What Would it Take to Get YOU to Drive Respectfully?

An effective way to make drivers more responsible is to pass a law that requires every vehicle to be equipped with a Black Box device that:

1. prevents the vehicle from being operated unless the identity of the driver is verified by an eye scan or finger print, and

2, records the date, time and vehicle speed, and videos both the driver and the direction of travel of the vehicle (using cabin and dash cameras).

The law would allow authorities to review the vehicle data and videos after an accident and before renewing the vehicle insurance.

We have the technology to build a Black Box for vehicles, but will lawmakers pass such a law?  I doubt it will be passed anytime soon. 

I sure wish everyone had to retest every 10 years or so. It would force people to go back and look at the basics and the extras.

People do their test in their teens, (while the brain is still evolving) and I am sure many just squeak through, and once they have their license...there is no incentive to improve. If there are no skilled drivers to mentor them, it would seem that many drivers fail to improve their skills. Things like poor judgement, lack of road management, and less than optimum levels of courtesy become the habit. My observation is that a lot of drivers carry on like they are rockstars, when in fact they are deplorable. Why retest people just because they are seniors?

They should have been checked along the way.

At least ONCE since they got their license.

Just so you don't think I'm some easy chair Mario Andretti, shooting my mouth off, I'll say this. I got my 1A in Saskatchewan when I was 19. I'd been riding with my dad every chance I could, since I was like 6 years old. He was smooooth.

After getting my license, I drove a lot for him. After a couple years I took a PDIC (professional driver improvement course) and later on I went through the course to get a LCV endorsement (pulling two 53 foot trailers) in Alberta. I was in my 30's when I went to NAIT and passed the test for Air Brake Instructor, and then class 1 instructor. I have had my own trucks most of my life, so it's not like I had to get this other stuff, I wanted to. A side note to all that is, last year I entered in the BC Provincial Truck Driving Championships, and took 1st place in the Super B Train class, the top category. ( I hope this doesn't come across as bragging, it is what it is.) I guess what I'm saying is, I enjoy challenges, and I am always looking to improve my skills. I'm happy to test those skills, and BE tested on them. I'm confident in my abilities, and 2.5 million accident free miles reflect that.

It's like getting your Journeyman mechanics ticket. If you feel that you can stop learning cause you know it all now....well...you are a sorry individual. That ticket merely shows your ability to meet that level. That doesn't make a great mechanic. It's experience and schooling (and testing) that produce a great mechanic.

Anyhow...that's my rant.

Going back a few years the original intentions of the 5 year licence was that you would be re-tested. I remember my parents having to go in for a drivers test probably about 1950. Both had their licences from the 1920's. And I think this was the 2nd. test after bringing in the 5 yr renewal.

I got my own licence in 1956 at the age of 16. My original road test was with the RCMP, wrote the exam at the government agents office then over to the police statiion for the road test. Almost a year after I got my licence was called in for the Official test by the B.C. government licence inspector and had to go back in for a re-test in 1961. That was the last time I have ever been tested.

I have also had what is now called a Class 1 since 1 week after getting my licence.

One sees a lot of whinning and crying over the poor quality of drivers. I don't know how many times I have had it pointed out to me that a licence is a privlidge not a right, just don't suggest that they improve the quality of driving instruction and requirements for passing that testing. Then the next thing you hear "I can't afford that".

If I had my way everyone would have to take a course on handling skids and high speed driving. Lets have people out there that know how to control a vehicle not just point it down the road.

I throw a lot of the problems at the Provincial government and ICBC. There is no reason that anyone should be getting a licence in western Canada that is not fluent in English. If you can't read, write, and understand the main language of the area how are you expected to understand the road signs other than the universal basics? "Do they know what "ACCIDENT AHEAD" means or the scrolling overhead signs?

No first hand knowledge on this but a friend took his grandkid in for the road test. Says he was only gone for about 15 minutes never had to park on anything. Distance travelled 14K and that I confirmed with the boy. So much for testing.

And going back to my pet peeve when are the cops going to start to enforce the MVA? There is far more than the 4 or 5 issues that are predominantly hit. Go through the statistics and see what percentage is devoted to other sections.  

And that is the main problem no one wants to learn more than the basics to get by. Number of years one has driven has no bearing on the quality of driving, what type of roads have you driven on and where? How many times have you taken courses to improve your skills?

I had to sit on the fence for a few days on this one.  While $50k seems ridiculously high, I am a strong believer in punishment.  I think it should be more geared to confiscating their vehicles.  Take their toy (weapon) away, I think, makes them reflect a little more.  The rich kid whose parents indulge and are bad parents would consider this pocket change and I doubt any consequence would change their attitude. If they’re repeat offenders then sell their vehicles like drug assets.  It has been my experience as Operation Red Nose volunteer that it is without a doubt that the service is used because people get their vehicles home with them, it’s a real “personal” item and it can be a very powerful tool to learn it’s a privilege.

And I’m with James on the bizarre testing (written or otherwise) being completed in any other language then Canada’s Official languages.  It makes me very uncomfortable to know the testing was done in some foreign language and all our road signs/info is NOT in this foreign language - so how do they “read” and operate their vehicles if they can’t read/interpret/manage/maneuver this complicated process?

I'm going to throw in my two cents' worth - and ask that folks take this post with a sense of humour, as it isn't meant to attack anyone, even if it questions their various inputs.

OK then, let's first go after our fearless leader, site host and inspiration here - Tim the DriveSmartBC guy. It just ain't right to imply that any of us don't drive respectfully. As MyHome remarked: 'First of all what makes you think that I don't Drive Respectfully?' Respect, for other human beings - in this case, other road users (may be loosely defined as 'traffic' I think) can certainly vary; but it's my belief that the majority of participants to this web site do, in fact, drive respectfully.

