Rules of the road refresher

The first rule has to do with understanding right-of-way rules at intersections. SGI’s manager of media relations and communications, Tyler McMurchy, urges drivers not to be ‘excessively polite’ by waving someone through if they don’t have the right-of-way.

“Even though we’re all Canadian, [if you’re excessively polite] it can just cause confusion and then potentially lead to a collision if everybody is not on the same page,” McMurchy said.

Intersections

The official SGI Driver’s Handbook states that at three and four-way stops, courtesy dictates that the first vehicle that stops should be given the right-of-way. The remaining three then yield the right of way to the driver on their right.

“It’s like basically first come, first served. Whoever rolls up to the line gets to go first,” he said.

At two-way stops, vehicles must remain stopped until all cross traffic passes. When two vehicles arrive around the same time to the opposite stop signs and one of the vehicles is turning left, the driver turning left must yield the right-of-way to the driver going straight. If it’s safe, the vehicle turning left can go next, even if another vehicle arrives in the meantime, and plans to go straight. The left turning vehicle can turn left while the next vehicle advances to the stop line. This keeps traffic flowing. When opposing vehicles are both going straight, the drivers can proceed at the same time.”

So, when making a left turn you must always yield to oncoming traffic, pedestrians and cyclists before making the left turn. An exception is when an intersection has a flashing green light or arrow, which allows for the driver turning left to have the right-of-way. If you’re turning left onto a multi-lane road, you must turn into the left lane first.

If two vehicles are facing opposite and one plans to turn left, and the other plans to turn right, unless the vehicle turning left has a green arrow, they must yield to the driver waiting to turn right if there is only one driving lane to turn into. If there are two driving lines to turn into, then both can go at the same time provided its safe to do so.

McMurchy said all drivers have a moral and legal responsibility to avoid collisions.

“If you have the right-of-way at an intersection and a driver refuses to yield to you, you’re responsible from a safety standpoint to avoid a collision, rather than insist upon your right-of-way.”

SGI’s Traffic Safety Spotlight for May focused on being alert regarding the right-of-way and paying attention to traffic control devices, and the results reported by police across Saskatchewan raised some red flags; 451 drivers were ticketed for failing to stop or yield.

Drivers receive a $230 ticket and four demerits for failing to come to a stop at a red light or stop sign, or failing to yield to a pedestrian at a yield sign, or in an uncontrolled intersection.

Harminder Singh Suri is a former driving instructor who produces popular YouTube videos explaining rules of the road. Although he’s based in Toronto, his video below explaining stop signs and right-of-way paint a visual picture of the correct rules that are applicable in Saskatchewan.

Merging

When merging into traffic, whether it is a highway lane that is ending or an acceleration lane, any vehicle entering the flow of traffic must yield the right-of-way to the cars already in it.

McMurchy said the zipper merge is often misunderstood. He said to picture a double lane drive-thru at Tim Horton’s. You choose the one that has the shortest line, place your order and then at the merge point you alternate in a zipper like fashion.

“You see a lot of people slowing down and backing up traffic well in advance of the merge point, and that’s not ideal. What you want to do is fill up both lanes and then merge at the merge point,” he said. “Of course, that requires people in both lanes to be on board, but just understand that its not butting in line. It’s just using the available space most effectively so its beneficial and makes traffic flow quickly and efficiently for divers in both lanes. It creates that sense of fairness and equity that all lanes are moving at the same rate. It reduces the differences in speeds between the two lanes and the overall length of traffic congestion on freeway interchanges.”

In a zipper merge, vehicles in the lane that’s ending must signal, shoulder check and merge when safe, while each driver in the continuing lane should let one vehicle in. Sometimes both lanes are merging into a new lane and drivers in both lanes must take turns merging when it’s safe. (sgi.sk.ca)

Buses

When a city bus pulls into a transit stop, drivers don’t have to stop behind them. McMurchy said if you have room in your lane to pass them without having to venture into the oncoming lane, you can pass by, but exercise caution to ensure there are no pedestrians.

When it comes to school busses, rules can vary within municipalities. The general rule is when school buses are stopped with amber lights flashing, drivers should slow down and ensure there are no kids popping out from the bus before passing.

“The red lights or stop arm on a school bus means that you have to come to a complete stop and you should do so five metres behind the bus.”

McMurchy said driving is something most people do, so everybody has opinions on it and other drivers. For him, the biggest considerations need to be given to what he calls ‘The Big Four.’

“The point I like to make to people is more than 80 per cent of fatal traffic collision fatalities involve one or more of four factors: somebody is impaired, somebody is distracted, somebody was driving faster than they should have been or somebody wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. So, if you just addressed all of those behaviours we would cut down the total number of collisions, injuries and fatalities significantly.

It’s not excessively complicated if you just follow the rules of the road.”

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panews@pattisonmedi.com

by Teena Monteleone

Rules of the road refresher

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