Just about everyone goes someplace by car every day — that’s today’s society versus decades ago, when car trips weren’t so common. In fact, as a little kid growing up in Plattsburgh, my father turned in the license plates and put the car in the garage during winters. Back then, ...

The ability for drivers to see the road ahead at night — and other drivers and pedestrians to see oncoming vehicles, too — is an important area of research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) that may have come into play in the March 18 crash in Tempe, Arizona, that killed ...

I was recently discussing safe driving with a friend who lives in the Rochester area but was in the area camping at Meacham Lake state campground. He was telling me about something he does routinely when driving — a self-evaluation on how he is doing. When he drives, he assumes the worst, ...

A lot of action occurs at an intersection. Cars and trucks speed in from all directions, stopping, turning, changing lanes. For intersections with a higher-than-expected crash rate, highway engineers consider all alternatives — all-way stop, signalization, and roundabout — and analyze ...

One of the most confusing subjects, triggering numerous inquiries from new parents, is how long their baby should stay in a rear-facing car seat. Although there’s not an exact timeline, the rule of thumb now is that babies should be in rear-facing car seats for as long as possible, to the ...

I have on several occasions written one of these articles on the dangers of having a dog (or any pet) on the driver’s lap or anywhere in the front seat, where the animal could interfere with the driver’s ability to safely operate the vehicle. Even if the pet doesn’t come into contact with ...

I always enjoy feedback from readers of this weekly column but enjoy it most when that feedback is positive, as in this recent case. In early July I wrote an article entitled “Automated Systems Gaining Driver Acceptance” and went on to describe how more and better automated safety ...

Center line rumble strips were first installed on state highways in Franklin County five years ago this summer. The first highways to get them were state Route 37 between Fort Covington and Hogansburg, and state Route 30 between Tupper Lake and the Hamilton County line, in 2013. Now a ...

Is flying in your future? Soon you will need a REAL ID to board a flight within the U.S. if you do not already have a passport or Enhanced Driver License. According to the federal REAL ID Act, beginning Oct. 1, 2020, those wishing to fly within the U.S. using their New York state-issued ...

In 2015, I wrote a “Did You Know” article about funeral procession protocol being vague in Vehicle and Traffic Law. Since then, I have had several requests, including an inquiry from the St. Lawrence County Traffic Safety Board, to again do an article on this subject. So, here is a review ...

More and better automated safety systems are rapidly becoming available on more and more cars, and driver acceptance is growing. A recent survey by researchers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests people are most comfortable with systems they believe make smooth, gradual ...

Flaggers, flagperson, or flagmen as we used to know it, are vital to both vehicle safety and to worker safety. Unfortunately, drivers are too often annoyed by them when approaching a work zone or encountering a flagger when motoring about. Our vast infrastructure, roads and highways ...

Unfortunately, in New York State, there is no requirement that drivers take refresher courses periodically. With numerous vehicle and traffic laws implemented regularly, without refresher training, many drivers do not receive proper information regarding changing laws, signs, pavement markings, ...

A very recent “Did You Know” article reviewed the dangers of backing crashes and strongly suggested that reverse parking, where you back into a parking space or into your driveway is safer than driving in and backing out later. In spite of this advice, I doubt if many will change their ...

SmartDrive Systems, which completed a video analysis of fleet drivers, reports that drivers who speed are more than twice as likely to text when they drive. Other distractions such as speaking on handheld phones, accessing apps, eating and grooming were all greatly increased by drivers who were ...

According to the National Safety Council, one out of four vehicle crashes can be blamed on poor backing techniques. Backing crashes cause up to 500 deaths and 15,000 injuries per year. This should not be acceptable to anyone. An average driver drives around 15,000 miles annually; how many ...

Unless you happen to be engaged in a dangerous occupation, such as a coal miner, logger or a worker in the fishing industry, the most dangerous thing most of us likely do on a daily basis is drive (or ride) in an automobile. Some of the more dangerous jobs, according to the Occupational Safety ...

With spring, bike riding time is here (actually thousands ride year-round in bigger cities like Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto), but far too many bike riders are not obeying the laws designed to make riding safer and far too many drivers don’t know applicable traffic laws that apply to them ...

In May of last year I wrote a “Did You Know” article on left lane hoggers frustrating other drivers, and pointed out a particular state highway in Malone where this illegal practice occurs on a regular basis – East Main Street. What happens on this approximately one mile stretch of U.S. ...

It’s a foggy night and you meet an oncoming vehicle with only one headlight — is it really a car with one headlight, or might it be a motorcycle? If it’s a motorcycle, not a problem, but if it’s a one-headlight car, you don’t know which light is out and therefore, which side of the ...