Category: Road Rules

Q: Sometimes while driving on a freeway with three or more lanes I’ll see another driver change two or more lanes at once. I was under the impression that you’re only supposed to change one lane at a time. Is it legal to do a multi-lane change?

A: I don’t really want to answer this question, because I’m concerned about how some drivers might alter their driving habits for the worse. However, if you’re reading a column on traffic safety I’m going to trust that you’re not who we need to worry about.

Q: I was reading about how a lack of sleep affects our brain, and it got me wondering how it affects our driving. What kind of data are there around drowsy driving?

A: As I write this it’s the Monday after setting the clocks forward an hour. I feel like I started my day a half-hour ahead of schedule, but I’m actually behind. I could go on a tangent about the loss of productivity and actual physical harms caused by daylight savings, but since you’ve been reading about the problems associated with a lack of sleep you probably already know that.

Falling asleep while driving is obviously a problem. I don’t think that needs any explanation. Even if you’re at the point of rolling down the window and turning up the stereo to prevent nodding off, we have a safety issue. If you’ve convinced yourself that closing one eye at a time while you drive is a reasonable solution to your exhaustion, well, it’s not; you’re not a dolphin. But you are sleep deprived. (Nature trivia – dolphins can sleep with one eye open. They rest half their brain at a time so they can watch out for predators and come up for air.)

Q: I have noticed a high number of cars and trucks without their lights on in bad weather. But here’s the thing – about 75 percent of them are black, dark blue, dark gray – the color of wet asphalt. I’m clueless about why people with dark-to-black cars see no need to turn their headlights on, especially close to sunset on rainy days. I often don’t see them coming from behind. Any ideas?

A: I just stepped out of my office and took a look at the cars parked along my street. Of the 25 cars I can see, 16 are black, gray or silver. That’s higher than national studies showing that these colors make up around 52-55 percent of vehicles on the road. If our choice of car color is correlated with the clothing color choices for the typical Washingtonian, that makes sense.

Q: At an intersection with a red light camera, what is the period of time required by the camera to be considered a complete stop before making a right turn on a red light?

A: There’s a story behind this question, isn’t there? Did anyone else read that question and think to themselves, “Someone just got a ticket.” That’s way too specific of a question to be just a curiosity.

A red light camera is, at its core, sensors, cameras and a computer. The sensors, installed in the pavement, measure the movement of cars through the intersection. When the traffic signal is green the computer ignores the messages from the sensors. When the light is red, the computer listens to the messages from the sensors. If the sensor says, “hey computer, this car is still moving,” the computer tells the camera to take a couple pictures of the car. An officer then reviews the data to confirm a violation has occurred. The people who design these systems might tell you it’s more involved than that, but you didn’t ask an engineer.

Q: What am I supposed to do when the person who has the right-of-way is “polite” and tells me to go? If something goes wrong won’t I be responsible? I’d rather they just go.

A: A few years back a PEMCO insurance commercial captured what you and many other folks have felt about the too-polite driver. You might remember it; two deferential drivers at an intersection alternating between gesturing to each other to go and inching forward after accepting the other driver’s offer. To really drive home the point, it ends with a jogger getting to the crosswalk, where they all have a three-way polite-off. The title of the ad: “4-way stop you go, no you go, no you go guy.” Maybe you’ve been there. Maybe that’s you.

Yes, of course it’s good to be polite. But can it be illegal? To answer that we need to understand right-of-way. To keep things simple, let’s consider a four-way stop. The law states that when two drivers approach an intersection at approximately the same time, the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield right-of-way to the vehicle on the right.

Q: What action should one take when witnessing severe unsafe driving? For example, on a recent trip I saw a semi truck repeatedly cross traffic lanes, three motorcycles drive in between lanes and cars through traffic, and two cars race ahead at 80+mph. Should these incidents just be ignored? Do you call 911 to report unsafe driving? Or, do you stay in your zone listening to podcasts to avoid your own road rage from building?

A: Anyone who has been driving for a while has had a day when you were seriously annoyed by another driver. And there’s a good chance there has been a day when you were the annoying driver, too. Hopefully not on purpose, but mistakes are inevitable in life, and if driving is part of your life you’ll make mistakes there too.

Then there are times when another driver actually scares you. Maybe you fear for yourself, or possibly you have a vicarious fear for the other drivers on the road. Things like a semi truck drifting into another lane or cars racing down the freeway can do that.