We reach the mid-point of Canada’s Road Safety Vision 2015 in only a few more months.
I’m not going to ask if you are doing something to meet the goals of the program. I’m going to ask you if you have ever heard of the program.
One would think that given the cost of motor vehicle collisions to each of us that this would be a topic of some interest and widely publicized.
Perhaps the only component of a comprehensive road safety plan that the average driver comes into contact with is the enforcement aspect. You are ticketed by police for showing a driving behaviour that is contrary to the good practices for safe driving.
Of course, this is only the point of the sword and everyone also needs to see the other facets of the program in order to raise awareness and influence responsible practices.
How successful can we be? After all, we are better than average drivers, aren’t we?
This might be the toughest part of the program to shape. Our own built-in biases lead us to think that we are safe, responsible drivers and that everyone else is the problem.
Obviously, that is not the case, as 50 per cent of us have to be below average and we see them in our bathroom mirror each morning.
Let’s forget about everyone else on the road for a moment and ask ourselves what we can do to become more considerate, more knowledgeable and more safety conscious.
Don’t stop thinking about it until you come up with something worthwhile. Now put it into practice and keep it in practice.
Maybe we’ll meet the goal to make Canada’s highways the safest in the world after all.
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.
