March 2019 – The Wise Drive

March 31, 2019July 18, 2024

Bees, Texting, and Impaired Driving

Q: I was talking with my kids about car accidents caused by drivers trying to rid their car of spiders or wasps or flying insects. We are wondering what percentage of accidents are insect distracted? Is having a bee in your car more distracting than being a drunk driver?

A: I was hoping to base my answer on the most current research available regarding insect-involved collisions, but apparently the researchers don’t care that much about insects that cause crashes. Instead, I’ll refer to an older study that includes bugs as a crash factor.

March 24, 2019July 18, 2024

HAWK Spotting

This week I’m attempting to exercise my psychic abilities by answering a question before it gets asked. Here’s the question I’m expecting to arrive in my in-box any day now: What am I supposed to do with the crazy new lights that just got installed on Lakeway Drive?

The city of Bellingham is completing four more HAWK traffic signals, located along and around Lakeway Drive, and while there are already a few of them in Bellingham (on Alabama Street) they may still be unfamiliar to a lot of drivers. Or maybe you recall hearing something about the HAWKs a couple years ago when the first ones went in, but since you don’t drive on Alabama you either ignored or forgot about HAWK signals. Either way, here’s a refresher on the HAWK traffic signals.

March 17, 2019July 18, 2024

When Swerving For Cows, Yield to Oncoming Cars

Q: On a residential no outlet road, is it law that I must use my turn signal to make a right turn into my own driveway? If a residential road has no white centerline, can I be pulled over for supposedly driving up the middle of the road? In particular, when there is plowed snow on the shoulders of such road?

A: I’m wondering if this two-part question was prompted by a single law enforcement encounter. Or maybe I’m wrong about that and it’s just a debate among friends. If the questions did stem from a traffic stop, I expect that the officer would have already provided the answer to the driver in the form of a warning or a ticket. If it’s a debate, allow me to settle the argument.

March 10, 2019July 18, 2024

Too Much Green on St. Patrick’s Day

Q: Do you get drunker if you drink green beer?

A: Okay, I made that question up. We all know that green beer doesn’t get you drunker than regular beer. Or does it? We’re approaching St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday that, in terms of alcohol consumption, has certainly strayed from its heritage. Depending on whose survey you believe, St. Patrick’s Day is either the second or fourth biggest drinking day of the year in America. Quite a claim for a day that was originally celebrated by going to mass and honoring Saint Patrick as the founder of Christianity in Ireland in the fifth century.

But let’s get back to the green beer (one of many non-Irish things we see on March 17^th) and what it has to do with traffic safety. Nationwide, on St. Patrick’s Day, 38 percent of drivers killed in crashes had a blood alcohol limit higher than .08, and three quarters of those were at least double that. When we focus on post-party hours (from midnight to six am) nearly 69 percent of crash fatalities involve an impaired driver. Green beer has the same alcohol content as it’s amber relatives (green beer is just a light-colored beer that’s been dyed green) but if the goal of your St. Patrick’s Day celebration is to drink more than you usually do, then yes, green beer will get you drunker.

March 3, 2019July 18, 2024

The Shortest Route Isn’t Always The Best Route

Q: Is it legal to walk on the east bound side of the Bakerview I-5 overpass? Also that side has no extra guard rail above the concrete barrier. Isn’t that dangerous for motorcycles and bicycles? Couldn’t they potentially get hit and go flying onto the freeway?

A: Have you ever visited a college campus and seen footpaths through grassy fields created by students who chose the shortest route to their next class, even if that means disregarding the available paved paths? There is a (likely apocryphal) story about Dwight Eisenhower who, while president of Columbia University, had a solution to this problem. He recommended that rather than pour sidewalks when new buildings were built, the school should just plant grass and after the students have worn trails in the grass, put the sidewalks there. Many people claim that this story belongs not to Columbia, but to the university they attended, proving that this wasn’t a problem limited to one school; it is a universal human behavior. Whether we give Eisenhower credit for the story or consider it an urban legend, the premise is real; humans will, given the option, take the shortest route to their destination.