Road Rules – Page 23 – The Wise Drive

September 10, 2020July 18, 2024

New Stop Sign Law For Cyclists – Part One

There’s a new law I want to tell you about (or, more accurately, a change to a current law), but before I do, I’m asking you to have an open mind. And be patient; to give this change of law the attention it deserves I’m going to split this into two parts. Sometimes the safest strategies seem, on the surface, to be counterintuitive, and I think this is one of those situations.

Okay, ready? As of October 1^st, cyclists in Washington will be allowed to treat stop signs as yield signs. I’ll let that sink in for a minute. Already I can hear the voices of cyclists and drivers in my head pushing back against this crazy idea.

September 3, 2020July 18, 2024

Figuring Out Where You Can Ride An ATV

Q: Can ATVs be legally driven on city neighborhood lots in Bellingham? Are they legal on city streets?

A: This feels like one of those questions. You know, the ones where the outcome determines your next conversation with your neighbors. I see two possibilities here. Either your neighbor is riding their ATV and you want them to stop, or your neighbor asked you to stop riding your ATV but you don’t want to stop.

August 27, 2020July 18, 2024

How To Legally Disable An Airbag (And Why You Probably Don’t Want To)

Q: I have been concerned about this for years. I am just 5 feet tall and 110 pounds. So when driving I need the seat moved forward quite a bit to reach the pedals. Can I or should I disconnect the airbag? But then my husband, on the rare times he uses my car, would be at risk. Waiting for your wise advice. Thank you.

A: You’ve probably seen the letters “SRS” embossed on the steering wheel and in front of the passenger seat on the dashboard. In a round-about way, those three letters explain why you probably don’t need to be concerned about injury from your airbag. Is it possible to get injured from an airbag? Yes. But probably not because you’re short.

August 20, 2020July 18, 2024

Five Ways to Be (Very) Wrong About Driving

Q: I got pulled over because I didn’t dim my headlights at night. All I did was flash my headlights because I thought the oncoming headlights were way too bright. I wasn’t driving with my high beams on. I feel it’s bull***t. I was charged with failure to dim my lights, driving on a revoked license and DUI. Was I driving DUI? Yes. I just don’t feel they had probable cause to pull me over. Never seen me driving drunk or nothing. Please help.

A. You’re not going to like this. –long pause– Now that I’ve taken a few deep breaths, I’m going to dial my response back a bit so this is still publishable. Here we go: You’re wrong. You were wrong when you drove with a revoked license. You were wrong to get in the driver’s seat while impaired. You’re wrong about the officer’s probable cause. You’re wrong about the officer not seeing you driving impaired. The only thing you’re right about is that you need help. But I suspect you weren’t asking for that kind of help so you’re wrong there too.

August 13, 2020July 18, 2024

Your Moped Is Probably Illegal (But That Might Be Okay)

Q: My wife and I just purchased two 49 cc scooters. I looked at the DOL website to find out the requirements. The one thing I’m concerned about is that it says they cannot travel faster than 30 mph. These scooters are capable of about 40 mph. So what do I do on roads that have 35 or 45 mph speed limits? Do I move over to pass? Will I get a ticket if I go 35 mph? It really seems to limit where I thought we could go.

A: What do we do when the law and reality don’t match up? Based on my observations, we stick with reality. Allow me to explain. Actually, before I explain, please indulge this gentle tirade: If we were to look up the legal definition of a moped (and we will) we would find nothing in the legal code requiring pedals. Given that moped is a portmanteau of the words “motor” and “pedal,” why are we still using that word to describe a vehicle that has no legal obligation to have pedals? In an effort to be as true to the law as I can, I’m compelled to use moped, even though your use of scooter is a better description of what we’re talking about. And that’s not even the mismatch between the law and reality I opened with.

August 6, 2020July 18, 2024

DUI Vs. DWI – A Brief History

Q: I hear people some people say DUI and some people say DWI. What’s the difference? Are they two different crimes or is it just two different ways of saying the same thing?

