Asked and answered

Feedback from readers reveals what’s on drivers’ minds.  One following note involves a previous column topic and another arises from a local publisher’s remark.

B.W. reinforced my assertion that hand signals from drivers who refuse to take the right of way are unwarranted and potentially unsafe.  He wrote, “My father lives on a busy intersection (Pines and Main) and we see this same accident all the time at rush hour.  Car in outside lane of Pines lets car on Main side street out to make a left turn in busy traffic.  Car coming 30 mph down inside lane of 4 lane road (Pines) cannot see car on Main and T-bones Main car as soon as he pulls across inside lane. This often results in a read ender behind the first accident.”  Like I said before, signals, permissions, and deferred right of ways thwarting established road rules are a bad thing.

A recent email from my insurance corporation warned against trusting “waves to proceed” as they have been regularly known to be part of insurance fraud schemes. For example, a driver may wave a facing left turn driver to go, then accelerate and collide with them, thereby committing fraud by making the left turner liable.

B.W. also asked, “Another really annoying thing is people who pull out into the center left turn lane on Sprague to merge to the right. Is this illegal?”

It’s not regularly enforced, but “two-way left turn lanes” are only for exactly what their name implies:  left turns. As such, even though they are often used as “waiting” lanes, they are not intended for that.  Sure, it’s convenient for a driver trying to cross and enter busy lanes to have an intermediate “safe haven” to use, but they potentially conflict with those using the lane for its intended purpose:  left turns off of the roadway from either direction.  Traffic entering the roadway into the left-bound lanes should wait until there is a clear path to those lanes across the entire roadway.

H.L. wondered, “What is your feeling about driving ‘buzzed’ (tipsy)?  It seems to me that all driving experts say that anything that distracts from your ability to concentrate on the science of operating a motor vehicle is bad.  Texting, tweeting, combing your hair, putting on make up etc. are all distractions.  Is not ‘buzzed’ driving?  Please read Vince Bozzi’s ‘lemon’ blog in the June / July issue of Spokane Coeur D’Alene Living magazine.  He says it is ok. Is it?”

H.L. is referencing the local magazine in which publisher Vince Bozzi “gave lemons” to a recent proposal by the Nation Transportation Safety Board to lower the level for driving under the influence from .08 to .05.  In his regular “Lilacs & Lemons” feature, Bozzi wrote that he is, “adamantly against drunk driving, but not against merely ‘tipsy’ driving.”

The behaviors H.L. mentioned in his comment are indeed impairments to proper driving, as is “tipsy” driving.  I also believe many self-described “tipsy” drivers would really “blow” a .08 or higher if tested.

Bozzi is a publisher who can print anything he wants, but I would not heed his driving advice.

In addition to the preposterous notion that “tipsy” driving is okay, he earlier “gave lemons” to a WSP Trooper who cited one of his employees for continuously occupying the left lane of the freeway.  He said neither he nor any of his employees had ever heard of the law, and that such ticketing was unwarranted.

I’m sure Bozzi knows that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but it must be catching if no one in his office is aware of that law.  I suspect someone there has seen one of the highway signs reading:  “STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS.”

Laws against being in the left lane without reason and established DUI limits are instituted in the interest of public safety.  Those thwarting the laws or confident in their   tipsy driving ability can eventually have their day in court.

Studies show that “tipsy” drivers become more aggresive and eliminate the “due care” or “margin of safety” they usually observe when not “buzzed.”  So no, it’s not okay.

Readers may contact Bill Love via e-mail at precisiondriving@spokesman.com.