Video

Mistakes is a campaign launched by the New Zealand Transport Agency that "encourages the audience to be conscious of other road users and to choose a safer speed that factors in the chance for human error." I fear that the current speed limit review here in British Columbia will be driven by "me" centered drivers who have little or no consideration for other road users. This campaign gives valid reasons to support careful consideration of other factors beyond better roads and better vehicles should result in higher speed limits.

This short cartoon from Toyota and TED explains why distracted driving is a bad idea. Our brains really do not multitask, they focus on single tasks and when we try to do more than one thing at a time, break these multiple tasks into single tasks totally focused on for short periods of time.

Although this instruction takes place in a right hand drive vehicle, the principles are exactly the same for left hand drive. Three methods or steering are shown: push-pull steering for general driving, hand over hand for slow speed maneuvering and fixed input for small changes in direction.

Our friends in Australia are taking on impaired driving with this tongue in cheek video. Done with a game show theme, it explains all the things that a drinking driver may "win." They are not afraid to state that if you chose to drink and drive, you are a bloody idiot! You will see that BC is not the only jurisdiction that deals harshly with impaired drivers.

If you spent any amount of time looking around the DriveSmartBC web site, you will probably guess that I really like the Australian traffic safety videos. They don't pull any punches and deliver their messages well. This one, on the danger of driving while impaired by fatigue, is no different.

Reconstruction is part of Australia's Wipe Off 5 anti-speeding campaign. It demonstrates how slowing down by 5 km/h can drastically reduce the consequences of a collision. In contrast, one might think about many driver's tendencies to say that 10 over isn't a problem because the police don't write speeding tickets for that little over the limit. The ticket might be the least of your problems if your speed is the cause of a collision.

This excellent video by Young Drivers of Canada explains the philosophy of the stop sign. If you approach thinking "stop", you are more apt to grant the required right of way to other road users. If you approach intending to slow down just enough to avoid a ticket, you are thinking "go" and will be less likely to take the necessary action, stopping, if you are required to grant right of way to others.

This 30 second video reminds riders about the types of risks they are exposed to every time they ride and that no matter who is at fault, they are likely to come of second best in a crash. Riders underestimate the level of risk they are exposed to and that many ignore the options that can assist them in reducing their level of risk.

This is another video from the Australian Transport Accident Commission of Victoria state. Denial is the winner of the 2005 Make a Film, Make a Difference competition. The competition is designed to encourage young film makers to submit an idea that will make their mates think twice before taking risks on the road.

This video from the Motor Accident Commission of South Australia explains clearly how the risk of a crash increases significantly with only a slight increase in speed. For me, the most interesting point is the idea that we tend to discount the risk because we disregard the speed limit frequently and nothing happens to us.