A: If you’re older than a millennial I bet you’ve found yourself puzzled by the perpetual shortening of common words. Hearing “totes cray” just sounds totally crazy. But this sort of thing has been going on for decades (or centuries; Chaucer was doing this in the 1300s). For example, back when the GenX crowd talked about DWI, in an effort to save three syllables we pronounced it DeeWee.

July 30, 2020July 18, 2024

I’m Afraid You’re Just Too Darn Loud

Q: My question concerns noisy motorcycles. It is a great irritation to me when I hear loud motorcycles on the streets or the highway. I believe that most cities have noise ordinances. Why aren’t they enforced for motorcycles? Any light you could shed on this question would be appreciated.

A: There’s that scene in Back to the Future when Marty McFly and his band compete at a battle of the bands. Twenty seconds into the song one of the judges picks up his megaphone and cuts them off, saying, “I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.” If only it were that easy to put an end to excessively loud vehicles.

In an effort to be thorough in my research I downloaded an app that measures sound volume. And then I immediately used it to see how loud the seagull on my neighbor’s roof was squawking. The ambient daytime noise level in my neighborhood hovers around 40 decibels. When that bird would squawk the needle jumped up to 50 decibels. As a refresher from high school science class, the decibel scale is not linear. Moving from 40 to 50 decibels isn’t a 25 percent increase; ten points on the decibel meter equates to a ten-fold increase in sound pressure.

July 23, 2020July 18, 2024

The Slow Merge; It’s More Than a Horsepower Problem

Q: I often see cars enter highways at speeds well below the speed limit. The cars merge without getting up to speed. Other drivers routinely move left to make way for them. I think it’s dangerous for merging drivers to expect those on the highway to yield or slow down. Most often, the cars do reach the speed limit, just later than they should. Maybe those who drive slowly should put on their flasher lights. Wouldn’t it make sense for there to be a minimum speed posted on I-5?

A: Back when America built the interstate system our roads rumbled with V-8 powered cars ready to launch onto any on-ramp and reach freeway speeds before merging onto the highway. At least that’s how I imagine it; the Washington stretch of Interstate 5 was completed in 1969, before I was born. But my imagination doesn’t reflect reality. Yes, the 1970 Cadillac El Dorado had a 500 cubic inch engine (if that doesn’t mean anything to you just know that it’s huge). But as a kid I envied my neighbor’s 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger, a car with about as much power as a Honda Fit. The reality is, as long as we’ve had freeways, there have been cars (and drivers) that don’t reach freeway speeds before merging.

July 16, 2020July 18, 2024

Getting There – An Important Part of Camping

Q: I hope to soon be the owner of a new (to me) travel trailer, and as a first time RVer, would like to make sure I’m safe. What do I need to know before towing a trailer?

A: Washington is the greatest place in the galaxy for camping. Bold statement, I know, especially given the current state of astronomy. Recently astronomers announced that they estimate there are 36 communicating civilizations in our galaxy. But that doesn’t mean any of those civilizations like camping or have built campgrounds, so I think it’s safe to say that Earth has the best camping in the Milky Way, and Washington is the best place on Earth. Ergo, Washington is the best place in the galaxy for camping (at least when the weather’s good).

July 9, 2020July 18, 2024

Parking Lots – A Place To Practice Kindness

Q: What is proper etiquette when in a parking lot? Are there rules about how to handle other drivers and people walking to and from their cars?

A: With a few exceptions, traffic laws in Washington are written for road users on public highways. They mostly don’t apply to private property like a shopping mall parking lot or the field at your uncle’s house where you learned to drive a tractor. The exceptions include more serious traffic crimes like impaired driving. While most of the rules here apply only to public roadways (and their associated public parking spots) that doesn’t mean we can’t learn something from the law about how to drive in a private parking lot. It’s just that what we take from the Revised Code of Washington will work more like a recommended best practice rather than something you’re legally obligated to do.