Unsafe Driving Practices

I was sitting at a red light this afternoon watching the approaching traffic. Two vehicles entered the left turn lane on the street to my left, one unremarkable and the other covered in advertising telling me that it was the courtesy vehicle for a well known collision repair company. Both were signaling for the left turn.

Last week's column on overdriving low beam headlights resulted in some interesting comments. Chief among them was the thought that this wasn't a problem because the driver had installed high wattage bulbs and now had more light to see with. Do you suppose that these drivers don't know this is a bad practice or just don't care about themselves and others who use the highway?

Motorcycles are nimble, brake and accelerate quickly and the temptation to race through other traffic can be difficult to resist for some. The riders weaving through traffic are usually young males who have not yet realized the risk that they are taking or imposing on other road users.

This video is part of an advertising campaign by the Transport Accident Commission in Australia. It shows graphically the possible consequences of being distracted by mobile phone use while driving.

Question: Is it legal to install a television or video screen in a vehicle? There are two answers to this question, one simple and the other complicated. Driver distraction and the possibility of a collision resulting from it is a very real concern.

This 30 second video puts tongue in cheek and parodies a driving school lesson where a young woman learns to do everything wrong while driving and dealing with her cell phone. Apparently some of today's drivers think that this is the right way to drive....

A growing body of research suggests that using a mobile telephone while driving increases a driver’s risk of being involved in a crash. Studies that have analyzed the cell phone records of crash-involved drivers have reported that using a cell phone while driving is associated with roughly a quadrupling of crash risk.