Behind the Wheel
Bike racks can't obscure licence plates or vehicle lights
“I have a question about rear hitch-mounted bike racks, which are readily available in stores. We use one with four bikes on it for our family and when...
Trade your ticket for driver training
"You don't care about safety! All you guys want to do is suck money out of my pocket!" Here was a speeder who was very definite in his opinion and...
What constitutes a traffic control device?
Amid the chaos of a collision scene came a call over my police radio, "Grab that vehicle, it just drove around the cones and into oncoming traffic!"...
Overdriving low-beam headlights
Have you ever given any thought to how far you can see at night as you are driving on the highway? High beam headlights seem to overpower the dark, but there...
A night of sleep after drinking doesn't mean you are always sober enough to drive
Party hearty! Early in my policing career it was not uncommon to find a drunk driver with a blood alcohol level between .30 and .36. These people were truly...
The lights on the back of your car are not just for braking
One DriveSmartBC follower shares that one of their pet peeves is drivers who do not have lights on during the day, particularly when it is foggy, raining very...
When turning left, if you can't see, you can't go
A reader wrote to me, describing an intersection where collisions occur regularly, some resulting in fatalities. He observed the opposing left turn lanes in one...
Make sure your spare tire is ready to help you if needed
Have you checked your vehicle's spare tire recently? Depending on your vehicle you may have a full size spare, a temporary spare or no spare at all. Knowing...
It's important to have your vehicle's tires properly inflated
When was the last time you checked the air in your vehicle's tires? Do you own a tire gauge? Do you know what the proper inflation pressure is for your...
Road speed limits are not just suggestions
A reader asks: "If the posted speed limits on our roadways are not just suggestions, why are they not enforced? If we are permitted to drive above the...
Yellow tape means an accident has been checked
When winter weather turned bad suddenly, I would often find my shift (as a police officer) was a busy one, driving from vehicle to vehicle in the ditch at the...
Driver perception and reaction times
I usually talk about driver perception and reaction times in relation to using a signal light, but it applies equally well to many other areas of driving such...
Don't engage those who rage onthe road
Wikipedia defines road rage as "aggressive or angry behaviour exhibited by motorists." Reader Robert asked me to write about it after reading last...
Bringing aggressive driving to a halt
A good definition of an aggressive driver is "an individual committing a combination of moving traffic offences so as to endanger other persons or...
There are rules to follow when using HOV lanes
Vehicles carrying 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...
Bright ideas for driving at night
The third week in September marked the official start of fall and noticeably shorter days. That meant many of us are now driving in the dark more often. Here...
Dangerous issue of heavy truck tipovers
I've noticed something that concerns me in my travels lately, and that is the single long, narrow, curved tire marks that begin about two thirds of the way...
The invisible pedestrian
On a recent morning walk, I found myself facing a young woman across a busy intersection while we waited for the traffic signal to change. She was facing me but...
Red light means stop, but not always stay
Here's an interesting question from the DriveSmartBC inbox: “There is a mid-block pedestrian-controlled traffic light in our neighbourhood and drivers...
Maintaining proper lane position
Are some of us such poor drivers we can't even stay between the lines on the highway? I was driving home and met a pickup truck completely on my side of the...