Author: DOUG DAHL

Q: Lately I’ve driven through some intersections that have artwork painted on the pavement, including some multi-colored crosswalks. I think it looks great, but I wonder if it distracts drivers and makes intersections less safe. And is it legal to paint crosswalks whatever color you want? I thought there were rules that specified the colors for crosswalks and other street markings.

A: I have often said (possibly to the point of irritation) that predictability is a core component in safe driving. When we follow traffic laws, other drivers can better anticipate our actions, and it creates harmony and safety on the road. But what about our transportation infrastructure? Should the markings on the roadways also be predictable? Yes, they should.

Continue reading “Street Art Saves Lives”

Q: You’ve written before about A-pillars being a visibility problem, but try being tall with the safety cam in newer cars completely obscuring your vision for its own purposes of viewing and distracting you as a driver! Aren’t there some standards that car companies have to meet about visibility?

A: Are we living in a world where we’ve prioritized what a car can see over what the driver of the car can see? Until we reach a point where cars no longer have steering wheels or gas and brake pedals, we still need to see where we’re going.

Continue reading “Visibility and Distraction in New Cars”

Q: In front of my building I saw a shiny Cadillac Escalade, that on closer inspection had fender-bender dings, attempting to parallel park in a too-small space. Oh, I forgot to mention that the rear bumper has a “student driver” sticker on it. That leads me to the question, what vehicles are appropriate for student drivers?

A: I just thought of a brilliant idea. Let’s link a driver’s age with the weight of the vehicle they’re allowed to drive. You’d take your age, add two zeros, and that’s how many pounds your car can weigh. New teen drivers would be limited to 60s era Mini Coopers and golf carts. In your 20s you could get a compact car. You couldn’t drive a full-size pickup until your late 40s.

Continue reading “The Right Car for a New Driver”

Q: I have a car with ten air bags. If I get in a crash I’m going to be floating in a balloon-filled cabin. With that many airbags, is the seat belt still necessary? I realize it’s the law, but from a safety perspective how much does it help anymore?

A: Not only are airbags an effective safety feature; they also function as a prompt for jokes. Like these: New cars come with up to a dozen airbags, and that doesn’t count your passengers. New cars have so many airbags that they’re beginning to rival a political convention. Airbags – inspired by a road trip with your in-laws. I didn’t promise they’d be good jokes.

Continue reading “Airbags – Pillow or Projectile?”

Q: Does a company that requires a right turn only out of its driveway or parking lot onto a public road need a permit to put up said sign? I feel like I’m being discriminated against because I live in the opposite direction of the majority of the employees.

A: Right about now all the people who have actually experienced discrimination because of their race, gender, age, or sexual orientation are playing the world’s smallest violins for you. Right-turn-only signs on private property are not a form of discrimination. The real purpose is less insidious and more practical.

Continue reading “Left Turns Aren’t So Great”

Q: Can anything be done about these long pickup trucks that park nose-in along the downtown corridor? I’m most concerned about the ones with the steel trailer hitches that stick out into traffic like can openers waiting to slice open any passing car that gets too close.

A: Here’s something I find hard to wrap my head around: You could take your driver test in a Honda Fit and, with license in hand but no additional experience or training, be legally allowed to drive a 45-foot-long Prevost motorhome conversion. Think about that for a second and tell me we don’t have a gap in our driver license requirements. Fortunately, most of us are either wise enough not to do that or don’t have access to a 45-foot motorhome on the day we get our license.  

Continue reading “Angle Parking – You Might Not Fit”

Q: My question is inspired by a near-miss I had with a Tesla driver on the freeway that barged in front of me moving toward the exit, driver on a cell phone with no hands on the wheel. Why doesn’t the law prohibit driver assistance technology from the misnamed “autopilot” all the way down to cruise control in congested conditions?

A: The problem with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is right there in the name: the driver. And in the case of Tesla, the branding. How do you get away with naming your product “autopilot” or “full self-driving” when your product is, by its own description, not full self-driving or an autopilot? Tesla’s driver assistance system is better than many, but despite repeated promises from Elon Musk, the cars still don’t drive themselves.

Continue reading “The Problem With ADAS”

Q: Having recently traveled to Europe it drives me crazy that people here don’t understand signaling in a roundabout. I was taught to signal my intent to exit a roundabout, but 99% of people using roundabouts in Washington don’t signal at all. Perhaps some signage would help?

A: So many traffic questions that I receive, especially about roundabouts, are prompted by trips to Europe. Based on the traffic fatality rates of most European countries, we do have a lot to learn from them. Although, I was once a passenger in a van going from the airport to my hotel in Rome, and the lines on the freeway meant nothing. We were six vehicles wide on a four-lane highway. When it comes to impaired driving, pedestrian safety, speeding, and roundabouts, we could take some lessons from the Europeans. But maybe we don’t learn freeway driving from the Italians.

Continue reading “Signaling in Roundabouts – Again”

Q: I went to a business and was blocked from parking in a handicapped spot, even though I have a placard. The owner said they had it blocked off for an event. Later I reported it to the police. They said they’d talk to the business owner, but I feel like they’re blowing me off. How do I get the police to write the owner a ticket?

A: Sometimes the law doesn’t say exactly what it intends to say. In my first sentence I’ve already criticized law makers and made a giant assumption. Off to an inauspicious start.

The law is clear that it’s not legal for a person without a state-issued placard or special license plate to park in a spot reserved for people with disabilities. Blocking off that same spot with something other than a vehicle though, well, the Revised Code of Washington seems to leave out an important part. The paragraph titled “Inaccessible access” (a bit of an oxymoron) makes it a parking infraction to “block, or otherwise make inaccessible the access aisle located next to a space reserved for persons with physical disabilities.” Oddly, blocking the space itself without blocking the access aisle would seem to be permitted. I presume that wasn’t the intent of the people who wrote that law.

Continue reading “When Can Police Write a Ticket?”

Q: I often ride my bike on a route that takes me across an arterial street. I have a stop sign and cross traffic does not. I’m good with waiting for a gap in traffic, but sometimes a car will stop to let me cross. This is polite, but should I go? I’m concerned it’s dangerous because it’s not a move other drivers expect.

A: We should start with the law. That way you’ll know right up front that it’s not much help, at least if you’re riding within city limits. And to be clear, I’m talking about this specific situation. As you know if you read this column regularly, I feel strongly about the connection between traffic laws and safety.

Continue reading “Polite But Maybe Not Safe”