DOUG DAHL

March 8, 2020July 18, 2024

Does a Fancy Car Make You a Jerk?

There are a lot of jokes about BMW drivers, and most of them depend on the premise that if you’re rich enough to drive a BMW, your wealth somehow entitles you to a greater portion of the road or less responsibility in how you use it. For example, if you ever feel like your job is meaningless, just think about the workers in Munich who install turn signals in BMWs. Or, if light travels faster than sound, why can I hear the horn of the BMW behind me before the light turns green?

Of course, if you drive a BMW, feel free to substitute the name of another premium automotive brand. The point isn’t about BMWs; it’s the stereotype that drivers of expensive cars are more likely to, well, be jerks on the road. And while in the past that may have been a presumption, a study recently confirmed it.

March 1, 2020July 18, 2024

Maybe Nobody Goes First

Q: If I’m making a right turn on a red light at an intersection and another person is making a U-turn to get into the same lane that I’m turning into, which one of us has the right-of-way?

A: I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that depends. How’s that for non-committal? But I have a good reason, so let’s dig into the laws about both right turns and U-turns to figure out who gets to turn first. Just in case the geometry of the original question isn’t clear, here’s a graphic of an intersection to help explain what’s going on.

February 23, 2020July 18, 2024

Parking Lots Are Not Base (And Traffic Enforcement Is Not Tag)

Q: Can an officer give me a ticket if I’m no longer on the roadway and have parked in the parking lot of a store?

A: Remember playing tag as a kid? We used to have a “base”; as long as you were touching it you couldn’t get tagged. In my yard that was the apple tree. Now just imagine what traffic enforcement would be like if there was a base for drivers who committed traffic violations. Everyone who ran a red light would be looking for the nearest convenience store parking lot to avoid a ticket. It reminds me of the Dukes of Hazzard. On Friday evenings I watched Bo and Luke Duke race across the county line as Sheriff Roscoe P Coltrane skidded to at stop at the edge of Hazzard County, foiled by the Duke boys again. Great to watch on TV when you’re ten, but not how it actually works.

February 16, 2020July 18, 2024

Angling for Parking

Q: What are the rules of right of way when someone is backing out of an angled parking spot?

A: This is one of those situations where you have the rules, and then you have reality. Let’s start with the rules. I can’t find a law that describes how to back out of an angled parking spot, but there are a couple of laws that address moving a stopped vehicle and backing up.

February 9, 2020July 18, 2024

Rideshare – Safer Than What?

Q: Are rideshare companies a safe choice? Are their drivers any better than the rest of us? How can I know if I’ll be safe taking an Uber or Lyft?

A: Safety is a relative term, isn’t it? Usually when we talking about being safe, it’s in comparison to something else. Safe choices don’t guarantee absolute safety, but reduce the risk compared to the alternative. Wearing a seatbelt, obeying the speed limit, driving sober, skydiving with a parachute; all of these are safer than the alternative.

February 6, 2020July 18, 2024

Donuts and Traffic – Episode 1

In what I hope becomes a continuing series, this is the first episode of Donuts and Traffic – a show where we eat donuts and talk about traffic. In this episode I talk with new driver Odelia Dahl about what it’s like to hit the road for her first solo trip, the ups and downs of driving, and her dad’s bad driving habits.

February 2, 2020July 18, 2024

Yielding at an Alley

Q: I know you’re supposed to yield to pedestrians crossing the street at an intersection, but does an alley count as an intersection?

A: An alley does not count as an intersection, but I don’t think that gets to the heart of your question. If I can take the liberty to interpret what you’re asking, I’d guess that what we’re getting at is, “Who yields to who (or is it whom?) where an alley meets a street?” And yes, it’s whom. I just checked.

January 26, 2020July 18, 2024

Sunset, Dusk, and Headlights

Q: I recently found out that headlights are required 30 minutes after dusk. Wouldn’t it make more sense to require headlights before it gets dark instead of after? And if someone doesn’t have their headlights on at night is it okay to flash my lights to let them know?

A: You’re absolutely right about it making sense to turn headlights on before it gets dark. And based on the word count in your question, you’re roughly 95 percent right about the law. The law doesn’t used the word “dusk”; it uses “sunset.” On a side note, wouldn’t it be great if our correctness was judged on how many words we got right instead of the overall level of accuracy of a statement based on one incorrect word? Okay, maybe that’s a terrible idea, but anyone with good grammar could be factually wrong a lot and still have a high correctness score.

January 19, 2020July 18, 2024

Giving the Signal

Q: Do I have to use my turn signal, even if there is no one around? Do I have to keep my turn signal on when I’m stuck at a light at an intersection? After a while the blinking gets pretty annoying.

A: Is there a revolt brewing against the consistent use of turn signals? In the last few weeks it’s come up repeatedly in conversations I’ve had and in questions sent to me.

It seems like drivers wanted turn signals long before car manufacturers were willing to install them. In 1907 Percy Douglas-Hamilton applied for the first patent for turn signals. His system used lights shaped like hands, because at that time people used hand signals to indicate their turns. In 1914 Florence Lawrence invented a turn signal system. (Florence’s mother invented automatic windshield wipers; quite an innovative family.) Then there was the Protex Safety Signal Company in 1920, Edgar Waltz, Jr. in 1925, and Oscar Simler in 1929.

January 12, 2020July 18, 2024

How Realistic is Target Zero?

Q: You say the goal of Target Zero is to eliminate all fatal crashes, but that’s not a very realistic goal, is it? Why set an unrealistic goal?

A: Allow me to make the goal even harder. The goal of Target Zero is to eliminate all fatal and serious injury crashes. How’s that for a big reach? Impossible? In the past when I’ve talked with people about Target Zero, I’ve described it as an aspirational goal; something we should always aim for, even if we never quite get there. And on one level that makes sense. If we instead set a goal of reducing traffic fatalities by half we’re sort of accepting that over 18,000 people will still die in crashes in the US. Yep, if you double that, you’ll be close to the 36,560 total traffic fatalities for 2018. Better to aspire to an impossible goal and achieve milestones along the way than to reach an achievable goal and think our work is done. Or so I thought.