The Wise Drive

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.

July 5, 2020July 18, 2024

Stop, Don’t Stop

I recently encountered this pair of signs while driving through an unfamiliar area.

Let’s count all the ways this is so wrong:

Conflicting directions: Do I stop? Do I never stop? Is this a quantum physics problem where matter can travel multiple paths simultaneously as long as it’s not being observed (by the police)?
Too many words: The first time I drove through the intersection I actually didn’t have time to read the small print. I was too busy looking for cross-traffic to focus on all that text. All I read was, “Stop – No stopping any time.” I had to go through the intersection a second time to read it all. (And a third time to pull over and get a picture.)
Distracting: Intersections have more crashes than any other part of the road system. Signs should be about safety. If you’re worried about people trying to sell their cars, put that sign somewhere else.
Confusing: Should I run the stop sign if I’m trying to sell my car? What does this sign pairing want me to do? I was driving a rental car at the time so I’m pretty sure I was supposed to just drive straight though (not really.)

It’s rare that we encounter traffic signs this absurd, which is a credit to the traffic engineers who almost always get it right. But not this time.

And I should point out that this wasn’t local (which you probably figured out from the clear blue sky and the high desert terrain.) So don’t be teasing our local traffic engineers about this.

July 2, 2020July 18, 2024

The 100 Deadliest Days

I generally like to keep this weekly column somewhat light-hearted when possible; this is not one of those weeks. Recently someone emailed me with a request for information about teen drivers. Without even looking at new data I can tell you the basics; young drivers (age 16-25) make up 13 percent of the driving population but are involved in 31 percent of Washington’s fatal crashes. And right now it’s peak season for teen driver crashes.

We’re one month in to what is often referred to as the “100 deadliest days,” the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The summer months get this grim moniker because of the increase in fatal crashes involving teen drivers during this timeframe and, despite decreases in traffic volume (which you’ve probably noticed has recently been picking back up), this summer we have reason to be concerned. Since Memorial Day, eight drivers in the 15 to 19 age range have been involved in fatal crashes in Washington, the most (tying 2018 and 2016) in the last seven years.

June 25, 2020July 18, 2024

Speeding – Everybody’s Not Doing It

Q: I’ve heard that because of Covid-19 the police aren’t doing traffic enforcement. That seems problematic. Lately there has been less traffic on the roads but I’ve heard about way more people speeding. What’s being done to stop all the speeders?

A: Maybe you’ve read the headlines: traffic volumes are down; vehicle speeds are up, and speeding crashes are nearly a pandemic in themselves. I’ve read them too; like the guy in the Corvette doing 192 mph (yes, that’s not a typo) on Highway 2 last month. You might start to think that most people on the road are speeding. But is that really true?

June 18, 2020July 18, 2024

Emergency Vehicles and Chinese Sports

Q: I was driving north on a road with two lanes in either direction plus a center turn lane. A fire truck was headed south with emergency lights on. All south bound traffic was yielding to the right of the road, stopping until emergency vehicle had passed, and then continuing on their way south. Suddenly, drivers in both northbound lanes came to a complete stop to wait for the emergency vehicle in the south lane to pass. My question in this scenario: does the northbound traffic have to yield in this manner to southbound emergency vehicles?

A: A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit China. I was working for an education company, so naturally we visited some schools. While on a university campus I recall seeing a dozen or so empty basketball courts, while in an open space right next to the courts at least 50 people, each balancing a ball on a racket, moved in unison following a leader, executing what looked like a mix between tai chi and tennis exercises. I later learned that I had been watching taiji bailong ball, also called roliball. It struck me that if this same campus was in the United States, I probably would have seen the basketball courts full of players, each making their own moves, while the roliball field was most likely empty. If you’re wondering where I’m going with this, stay with me.