Viewpoint

According to media reports some drivers are taking advantage of the current light traffic conditions to behave badly. When stopped by police and ticketed for their actions the latest response is "Why aren't you fighting the epidemic instead of writing tickets?" I have it on good authority that you are more likely to die in a traffic collision than you are from contracting the COVID-19 virus.

Road Safety Vision, Vision Zero and B.C. Road Safety Strategy, three programs that you will see mentioned repeatedly on this site. However, what you won't see are the results of these programs. I used my favourite search engine this morning to try and track down some results that show the aims in these programs being met, or changes that are being made because what we are doing is not working.

Last September the Parents Advisory Committee (PAC) at the Ecole Oceanside Elementary School in Parksville asked me to help establishing a crossing guard program for what they considered to be a dangerous intersection at one corner of the school grounds. In past, the principal had raised the issue of liability concerns that needed to be looked into and that was the end of the conversation.

Chuck Hawks turned a career in the motorsport and automotive industries into being the CEO of Teen Driving Solutions School, a US non-profit organization. In this TED Talk, Chuck speaks about the state of driving in the US today. His opinion is not a flattering one. It's not much different in Canada.

I've been driving with eDriving's Mentor app for about a year now and know that it has made improvements in my skills. I haven't cracked the top 10% barrier yet, but I'm still trying! The secret to having a high score appears to be trying to anticipate and plan for what is happening around you as you drive.

In this article Paul discusses inattention blindness. "A phenomenon that occurs when the brain is engaged in something else besides driving and your brain fails to process some of the available visual information." The conclusion is that our focus must shift from “hands on the steering wheel” and “eyes on the road” to “brain on the road”.

Our current system of trying to change driver behaviour largely consists of traffic tickets, vehicle impoundment and driver's licence suspensions. They all rely on traffic policing to find and deal with those who don't follow the rules. How efficient is that?

Many drivers believe speeding alone does not actually cause crashes. While not totally inaccurate, this over-simplified phrase does not paint the whole picture. The fact is, very few crashes are caused by one factor alone, and this includes speeding, but downplaying the impact of speeding can prove to be deadly.

Misbehaving and incompetent drivers get off too easy in the media. How many times have you seen news headlines like these?

I find it interesting that following 2 serious crashes, Neil Menard, the mayor of Merritt, has been taking shots at the maintenance crews that are responsible for the Coquihalla.