Mirror, signal left, brake and stop before the marked stop line.
Look left, look right and the vehicle that was following me stops on my right, half on and half off the roadway, making his right turn.
Of course, I can’t see cross traffic to my right properly, so he gets to go before I do. I’ll bet that he was completely oblivious to both his bad manners and the traffic rule he failed to heed.
Passing on the right is generally forbidden in B.C. and having to travel off of the roadway to do it is one of those instances. No matter in this case that the gravel shoulder is smooth and available to drive on it is still not acceptable driving practice.
The white line that defines the right edge of the roadway at this intersection has been almost totally worn away by drivers who have preceded this man.
There is almost no doubt in my mind that if this man was waiting in a lineup for his turn and I walked past and inserted myself in front of him I would be in for at least a dirty look, if not some verbal protest.
That situation is really no different from the one at the stop sign. He took a turn that was not his to take and caused inconvenience to others. That is bad manners in my view, and probably yours, too.
If anyone from Royal Canin Canada is reading this, the man is a bad advertisement for your company. You may wish to ask him to be a better representative of your company or remove the advertising from the outside of his vehicle.
I might not be able to speak to him directly about his behaviour, but there are other ways of getting the point across that don’t provoke road rage.
For more information on this topic, visit www.drivesmartbc.ca. Questions or comments are welcome by e-mail to comments@drivesmartbc.ca. Tim Schewe is a retired RCMP constable with many years of traffic law enforcement experience. His column appears Friday.
