the recommended space in the B.C. drivers manual. Reasoning is drivers under the speed are often nervous and react to any distraction by hitting the brakes. Their scared and unpredictable.

Now I remember reading once where ICBC said people that flash their lights or sound the horn are agressive drivers. So I'm not sure I would want to sound the horn for a slow driver. Then read my point above this may startle the person and they react by hitting the brakes. And of course they could lose control of their vehicle.

When I fist started driving cars only had one mirror inside, many trucks had one left mirror. Today cars have three and all trucks have two. I was also taught that one is to scan these mirrors constantly. So I do have questions for those that claim they are caught by a car suddenly on their back bumper. Didn't you see it catching up to you? If not then maybe you should take more drivers training as obviously you are not paying attention to what is behind. Very dangerous. Inattention causes accidents.

From my own experience I know that many of the cars that I pass, and I do sit back at the recommended distance or more for the speed I am travelling, did not know I was behind them. I had a near miss when a passing lane was coming to an end. When the driver saw the sign lane ending in 200m immediately pulled into the left lane. I was half way past his car and in order to avoid an accident pulled into the on-coming lane. There was good visibility so I knew it was safe. I got pulled over by a cop checking speed. I knew he was there as it was a common spot and you could see him. I got ticketed for crossing a double line. Vehicle that nearly caused an accident kept chugging away at his 70 in a 90 zone. Safe driver below the speed limit. Dangerous driver driving speed limit. Will always remember the gist of his first words. Very smart move you made there. And was not interested in what I had to say.

Now I have to say in the case above by time it came to Court 18 months later the cop had gone out and did a bit of homework and asked to speak before the trial. He had his diagrams I had mine. What I tried to explain at the time he could now clearly see. The driver saw the 200m sign and immediately pulled into the left passing lane cutting me off. The driver never looked. Case dropped.

A safe courteous driver pulls over and lets faster moving traffic by. If you are paying attention you should see this vehicle behind you and even before it catches up you have time to move over and let it by. I also know it is illegal but if you can see there is nothing on the right of the fog line you could signal, move over and let the other driver by. If it's a truck you will get a friendly flash of the clearance lights, many car drivers will give you a friendly wave. If its a cop can't say but have never heard of anyone being ticketed for letting them by.

It all comes down to me that this is a two way street. Treat the other driver with the same courtesy you are asking of them. What I see so often is that those that are complaining are setting themselves up as Judge and Jury. I never do no wrong. The driver I wrote about probably is telling his friends about the terrible speed mongrel that flew past him and got stopped by the cops for speeding. In this case I wasn't speeding I knew he was there. I just swerved to prevent an accident. I doubt that he even knows he cut me off. I was just one of those drivers that came screaming out of nowhere and past. The driver had three mirrors and didn't use one.

Don't waste your time reporting. Nothing will ever be done unless you are reporting a speeder, no seatbelts or cell phone use. Everything else is a non issue.

I generally try to drive so that I am going at the same speed as everyone else. Sometimes this is slightly over the limit.

Situation #1:  HOV

If I have an aggressive driver tailgate me, and I am in the HOV lane, I generally slow down so that I am doing exactly the speed limit if necessary.
I think it unwise to illegally change lanes out of the HOV, since the pushy person behind may decide to do the same thing at the same time.

Slowing down encourages them to zoom around me on the right, usually followed by pulling in too closely in front, at which time I will record the scene using the dashcam.  

I would never bother sending in a complaint.  The few times I've done so, it was completely ignored by the police as far as I know, and if ever I was called to testify, the aggressive person would then have my name and address, and judging from their highway behaviour, my life and property would be in danger.  Taking the dashcam shot though, does record the incident, and can be submitted to the police on request.

Situation #2:  Left Lane of a 4-lane highway.
Easy -- move over to the right when safe.  Signalling helps, but you need to be wary of them doing the zoom-around to the right manoeuver.
I'm usually only ever in this lane if the traffic flow is less than the speed limit, so this doesn't come up all that often.

Situation #3:  Right Lane of a 4-lane highway.
Seriously?  Just pass me.  Please.  Again, here I will decelerate slowly to give them the best chance to pass safely.

Situation #4:  Right Lane of a 2-lane highway.
This is the toughest one.  Often there is no way for them to pass, and often the shoulders are too narrow (think Sea-to-Sky highway).  50 years ago we were taught to slow down so that they could safely pass across the double solid (even though it is illegal for them to do so, it removes the danger).  On the Sea-to-Sky there are a lot of places where it isn't possible for them to pass due to barriers down the middle, and no room on the shoulder.  Furthermore, there is so much traffic now, that crossing a double line puts their lives in danger, and I would hate to be the cause of someone else's accident.

I would love to hear advice on this one.

I've thought of a rear-facing camera, but haven't purchased one yet...

Here are my thoughts.

Situation#1

I don't understand the slowing down. It is obvious that neither one of you can change lanes so why not continue at the same speed? It is also one of the reasons that the vehicle behind will get closer as most people do not anticipate that a person you have caught up to when in a no passing situation would reduce their speed. It defies common sense.

There has been a few times that I have been in that situation and if there is a clear area in front of me I will speed up and then move out of the lane as soon as space permits and legal.

I also have to question and I have noticed it often a person riding in the HOV lane and not keeping up with the flow of traffic, sometimes not even to the flow of traffic to the right of them. Why are they in this lane? It is an HOV lane and they have the right to use when they meet the criteria but the law states to move over and let faster traffic by?

Situation#2

It is a legal requirement to signal when changing lanes. What I find is often the person changing lanes and I notice this is a common problem with slower drivers is they start to move over and then signal. You are suppose to give notice. Also If one is watching the mirrors one should spot a vehicle catching up to you and this should seldom happen.

Situation#3

This one I don't understand but one possibility is the other driver is on cruise control and it automatically slows down when catching up to a slower vehicle. If a driver is not paying attention may not notice that has happened. Distance behind you could be determined by the other vehicles cruise control. So is it really tailgating? Could be legal distance for speed.

Situation#4

In this situation you do run into difficulties. I'm not saying it is the situation on the Sea to Sky as I can't recall width beyond the fog line. However in most cases if built to highway standard there is enough room to get all 4 wheels of a car over the fog line. Unfortunately will stay with the Sea to Sky often you have to contend with bicycles and technically it is illegal to drive on the shoulder. In my own case if possible I will speed up and then as soon as safe pull over stop and let the other vehicle by

I do have to say that the attitude displayed by some people is it is their station in life to correct the errors of everyone else. I think it would be interesting to follow these drivers and just see how many MVA regulations they violate. So often when we think we are perfect the truth of the matter is we could be doing more errors than the person we are complaining about.

One thing in my mind that has come out of this week is the police have a credibility problem. Three posts and all say the same. Won't waste their time reporting.