I was driving along a residential street on the way to pickup my daughter from her school yesterday afternoon. In this particular part of town there is a lot of activity with renovations and landscaping, this means that all the trucks and equipment pull to the side of the road to park which makes for a narrow road and thus a flowing 2 way traffic pattern is disrupted at this point. In my 29 years of driving, It always amazes me how other drivers are oblivious to the rules of the road when it comes to the part of having to yield to on coming traffic when there side of the road has an obstruction.
As it turns out, my side has no parked vehicles on it. Clear sailing you would think! Ha, not so. I stopped 3 times as vehicles from the opposite way forced their way into my lane to go around the parked work vehicles on THIER side of the road.
It is a Co operative measure that drivers should observe when they are confronted with parked vehicles or bicylcist or joggers that create a hazard on their side. Its simple. Don’t sacrifice space to squeeze by…yield to the on coming traffic and wait until the way is clear or at least a reasonable gap to safely go around.
I have been a professional instructor since 1987, taught thousands of hours in car to new drivers, licenced drivers from other countries, professional drivers, emergency responders, pretty much anything that has at least 4 wheels. With all of my experience nothing prepared me for having to teach my daughter.
The year was 1990, I had just purchased 2 very well established franchises of a Nationally Branded Canadian Driving School, which I will reference to as Yankee Doodle. Up until that point, I had worked for the local franchisee for 3 years, ironically now he works for me. I thought I could handle almost anything, although my experience was on the up swing of the bell curve I thought I was a pretty calm instructor.
Ever tried to train your wife who is licenced but wants to learn standard? Don’t..
More to follow as she has just walked into the room….