Readers have questions, Steve has answers
Art asks how drivers are supposed to react to unaware pedestrians, especially those who are distracted by earbuds and cellphones. The best way to predict where pedestrians will walk or run is to look at the direction their feet are pointed.
Getting eye-to-eye contact is also a necessary step in making pedestrians aware of your presence. It’s quite acceptable to toot your horn once to draw attention to what the driver intends to do next.
Two taps on the horn will warn pedestrians at the mall or other parking areas that a driver intends to back up a vehicle. A pedestrian pushing a noisy shopping cart in a busy parking lot is unlikely to hear vehicles approaching from behind, particularly if the backing-up vehicle is a hybrid or fully electric.
Pedestrians can help drivers determine where they wish to go by holding an arm straight out in the direction of intended travel. They do it as common practice in Ontario, not so in B.C. What may be needed is pedestrian education. It’s all too common to see people of all ages walking with their backs to traffic, as opposed to facing traffic, on roads without an accompanying sidewalk.
It is quite acceptable to give an unaware pedestrian a wakeup call, by using a simple horn toot or flash of the high beams at night to announce a driver’s proximity and a possibly dangerous situation.
Gary asked about the right-ofway at an intersection where two vehicles face one another, both with stop signs. The driver turning left has arrived first and the driver going straight through stops later. When traffic finally clears, who goes first?
Regardless of who arrived first, straight-through travel takes precedence. The left turner must yield to oncoming traffic. Once they have both waited for an opportunity to proceed, it would be very difficult for the left turner to explain to the police how it was safe to go if a crash occurred.
Paul asked if it is ever legal to pass on the right. The answer is yes. It is legal where no signs prohibit the action on highways. It’s in no way as safe as using a passing lane, usually the extreme left lane on most high-speed freeways.
The proper courtesy is to allow others to pass by travelling in a right-hand lane.
Multi-lane city streets have no such designation, unless posted. It is not legal to cross a solid-white lane line immediately before an intersection in order to get around a vehicle ahead turning left. It is legal, but not safe, to execute such a move where no solid white lane lines are evident. If a crash does occur, the relevant auto-insurance company will likely attach significant blame to the driver passing on the right at an intersection.
John had a most interesting idea. He believes that a driver who receives a suspension from driving should, once the suspension is over, revert to the N phase with all its restrictions. He also suggested the same driver, upon further offences, should go all the way back to the L phase. This would necessitate a road test to retain a driving privilege.
In a covert operation conducted in B.C. in the 1980s, suspended drivers were followed when they drove while under suspension. The suspended drivers were model drivers during the suspension period, but reverted to their old habits once that period ended. Maybe John’s idea is worth pursuing. Steve Wallace is the owner of Wallace Driving School on Vancouver Island. He is a former vice-president of the Driving Schools Association of the Americas, a registered B.C. teacher and a University of Manitoba graduate.