Category: Road Rules

Q: Yesterday, my neighborhood had a power outage.  The traffic light nearby was impacted and had no power. I believe the rule is that you treat a dead traffic light like a stop sign.  I was surprised to see everyone I came across treating it like a green light and proceeding through at almost normal speed, even though I was waiting at the intersection. Am I missing something?

A: As someone completely unqualified to make any sort of psychological assessment, I’m going to do it anyway. Years ago in an intro to psychology class I learned about the fight, flight, or freeze responses to stress. And maybe that’s what you’re observing. Specifically, the freeze response.

Continue reading “What to do when the Lights go Out”

Q: I have never found the answer to this – even in the DMV book. If two cars coming from opposite directions on the same street (without stop signs or traffic signals) want to turn onto the same side street, who has the right-of-way to make that turn first?

A: It’s not easy to find a one-sentence answer in a 142-page document, so I’ll help you out. The information you’re looking for is on page 3-25 of the Washington Driver Guide. And so you don’t have to go look it up, here’s what it says: “Drivers turning left must yield to oncoming vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists.”

Continue reading “Right-of-Way for Opposing Drivers”

Q: How much should parents trust their teen drivers to make safe driving decisions?

A: Almost every week I respond to a reader question, but this week’s question is mine. I got to wondering after reading a new survey of teen drivers and parents.

We’re not always the best at assessing reality. What do I mean by that? Well, as one example, somewhere between 70 percent and 93 percent of American drivers (depending on the study) consider themselves better than the average driver. Either there’s some strange new math going on, or at least some of us are wrong about our driving skills. And, despite crash data saying otherwise, about 15 percent of Americans think we’re the best drivers in the world. (It should be noted that nearly the same amount of us think we’re the worst.)

Continue reading “Should I Trust My Teen Driver?”

Q: There’s a freeway exit I sometimes take that ends in a roundabout. The speed limit for the roundabout is 10 mph. When traffic is heavy, it is very risky to enter the roundabout because people do not slow down. Would speed bumps prior to the roundabout get people to slow down or would that make it worse?

A: Before we get into roundabouts, let’s talk about speed limits. We tend to think of a speed limit as the sign with black numbers on a white background. That’s part of it, but the first paragraph of the speed limit law requires drivers to travel at a reasonable speed for conditions, be aware of potential and actual hazards, and limit speeds to avoid a collision. Sometimes the legal speed is lower than what’s posted on a speed limit sign.

Continue reading “Speed Limits in Roundabouts”

Q: I am fearful as a driver, especially during the short daylight time of year when I see so many bicyclists wearing dark clothing, and with no reflectors, taillights or headlights. Are there no laws requiring lights and/or reflectors on bicycles at night and if there are, why are violators not cited by law enforcement more often?

A: Years ago I took a bike ride in a new-to-me part of our fine state. Given the route, I was sure I would get back before dark. And from this setup, you already know I didn’t. Well into the ride I came to a tee in the road that I didn’t remember on the map. To the left was a sign that read, “Watch for bears,” so I went right, and ended up going miles in the wrong direction. By the time I got reoriented I knew I’d be ending this ride in the dark. And as a committed daytime-only rider, I didn’t have lights on my bike.

Continue reading “Riding Bikes in the Dark”

Q: I’ve seen some tiny car-like vehicles available in Europe (from Citroen and Fiat, for example), called quadricycles. Any chance we’ll see those in the US any time soon? Are they street-legal here?

A: I don’t know how interested a car manufacturer like Fiat or Citroen is in importing their tiny quadricycles into a market that’s obsessed with giant SUVs and pickups, even if they could. But in Washington you’d be allowed to drive one on the road, with limitations, if you could get one (and that’s the tricky part).

Continue reading “Tiny Transportation”

Q: What are the rules on what bike lanes can be used for?  I’ve scoured state and local codes and can find no mention of this.  Surely, they are reserved at least to some degree for bikes.

A: Obviously, you can’t drive in a bike lane, right? That would defeat the whole point of having them. But where does the law say that? You’d think there would be a law in the traffic code that says, “Don’t drive in the bike lanes.” If there is, I couldn’t find it. But it must be on the books somewhere, because the Washington Driver Guide says it’s not allowed: “Do not drive in a bicycle lane except when making a turn or when you need to cross the bicycle lane to park near the curb.”

Continue reading “Who Are Bike Lanes For, Really?”

Q: I have a question about two-lane right turns. Can you take a right turn on a red light on the outer lane of the two lanes too? Everybody does it, but I’m never sure if I am really allowed to do it.

A: For the people who need an answer to this question right now, yes, you can make a right turn on a red light in either lane. The same rules apply to both lanes. And for the folks who aren’t willing to accept a “yes” without evidence, even if it’s the answer you want, thank you for your skepticism. The most important time to question something is when it aligns with the outcome you were hoping for.

The Revised Code of Washington has the evidence you’re looking for, so we’ll start there. And then as a bonus, we’ll take a look at another law that, on the face of it, would seem to outlaw a second right turn lane entirely.

Continue reading “Two Right Turn Lanes and Red Lights”

Q: You’ve mentioned before that the book of traffic laws is very thick. So that leads to what I think is a reasonable question: Is it realistic to actually know all the traffic laws? And assuming it’s not, how can I as a driver be held responsible for laws I don’t know (or even know they exist)?

A: The Revised Code of Washington, Title 46, (Washington’s book of vehicle and traffic laws) is about half a million words long. That’s approaching Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and some parts of Title 46 are only slightly easier for the average monolingual American to understand than reading Tolstoy’s tome in its original language. No, it’s absolutely not realistic for a driver (or police officer, traffic prosecutor, defense attorney, or judge) to have all those laws embedded in their brain cells.

Continue reading “Should You Know All the Laws?”

Q: I know that cars need to stop for pedestrians at any intersection whether there is a marked crosswalk or not. But beyond that, when a pedestrian is crossing a street and a car stops, how far across the street should the driver let the pedestrian get before the driver starts moving again?  Do you let the pedestrian get all the way across? Is enough if they are now in the other lane of the street?

A: Have you ever read something in English and felt after reading it that you might as well have been reading it in Klingon? That was me the first time I read the law that applies to your question. (I’m assuming no one reading this knows Klingon, but maybe I’m unaware of an overlap in the Star Trek nerd/traffic safety nerd Venn diagram.)

Continue reading “Waiting for Pedestrians”