Viewpoint

I've been teaching my Road Safety for Seniors course at Elder College since the early 2000s. I think that the main interest of the students is in keeping their driver's licenses as long as possible. I'm surprised that it took me a long time to realize that I needed a module concerning deciding to stop driving.

For the sake of making my point, I'm going to divide drivers who commit traffic violations into three categories; those that don't know the rules, those that make honest mistakes and those who are selfish and don't think about what their actions might result in.

I shamefully regret to tell you that two years ago I was charged for DUI. Thankfully, I didn't hurt anyone and i wasn't in an accident. However, that doesn't excuse the fact that I did it. I was given a great big fine, my car was impounded and of course my licence was taken away.

I am blessed with readers who send me e-mail to suggest traffic safety topics, share a story or even a bit of humour. It's the humour that triggered this column, specifically a photo of people from a third world country packed into a vehicle in a manner that would be totally unacceptable today in British Columbia.

Daytime running lights have been mandatory for vehicles in Canada since 1990. It appears many drivers and vehicle dealers are not aware of this requirement. Having driven thousands of kilometres over the last 40 years I know that DRL can help prevent accidents particularly on poor light and rainy conditions.

I learned this week that Canadians are considered to rank 42nd out of 50 countries based on how good they are to drive in. This disappointed me until I sat back and thought about it a bit. Based on a bit of self examination and what I see happen around me when I drive I think that I have to say that we are not serious about road safety. Financial loss, injury and death are part of the cost of allowing everyone to move when and where they wish to.

"You don't care about safety! All you guys want to do is suck money out of my pocket!" Here was a speeder that was very definite in his opinion and not afraid to state it. He was wrong, I did care about safety, but my traffic cop toolbox didn't contain many officially sanctioned options for dealing with it.

It is impossible to drive anywhere in town without seeing blatant road law, rule and safety violations. ICBC needs (to be disbanded, and insurance be public first of all) to implement a refresher course at certain intervals for a VERY complacent driver base.

I've often thought to myself over the years that if I ever wanted to kill someone the best way to do it would be to drive over them. I would wait until I found them stepping into a crosswalk and make sure that I hit them while I was turning onto the street they were crossing. I would then screech to a halt, return and scream "Oh no, I didn't see them, I'm sorry!"

I'm becoming paranoid when I drive. I know how easy it is to make a mistake because even though I am paying attention and trying not to, I make them. Watching others while I'm driving impresses on me that I'm not alone. Sometimes it is difficult to decide if it is a genuine error or simply a case of not being bothered to drive well, but I suspect that there is a lot of the latter taking place on our roads.