Lanes

Vehicles containing more people than just the driver are a relative rarity on our highways. Some estimates place them at less than 10% of the total number of vehicles on the highway! In order to encourage the efficient movement of more people, High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes were created. There is an added benefit, filling up the vehicle means a "greener" journey as well.

Are some of us such poor drivers that we can't even stay between the lines on the highway? I was driving home and met a pickup truck completely onto my side of the double solid line in a set of winding curves. Was the driver not paying attention or was he so intent on not slowing down that he straightened out the corners to avoid braking? I suspect that it was the latter.

I watched a particularly foolish driver the other afternoon who decided to cross over two lanes of traffic in order to prepare for a left turn about a kilometer ahead. This driver zoomed across all the lanes without pause, ending up in the left hand lane about three vehicle lengths ahead of a heavy truck.

Here is another video from Road Guy Rob who explains about advisory bike lanes, just like the ones installed recently Victoria. In this case the installation was in San Diego, California and "the people living nearby lost their collective minds.  Here's why these lanes aren't quite as bad as local TV coverage claims."

The case of Bains v Watkins might be a classic He Said / She Said situation. The purpose of the trial was to decide who was on the wrong side of the road when a head on collision between vehicles driven by Janice Watkins and Surinder Bains occurred. The incident occurred on 84 Avenue near the 135A Street intersection in Surrey.

Which driver do you think is worse, those that live in the left lane and don't follow the speed limit or the left lane blockers travelling at the speed limit who won't get out of their way? The answer was obvious to our traffic court justice but you may not agree.

I enjoy these videos by Road Guy Rob. He explains how the road structures that we use daily function in an easy to understand manner. In this video he takes on the subject of raised medians. On one hand, they prevent crashes, but on the other, they keep us from turning left where we might want to. This video explains how engineers decide how to build raised medians.

Probably one of the most dangerous things that we do as drivers is to make a left turn. As we sit in traffic waiting for a large enough gap between oncoming vehicles we risk being hit from behind, the most common collision type on our roads. When we do turn, we present the sides of our vehicle to other traffic which is the most vulnerable position to be in.

Two way left turn lanes are designed to reduce traffic congestion and rear-end collisions when turning left mid-block while saving the space otherwise required for a dedicated left-turn lane in either direction.

"Don't design streets for the traffic that you have, design streets for the traffic that you want." The Active Transportation Design Guide from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure addresses human powered modes of transportation, including bicycle lanes.