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DIY Distracted Driving Education

It’s not unusual when driving through a city to see a person near an intersection holding a cardboard sign. But it’s pretty unusual for that sign to have a traffic safety message. That’s exactly what I saw today. And since we’re in the midst of distracted driving emphasis patrols, with law enforcement across the state focusing on drivers paying more attention to their phones, food, faces or other distractions rather than the task of driving, the timing couldn’t be better. When I told him I was a fan of his message the sign-holder agreed to a photo. Here’s to proving that anyone with a little motivation can help spread the message of safe driving.

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The Dutch Reach – It’s Probably Not What You Think It Is

Q: What is the Dutch Reach?

A: I’m going to guess that most people have never heard the term “Dutch Reach.” I hadn’t heard it until about a week ago; I was in a meeting when someone mentioned it as part of a conversation that offered very little context. The meeting went on and I was left wondering, so this week I’m both asking and answering the question.

As the Dutch Reach was new to me, I thought it would be interesting to ask some friends, without giving them any clues, what they thought the Dutch Reach might be. Here’s what I got:

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Bees, Texting, and Impaired Driving

Q: I was talking with my kids about car accidents caused by drivers trying to rid their car of spiders or wasps or flying insects. We are wondering what percentage of accidents are insect distracted? Is having a bee in your car more distracting than being a drunk driver?

A: I was hoping to base my answer on the most current research available regarding insect-involved collisions, but apparently the researchers don’t care that much about insects that cause crashes. Instead, I’ll refer to an older study that includes bugs as a crash factor.

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HAWK Spotting

This week I’m attempting to exercise my psychic abilities by answering a question before it gets asked. Here’s the question I’m expecting to arrive in my in-box any day now: What am I supposed to do with the crazy new lights that just got installed on Lakeway Drive?

The city of Bellingham is completing four more HAWK traffic signals, located along and around Lakeway Drive, and while there are already a few of them in Bellingham (on Alabama Street) they may still be unfamiliar to a lot of drivers. Or maybe you recall hearing something about the HAWKs a couple years ago when the first ones went in, but since you don’t drive on Alabama you either ignored or forgot about HAWK signals. Either way, here’s a refresher on the HAWK traffic signals.

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When Swerving For Cows, Yield to Oncoming Cars

Q: On a residential no outlet road, is it law that I must use my turn signal to make a right turn into my own driveway? If a residential road has no white centerline, can I be pulled over for supposedly driving up the middle of the road? In particular, when there is plowed snow on the shoulders of such road?

A: I’m wondering if this two-part question was prompted by a single law enforcement encounter. Or maybe I’m wrong about that and it’s just a debate among friends. If the questions did stem from a traffic stop, I expect that the officer would have already provided the answer to the driver in the form of a warning or a ticket. If it’s a debate, allow me to settle the argument.

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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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