The Wise Drive

Q: You’ve mentioned before that the book of traffic laws is very thick. So that leads to what I think is a reasonable question: Is it realistic to actually know all the traffic laws? And assuming it’s not, how can I as a driver be held responsible for laws I don’t know (or even know they exist)?

A: The Revised Code of Washington, Title 46, (Washington’s book of vehicle and traffic laws) is about half a million words long. That’s approaching Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and some parts of Title 46 are only slightly easier for the average monolingual American to understand than reading Tolstoy’s tome in its original language. No, it’s absolutely not realistic for a driver (or police officer, traffic prosecutor, defense attorney, or judge) to have all those laws embedded in their brain cells.

Continue reading “Should You Know All the Laws?”

Q: I know that cars need to stop for pedestrians at any intersection whether there is a marked crosswalk or not. But beyond that, when a pedestrian is crossing a street and a car stops, how far across the street should the driver let the pedestrian get before the driver starts moving again?  Do you let the pedestrian get all the way across? Is enough if they are now in the other lane of the street?

A: Have you ever read something in English and felt after reading it that you might as well have been reading it in Klingon? That was me the first time I read the law that applies to your question. (I’m assuming no one reading this knows Klingon, but maybe I’m unaware of an overlap in the Star Trek nerd/traffic safety nerd Venn diagram.)

Continue reading “Waiting for Pedestrians”

Q: As a cyclist, I find that some drivers try to be nice and stop to wave bicyclists across the road, even when the driver doesn’t have a stop sign and the cyclist does. I don’t want to upset someone by rejecting their generosity, but I also don’t want to break the law or put myself in danger. What’s the correct thing to do?

A: Just yesterday I came to a stop at a stop sign in my car. Cross traffic was backed up, and a driver waiting in the line waved for me to make a right turn in front of her, which I gratefully accepted. But if I had been intending to cross the lane rather than join it, I might not have been so willing to take that offer, and even less so if I’d been on my bike.

Continue reading “Waving for Cyclists”

Q: Are turn signals required in parking lots?

A: Yes, absolutely. I mean, they’re not required by law, but they are a requirement for human decency.

It’s like golf. Now, I’m no expert on golf. If you cut off one of my hands I could still count on my fingers how many times I’ve golfed, and I’d have digits left over. It also wouldn’t change my golf game. That makes me extra-qualified to make my point. When a golfer hits a ball and it goes an unintended direction, they’re supposed to yell “Fore!” and even point in the direction of their errant shot, to warn other golfers a ball is headed their way. The police aren’t waiting around with a ticket book to issue an infraction to anyone who fails to yell fore, but golfers give the warning because it’s the right thing to do.

Continue reading “Turn Signals in Parking Lots”

Q: Why don’t the police ticket pedestrians walking on the right side of the road with their back to traffic, instead of facing traffic so they can see what could hit them, as required by WA state law? Unfortunately, those hit with their back to traffic believe they should walk on the right.

A: I think you might have answered your own question, so I’ll ask another one. What’s the point of traffic enforcement? I’ll accept answers along the lines of, “to increase safe driving behaviors” or “to reduce crashes.” (And since somebody reading this probably answered, “to generate revenue,” if that were true tell me why the traffic enforcement unit is the first thing to get cut when a police department has a budget shortfall.)

Continue reading “Walking the Wrong Way”

Q: Do the cars on my side of the road need to pull over when an emergency vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction? Are there different rules for two-lane vs multi-lane? How about if there’s a median?

A: I’d like to believe that when we see an emergency vehicle approaching with lights and siren, we all want to do the right thing. But as I’ve experienced, and likely you have too, when an emergency vehicle does appear, not all drivers do the same thing, which suggests that we don’t know what the right thing is.

Continue reading “When to Pull Over for Emergency Vehicles”

Q: At what point does speeding go from an infraction to a crime? 20 over? 30 over? Double the posted speed limit?

A: Are you ready for a Latin lesson? Don’t worry; I don’t know Latin either, except for a few terms in the Revised Code of Washington. And we’re only going to look at one: prima facie. It means, “at first sight” or “based on first impression.”

If you’re a fan of TV legal dramas, you may have heard a character talk about prima facie evidence as if it means they have a slam-dunk case. And if that’s your understanding of prima facie evidence, you’d be forgiven for being concerned about a particular Washington law about speeding.

Continue reading “When Speeding Becomes Reckless”

Q: This time of year there are a lot of tractors driving on roads near farms. Is it legal to pass a tractor in a no-passing zone?

A: The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius once said, “The impediment to action advances action. That which stands in the way becomes the way.” This quote has been popularized by modern stoic writer Ryan Holiday as, “The obstacle is the way.” Being a fan of stoic philosophy, I’ve been asking myself, “If the obstacle is a tractor, and I’m in a no-passing zone, how does the tractor become the way?” Maybe Marcus meant it as a metaphor and I’m taking it too literally.

Continue reading “Passing Tractors in No-Passing Zones”

Q: Can you get a DUI while driving a riding lawn mower on the road?

A: You’ve got the law, and then you’ve got the interpretation of the law. The law would appear to be the easy part, so let’s start there. In Washington, “A person is guilty of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, cannabis, or any drug if the person drives a vehicle within this state” and is impaired. Pretty clear, right?

But wait, you might ask, is a riding lawn mower a vehicle? According to the law, a vehicle is anything that can move on a road and can transport people or property. That’s a broad definition. There are a few minor exceptions, but riding lawn mowers don’t make that list.

Continue reading “Impaired Driving on a Riding Lawn Mower”

Q: I was on a two-lane road, stopped behind a transit bus at a bus stop that was waiting for a passenger walking fast to catch the bus. A vehicle came up behind me, waited for about five seconds, then passed my car and the bus using the oncoming traffic lane. Were they in the wrong? In the right?

A: Leo Tolstoy once wrote, “It’s not given to people to judge what’s right or wrong. People have eternally been mistaken and will be mistaken, and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong.” With all respect to Leo, I’ll wager he’d have made an exception if he’d ever driven a car.

Continue reading “Rules and Philosophy for Passing a Bus”