Month: November 2024

Q: Yesterday, my neighborhood had a power outage.  The traffic light nearby was impacted and had no power. I believe the rule is that you treat a dead traffic light like a stop sign.  I was surprised to see everyone I came across treating it like a green light and proceeding through at almost normal speed, even though I was waiting at the intersection. Am I missing something?

A: As someone completely unqualified to make any sort of psychological assessment, I’m going to do it anyway. Years ago in an intro to psychology class I learned about the fight, flight, or freeze responses to stress. And maybe that’s what you’re observing. Specifically, the freeze response.

Continue reading “What to do when the Lights go Out”

Q: I have never found the answer to this – even in the DMV book. If two cars coming from opposite directions on the same street (without stop signs or traffic signals) want to turn onto the same side street, who has the right-of-way to make that turn first?

A: It’s not easy to find a one-sentence answer in a 142-page document, so I’ll help you out. The information you’re looking for is on page 3-25 of the Washington Driver Guide. And so you don’t have to go look it up, here’s what it says: “Drivers turning left must yield to oncoming vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists.”

Continue reading “Right-of-Way for Opposing Drivers”

Q: How much should parents trust their teen drivers to make safe driving decisions?

A: Almost every week I respond to a reader question, but this week’s question is mine. I got to wondering after reading a new survey of teen drivers and parents.

We’re not always the best at assessing reality. What do I mean by that? Well, as one example, somewhere between 70 percent and 93 percent of American drivers (depending on the study) consider themselves better than the average driver. Either there’s some strange new math going on, or at least some of us are wrong about our driving skills. And, despite crash data saying otherwise, about 15 percent of Americans think we’re the best drivers in the world. (It should be noted that nearly the same amount of us think we’re the worst.)

Continue reading “Should I Trust My Teen Driver?”

Q: There’s a freeway exit I sometimes take that ends in a roundabout. The speed limit for the roundabout is 10 mph. When traffic is heavy, it is very risky to enter the roundabout because people do not slow down. Would speed bumps prior to the roundabout get people to slow down or would that make it worse?

A: Before we get into roundabouts, let’s talk about speed limits. We tend to think of a speed limit as the sign with black numbers on a white background. That’s part of it, but the first paragraph of the speed limit law requires drivers to travel at a reasonable speed for conditions, be aware of potential and actual hazards, and limit speeds to avoid a collision. Sometimes the legal speed is lower than what’s posted on a speed limit sign.

Continue reading “Speed Limits in Roundabouts”