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Too Much Green on St. Patrick’s Day

Q: Do you get drunker if you drink green beer?

A: Okay, I made that question up. We all know that green beer doesn’t get you drunker than regular beer. Or does it? We’re approaching St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday that, in terms of alcohol consumption, has certainly strayed from its heritage. Depending on whose survey you believe, St. Patrick’s Day is either the second or fourth biggest drinking day of the year in America. Quite a claim for a day that was originally celebrated by going to mass and honoring Saint Patrick as the founder of Christianity in Ireland in the fifth century.

But let’s get back to the green beer (one of many non-Irish things we see on March 17th) and what it has to do with traffic safety. Nationwide, on St. Patrick’s Day, 38 percent of drivers killed in crashes had a blood alcohol limit higher than .08, and three quarters of those were at least double that. When we focus on post-party hours (from midnight to six am) nearly 69 percent of crash fatalities involve an impaired driver. Green beer has the same alcohol content as it’s amber relatives (green beer is just a light-colored beer that’s been dyed green) but if the goal of your St. Patrick’s Day celebration is to drink more than you usually do, then yes, green beer will get you drunker.

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The Shortest Route Isn’t Always The Best Route

Q: Is it legal to walk on the east bound side of the Bakerview I-5 overpass? Also that side has no extra guard rail above the concrete barrier. Isn’t that dangerous for motorcycles and bicycles? Couldn’t they potentially get hit and go flying onto the freeway?

A: Have you ever visited a college campus and seen footpaths through grassy fields created by students who chose the shortest route to their next class, even if that means disregarding the available paved paths? There is a (likely apocryphal) story about Dwight Eisenhower who, while president of Columbia University, had a solution to this problem. He recommended that rather than pour sidewalks when new buildings were built, the school should just plant grass and after the students have worn trails in the grass, put the sidewalks there. Many people claim that this story belongs not to Columbia, but to the university they attended, proving that this wasn’t a problem limited to one school; it is a universal human behavior. Whether we give Eisenhower credit for the story or consider it an urban legend, the premise is real; humans will, given the option, take the shortest route to their destination.

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Should Your Car Have a Speed Regulator?

Q: Why don’t governments impose a mandatory maximum speed regulator on all new cars? It could be limited to the maximum speed limit. The technology already exists and is cheap. It would make our roads safer, reduce congestion (traffic flow is smoother if all cars are traveling at roughly the same speed), reduce the high consumption of energy required to drive at high speeds, and instead of setting radar traps on our highways, precious police resources could do other important duties.

A: You’re right that we have the technology, but having the ability to do something and having the will to do something can often be as far apart as a full bladder and the next rest stop. Speeding is a real problem; from 2013 to 2017 speed was a factor in 47 percent of fatal crashes in Whatcom County. Speeding consistently competes with impairment for the number one factor in fatal crashes. Since the impacts of speeding are so great, shouldn’t it be easy to mandate a maximum speed that a car can drive?

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How Mad Should You Be About Slow Trucks?

Q: Why are semi trucks allowed to drive between 35-45 mph on Mount Baker Highway? The speed limit is a reasonable 55 mph that people already have a hard time managing. I commute daily to town and the trucks (usually Canadian) are increasing and very frustrating. They don’t care about the road rules and continue to be constant traffic hazards. International trucks don’t pay into our road taxes in upkeep or patrolling. So in essence, they get a free passage while locals who pay for the roads are unable to go the speed limit.

A: For a lot of people, driving is frustrating; maybe the most frustrating part of their day. One of the big reasons is, according to Ryan Martin in Psychology Today, goal-blocking. Goal-blocking occurs when you have a goal (getting to work on time), someone else interferes with that goal (driving slow and making you late), and there’s nothing you can do about it. Your frustration is real and shared by enough people to have its own term and an article in a psychology magazine. But that doesn’t fix anything, does it?

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Yes, You Need A Driver License

Q: Federal law is the highest law, am I correct? And federal law states it is my God-given right as man to have the freedom of travel in pursuit of happiness without being governed , harassed, taxed or held from freedom of movement. It also states that as long as I’m traveling in my own vehicle that I own, and I’m not making cash profit from it, then a state-issued license is just a requirement made by the state police. It’s not required as long as I’m not harming anyone or committing a crime.

A: Okay . . . Where to start? I’ll begin by saying that I sympathize for any officer that stops this driver and has to endure the ensuing encounter. Admittedly, this question is an outlier, but over the last three years of writing this column I’ve received enough of these kinds of questions to realize that there is a much bigger issue here: When someone misunderstands the law it can have real-life consequences.

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You’re Probably Guilty Of Littering

Q: Is it legal to throw an apple core out my car window while I’m driving? I’ve always assumed (and was told growing up) that it’s legal because an apple core is a biodegradable food scrap.

A: Can I turn a question about littering into a traffic safety issue? Yes, I can. We all know that littering is wrong, and most of us never do it. At least you probably think you don’t litter. You can probably guess where this is going. Before I accuse anyone of anything, I need to make a confession. On multiple occasions I’ve rolled down my window and thrown an apple core into the ditch on the side of the road. There. I said it. I feel better already.

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Do You Really Always Need Insurance?

Q: Can a person receive a ticket for driving without insurance on private property?

A: The short answer: Yes. If you had asked, “Can a person receive a ticket on private property?” the answer would have been much longer. And now for the longer answer: Most traffic violations apply when a driver is on a public roadway, but some traffic laws apply statewide. I’ll explain how to identify which rules belong just to the road and which ones are anywhere in the state.

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Learning How To Walk

Q: Washington law states that when sidewalks are not provided, pedestrians shall walk only on the left side of the roadway or its shoulder facing traffic and upon meeting an oncoming vehicle shall move clear of the roadway. Why is this law seldom enforced or ever publicized?

A: Walking along the road with your back toward traffic is, as you clearly quoted from the law, illegal. And it’s a bad idea. If you’re sharing the road with 4000 pound projectiles, I’d think you’d want to see them coming. But is it the worst idea? It seems like we have a good opportunity here to investigate the greatest safety risks to pedestrians. Let’s work through the list of common factors in pedestrian fatal crashes. (Data is from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unless noted otherwise.)

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Blocking the Crosswalk

Q: At an intersection, after I’ve stopped at the stop line, is it okay to pull forward for visibility if I end up blocking the crosswalk? If this is legal, do pedestrians have to wait until I leave the crosswalk to cross? When I did this someone walked out in front of me well outside the crosswalk.

A: This week we might get a little law-heavy trying to answer this question. That’s because there isn’t one specific law that gives us the complete answer. Instead I’m relying on four separate traffic laws (along with a reference from the Washington Driver Guide) to get the full picture. Some, or maybe all, of these laws are familiar on their own, but mixing together this legal cocktail is what makes it work.

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