Meanwhile, Hawk brings up Autonomous cars as a solution. Can't agree with that, I'm afraid; machines, computers, whatever you want to call them - well, they may be competent in certain tasks, but judgment and respect are human characteristics. Furthermore, as James_O points out, their ability to deal with various low-grip scenarios (as well as other real world road conflict issues that we all encounter) is still in its infancy.

And then there's Luftwaffen, who really doesn't attempt in any real way to address the subject of this thread, but leaps back into the dialogue banging on his favourite drum, i.e. 'Lane Filtering' and why he thinks this should be allowed by motorcyclists. I'll tell you what, I was just in England and Ireland last month, and I saw this so-called lane filtering in action - including on Tower Bridge and London Bridge; between the cyclists on the nearside, and the motorcyclists and scooter riders on the offside, it has become overwhelmingly difficult for the drivers of large vehicles such as buses to deal with the urban environment there - crashes have become the consequences of this behaviour, and motorcyclists who actually had experience in operating buses and trucks wouldn't dream of supporting the idea.

Then we have DavidP, who - oddly enough - seems to think that electronic monitoring of how a vehicle is operated should be some kind of determinant of respectfulness. A weird concept, if you ask me. I'll tell you this, DavidP - each and every day that I'm on the road, it seems, some disrespectful pedestrian will walk into the path of my vehicle as I'm about to turn a corner - even though their traffic control device has told them 'Don't Walk'. So each and every day, I make a decision not to use my vehicle as a weapon against them (which is not to say that the occasional tap on my horn, or perhaps even the expression on my face - or forefinger - doesn't take place). But the disrespect for other road users commences with those same pedestrians, and all the black boxes in the world aren't going to fix anything unless they start using facial recognition to ticket them for their illegal, and disrespectful, behaviour.

Note to James_C - I would definitely like to exchange views on licensing with you, but in a separate thread. We have a lot in common, with regard to our mutual experiences; although I'm of a different viewpoint in many respects.

As for other's comments on the absurd idea that a person has to be fluent in English in order to drive a car - or take a Knowledge Test or Practical Test in order to demonstrate their capacity to manage this successfully and safely - I can only tell you that the tasks are mutually exclusive. But if you think that it might help to improve those theoretical 'Accident Ahead' scrolling signs, then they should surely be in French, also? - like when they tell you how to wear your seatbelt on an Air Canada jet?  I don't know about this myself, being as I've never even seen a sign, any time, in any country, advising me that this situation has suddenly occurred somewhere in front of me. I think this is all in your imagination.

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OK, critical so-and-so as I am at times, permit me to share a couple of random thoughts from my own mind - so to speak.

My house is located on the corner of two reasonably busy arterial streets, with a 4-Way Stop in effect there. One day this summer, I was outside pulling up the dandelions from the boulevard, and I witnessed a man and his two kids riding their bicycles, about to turn left. The father called out to his young son and daughter that they should 'watch out - we may have to stop - check for cars on the other street'. Hmmm. So that's how this father is instructing his kids about behaving in traffic, and the sense of responsibility and respect for the rules that he's conveying to them? Just freaking scary, to my mind - how do you suppose those children will behave as pedestrians, as drivers, if they've already been taught that they have no responsibility to follow fundamental rules such as actually stopping at Stop signs?

Yet meanwhile, at another 4-Way Stop just two blocks east on the same road that I live on, I recently arrived just as two seniors on bicycles were on the cross-street; the gentleman was ahead, and at the intersection early enough that he crossed my path as I was still completing my stop. His wife (could have been his secret lover, I suppose, but didn't seem probable) was a bit behind. Rather than 'take my right of way' by proceeding, I smiled at her and inclined my head to the left to indicate that she could continue through the intersection without having to stop. Wow! I actually approved and even encouraged totally illegal behaviour, there. Oddly enough, I think we all felt good about it.

Respectfully, that's my submission for this thread. 

Competent Driving in BC

I spend a lot of my time driving on the Trans Canada and #5 between Alberta and Vancouver.

"ACCIDENT AHEAD" signs are used especially along the stretch from the Alberta border to Kamloops. I have also seen a few on the Coq. These are not scrolling signs but portable signs the same as "Flagperson Ahead" etc.

As for the scrolling signs being in both languages. Parks Canada have replaced a lot of their overhead signs and it is a great improvement. But one thing I have noticed is short messages in both languages no problem. Long messages there are times I have found that when one is close enough to read and they are just finishing the English version by time it scrolls through the French that you may not be able to get the entire message before you are past. I actually would prefer to see them put up two signs one English and one French, unfortunately that is not financially prudent considering the small population of French only speakers in western Canada.

Outside of the parks they are only in English. These signs can be programmed to display anything the department wants and are used to advise of situations ahead such as White out conditions, Water pooling on road, Watch for potholes, Heavy fog and snow, Forest Fires in area, watch for heavy smoke, etc. Of course one can tune to the FM radio frequency used in the various locations throughout the province but again these messages are only in English and unfortunately if you cannot understand English the warnings are of little use.

Within the National Parks all roadside signs are in both official languages. One of these days I am going to stop and measure the height of the lettering since you brought this up. The letters are definitely smaller and I now question if they are of size. Got me curious.

I didn't take your post as an attack but as the way I read that one paragraph it left me with the impression that you had never seen any of these signs and did question if they existed. Just wanted to clarify they do. In fact I think I saw the "ACCIDENT AHEAD" signs in the TV program "Highway through Hell".