Season 2, Episode 19

[Music] So here we are, another episode of Speedbumps. As this is posted on January 16th, 2022, if you're listening from the Library of Clips, we are expecting a huge dumping of snow overnight here in Ontario, Canada where I live. Now the weather forecast is always an important part of my driving career now, especially in the winter time, being in a snow belt area. Checking it out the night before on a regular basis is going to give me the opportunity to plan my activities better. I can get up earlier to ensure I can clear my vehicle completely before heading out, or I can decide if the snow is just too much, then I'm going to decide to work from home that day. You never want to take chances by rushing yourself to get going in the morning, and with the impending snowstorm, the commute is going to be slower too. So leaving sooner is also the best option once you get going. Now that's if you can't work from home. Welcome to another episode, season 2, episode 19 of Speedbumps, a safe driving podcast. In this episode, we'll talk about helping the senior drivers in your family, another episode of Things to Make You Go, huh? And do you have blind trust in your passenger? Let's go. I came across an interesting post recently when I was on Twitter, and I am on Twitter a lot, and if you're also on Twitter, you can reach me at Safe Driver, but it really got me thinking a little bit, and this was a post about helping the senior drivers in your family. Now, the thing helping our senior drivers is a good thing. They often need that mobility that's part of their life, and taking it away from them is very disruptive, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. But this was interesting, and not so much of physically helping them, but by helping them with the type of vehicle that they drive. So as we know, more and more of our vehicles are becoming semi-autonomous, meaning that we have all more sensors and computers on our vehicles now than what we did even 10 years ago. So if you're concerned about your senior member and your family, let's take a look at the types of advances our vehicles have, and decide whether or not that's something good for your senior in your family. There's the lane departure warning that will let them know if they start drifting out of their lane. I know I've test drove a vehicle that had that, and I kept trying to do it, and it worked most of the time. Sometimes it didn't work in the snowy winter, and then when there's a whole dumping of snow, couldn't find the markings and so forth. But most times it did, and that if you have a concern of the senior driver, or occasionally drifting, then that might be an advanced technology item for their shopping list. Now, if you have a senior who's a little bit more than on occasion, then there's other things that you can think about. But let's stick to the technology right now. There's the automatic emergency braking systems that vehicles have had for a number of years now, and if you don't know what that is, it's a sensor at the front, it's either in the grill or even in the windshield of vehicles that will sense an object that is stationary in front or moving extremely slow, and they sense that the vehicle's not slowing enough or at all, and it does the braking for them. Now, it doesn't always stop the vehicle, in most cases it won't, but it's going to start that braking and enough to alert the driver that they better get onto the brake. So those can help the senior, if again, they do this on occasion. Other technologies too that the vehicles can be a lot safer. There's the blind spot monitoring. Let's them know if there's somebody going into their blind spot that they shouldn't change lanes. I've got that on one of my vehicles now, and a little light comes up. I don't trust it. I always do check myself, but there's a backup plan for when we need it. So there is a whole water gaggle of items that we have on our new vehicles that maybe if the senior driver and your family needs that little bit of extra help, go ahead and get that. Talk it over with your family, talk it over with the senior about getting them an updated vehicle. So we want that protection for them. And obviously we've had seat belts forever, and the airbags, including the passenger side airbags. And no one wants the seniors to be injured while they drive to get their groceries. Now, if your senior driver is a little bit more severe than that, then why don't you have them go out with a professional instructor, a reputable driving school, and have them do an assessment. The government's not involved at this point in time, have someone do an assessment. If you're not happy with that assessment, go somewhere else and have a different opinion, a second opinion, to find out whether or not they're capable of making good, solid driving choices. Once you get a doctor involved, the doctor is obligated to have their license suspended or removed. And it's going to be tough to get it back. So if it's minor and you think that perhaps a few driving lessons can help, and I've done that over the years, I've taken out seniors and gave them solid advice, talked it over with their family, and they were able to drive, but some, they've passed that prime. And maybe it's time to have that sit-down talk and come up with alternatives. And