New rule in BC takes effect, hanging out in the left lane is not right
BC’s new highway left lane rules take effect June 12 2015. On highways (with a speed limit of 80 kmh or more) with two or more lanes in the travelled direction, you are required to move into the right lane for travel. No more hanging out in the left lane. Permitted uses of the left-most lane are Overtaking and passing another vehicle Moving left to allow traffic to merge Preparing for a left hand turn Moving left to pass an official vehicle displaying a flashing light When the right...
Read MoreFuel for the Mindful Driver: Music in our ears?
FUEL FOR THE MINDFUL DRIVER: Music in our ears? Here’s some news – now there is a study to backup your intuitive feeling, that teens and music do not mix when driving. This could make your conversation a little bit easier. Association for Psychological Science: Music in the car can cause teen drivers to tune out. While it’s well known that using a cell phone while driving is a recipe for disaster, a study from psychological scientists Warren Brodsky and Zack Slor of Ben-Gurion...
Read MoreFuel for the Mindful Driver: Left Hand Turns
FUEL FOR THE MINDFUL DRIVER: Left Hand Turns Left hand turns are the most dangerous turns on a two way street, and yet it is the one turn where risks are taken more often then not. There are several reasons why some drivers are failing to either yield to oncoming traffic or enter the intersection when they should have taken the opportunity to stop and wait for the next light. Risk taking behaviour is always driven by an intense emotion. The reasons are as varied as drivers themselves. The fear...
Read MoreFuel for the mindful pedestrian: Inattention
LOOK WHERE YOU ARE WALKING: This campaign from Switzerland uses black humour to educate smart phone users. The storyline is about a 24 year old young man with friends and a job and how he is about to use magic even though he is not aware of it. It is the age old trick of disappearing. This could not have been more graphic. Would it work in Canada? I wonder! http://www.stern.de/auto/news/sms-unfall-schock-kampagne-aus-der-schweiz-2192404.html This is the link to a story in...
Read MoreFuel for the Happy Driver: Leave your car at home!
FUEL FOR THE HAPPY DRIVER: leave your car at home and party downtown! Posted by CTV Vancouver Island https://www.facebook.com/CTVVI/photos/a.218396344880170.58737.181698365216635/802269623159503/?type=1&fref=nf Car Free Day is coming to downtown Victoria. On Sunday June 21st, six blocks of Douglas Street will be closed to traffic, between Herald and Fort Streets from 12-6pm. Three stages will take over the roadway for a street festival including music, artists, and food trucks. Ken Kelly...
Read MoreFuel for the Mindful Driver: Entitlement?
FUEL FOR THE MINDFUL DRIVER: This is a posting about entitlement for some drivers who think that the value of their cars would make their behaviour OK. Good for you Top Gear Philippines to say : not OK, get yourself out of this mess, I am not moving! Posted by TOP GEAR PHILIPPINES https://www.facebook.com/topgearphilippines/videos/887322007981535/?fref=nf The sense of entitlement is strong with this one. From PD CJ NL DeBelen: “This is our Philippines. I will not allow ignorance and...
Read MoreFuel for the Mindful Driver: Anxiety disorders
FUEL FOR THE MINDFUL DRIVER: Anxiety Disorders FAQ A good article with a general discussion of the different types of Anxiety Disorders and Stress From Brain & Behaviour Research Foundation Frequently Asked Questions about Anxiety Disorders What are the five types of anxiety disorders that are well known? Generalized Anxiety Disorder Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Panic Disorder Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Social Phobia (or Social Anxiety Disorder) How are anxiety disorders...
Read MoreFuel for the mindful driver: Escape the Drama
FUEL FOR THE MINDFUL DRIVER: Escape the Drama This is a beautiful story told by a courageous driver who was able to recognize that the thoughts in his head were a self-created drama designed to make him right and others wrong. We all do this at one time or an other, but rarely do we catch ourselves or have the universe give us a wake-up call. In MINDFUL DRIVING we attend to WHAT IS, not to what IT SHOULD be, or what WE WANT IT TO BE. That also includes being aware of feeling irritated, or being...
Read MoreFuel for the Mindful Driver: Good news for parents
FUEL FOR THE MINDFUL DRIVER: Good news for parents of teenagers. Parents can feel helpless when confronted with risk-taking behaviour in their teenagers and the influence of their peer groups. Parents need to know that their children do value their input and that their advice is important to their children — even though at the time parents only hear protests. I am speaking from experience: as both a mother and a driving instructor, my children heard a lot of advice and rarely...
Read MoreFuel for the Mindful Driver: Anticipation
FUEL FOR THE MINDFUL DRIVER: So this is what happened to day — Traveling in the right hand lane on Bay Street towards the hospital, a black car is in the left-turn-only lane, just before Cook Street. He’s just a bit ahead of me, we are both traveling at 40 km/h and since I do not see his left signal on, I start to wonder if he just might want to come into my lane. I had already made sure that even though he is a bit ahead of me, I am not in his blind spot (in case he does not...
Read MoreWho was the worst student? (an introduction to Mindful Driving)
Who was the worst student? Students will often ask me if they are the worst student I have ever seen. It comes as a big surprise when I tell them that the worst student was me . Some students judge their struggles in lessons as being a “bad” student, and so did I. I couldn’t understand why I was so terrified to learn to drive . It didn’t make any sense to me, but emotionally, I did not want to drive. I cried a lot and felt overwhelmed most of the time. But I also had a...
Read MoreFuel for the Mindful Driver- over-estimating ability
FUEL FOR THE MINDFUL DRIVER – Our biases lead to over-estimating our ability in adverse conditions This paper was written for winter driving, but the same applies for driving in rain and at night or on narrow roads. In general, we tend to assume that we are better drivers than we really are, and we fail to adjust for deteriorating road conditions. “Driving in Rain, Sleet, or Snow? Cognitive Biases Worsen Winter Driving Psychological scientists have long known that people...
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