be prepared for someone who is quite sad because they're losing what they think is their mobility. But when you do that, come up with an alternative plan. If they're much older, the grandkids who drive, if the kids themselves are busy, and long hours at work and whatnot. So there can be alternatives. There can be in this pandemic, other ways, to be done safely to get their groceries and so forth. So my dad bought a vehicle less than a year ago, all updated. Everything is in there that's actually going to help protect him. And he still is a pretty good driver. So instead of sending him to a driving school, I did it because of my 34 years experience in road safety. And he's pretty good. He actually does well. And the part that I really like the most about it is he actually listens to me. And he takes my advice because he still wants to drive. And right now, he's doing well. And for that, we're thankful. [Music] Another episode of Things to Make You Go. There was a tow truck operator recently who was caught on dash cam driving on the wrong side of the center line, repetitively. They actually, not only were they on the wrong side of the center line, they passed an oncoming vehicle on the opposite side of them. So it was the tow truck operator, a driver waiting to make a left turn, and then the regular through traffic. They also went through a red light before it turned green. So they were stopped first at a red. And then it decided to go because no one was coming. They also had their license plate hidden and among other actions. But luckily, there was a dash cam recording all of this information. And the driver was able to follow this tow truck operator. So they were charged accordingly. And one of them, so what were they thinking? Oh wait, they weren't. [Music] On my Tech Talk channel site, I had posted a video recently of season one, episode one of Canada's Worst Driver when I was a judge and instructor on the show. And it got me thinking, and if you really want to check it out, cool to TikTok, and I am the safe driver. But it got me thinking about the passenger and the driver that I featured in that video had a lot of blind trust in their passenger. So I'm going to ask you, do you have blind trust in your passenger? Do you believe everything they say when they're sitting beside you? And some do. Now, sometimes you're going to have that trust, like if they're navigating for you. They're giving you the directions. They've got their GPS on their phone and they're telling you where to go. Let them know to give you advance note, especially if a lane change involved. Because the question really is, if you're going to have trust in that passenger, can they really navigate? Can they? If they're terrible at it, either teach them how to do it properly or get a new navigator. Do your passengers, do you have blind trust in the back seat driver? And yeah, I know they're sitting in the front seat, but technically they're still called the back seat driver. So do you trust them? So the clip that I had from Canada's Worst Driver, who had a fellow David who trusted his friend George to help him make driving choices. And both wonderful people, I spent time with them outside the vehicle and chatting. Really nice guys. And although David said he doesn't trust George's advice and doesn't really try not to listen to them and make his own choices, that's not true. And he believed George was a good driver. So we just had to find out and I just had to find out because kept talking, well, George said this and George said that and sorry, George. But I took George out in the car and evaluated his driving. George was not a good driver. George made bad choices. They could have swapped seats on Canada's Worst Driver and George could have been on there instead of David. Again, sorry, George. But if you're going to trust your passenger, let them have some credibility. Decide whether or not they are really the person you want to trust. Now, some people, they appear to be trustworthy because of maybe their experience level or their occupation. But that's not always the case. Someone who is, and I mentioned already in this episode, a tow truck operator, they tow a vehicle that's broken down or been in a collision. But they don't necessarily have driving advice. A firefighter who rescues the vehicle, the occupants of the vehicle, a fantastic career and very reputable. But again, it's not a driving advice career. So maybe, just maybe you have to come up with your own information. Trust your passenger, yes. But if you don't think they're a good idea, their advice is a good idea. Don't take it. Trust yourself. Trust yourself. Oh, and one more thing. Trust me too, because I can help you too. [Music] Thanks for listening to this episode of Speed Bumps, a safe driving podcast. Be sure to come back each week as new episodes usually get posted on a Sunday. Be sure to also to subscribe and tell your friends to the ones who drive or need some help. Now, if you need to reach me, you can reach me via email. My email address is safe driver [email protected]. You can also catch me on Twitter. I'm @safe-driver. I'm also on TikTok. My TikTok is the safe driver. And of course, you can check out my blog that I've mentioned before, which is thesafe-driver.ca. Let's be safe out there. I'm Scott Marshall. [Music]