I came across this YouTube video of American commentator Glenn Beck talking about the Trucking Industry Crisis.
This one is worth watching. It’s an American video but it applies to Canada too.
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Smart Trucking is a YouTube channel I like and subscribe to. It is run by a Canadian truck driver named Dave, who regularly posts new videos to his Smart Trucking YouTube channel.
Here is a video Dave posted on Smart Trucking in May 2018 on Five Things Truck Drivers Should Never Do. Four of these five “Things” apply to all drivers. If you’re not a truck driver you will never encounter Number 3: Don’t Let Your Reefer Fuel Run Out.
For my Class 7 students, pay particular attention to what Dave says about Texting And Driving (3:20-3:30), Don’t Drive Too Fast For Conditions (6:40-6:50) and Don’t Drive When You Are Tired (6:50-8:10).
Just FYI, when Dave is talking about an “E.L.D.” in the Don’t Drive When You Are Tired segment, he is referring to an Electronic Logging Device, which measures the amount of time a truck drivers spends driving, resting etc.
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Here are some videos from a 2018 Highways England campaign against Following Too Close (Tailgating). It’s called Space Invaders:
The current Highway England campaign seems to have been taken from an original 1982 Space Invader campaign:
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We came across this 1933 advertisement for 76 Gasoline from the Union Oil Company of Canada.
Apart from being a very good example of 1930’s Art Deco advertising, this advertisement shows how constant and standardized gasoline advertising has remained over the years. Note this advertisement’s emphasis on “smoothness” of acceleration, fuel economy (mileage), “scientific selection and blending” and “continual research to achieve improvement in 76 without adding to the cost”. None of these statements would be out of place in 21st century gasoline advertising.
Another interesting historical note is the reference to the Union Oil Company of Canada sponsoring Band Concerts from English Bay in Vancouver on CKMO Radio. The CKMO call sign is still active but it is no longer used by a Vancouver radio station, as it was in 1933. The CKMO radio station ceased operations in Vancouver in 1955. the CKMO call sign was used by Camosun College in Victoria between 1993 and 2012, when Camosun College switched to Internet streaming instead of radio. CKMO-FM is now used by a radio station in Orangeville, Ontario.
We came across this 1944 advertisement from B.C. Electric (the forerunner to B.C. Hydro, which ran B.C. public transit systems before the formation of B.C. Transit), showing the types of buses and streetcars which B.C. Electric planned to introduce in B.C. cities.
Notice the “Trackless Trolley Buses”, which are still operating in Vancouver.
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Here is a 1944 advertisement for Davis-Drake Motors and Wilson & Cabeldu, which were General Motors dealers in Victoria and Duncan at that time.
The advertisement is about winter maintenance for vehicles and contains suggestions which are still valid today. The winter maintenance suggestions in this 1944 advertisement are:
All of these suggestions are still totally valid for winter driving today.
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Here is a 1944 advertisement for Dunlop Tires which contains some tips for tire maintenance which are still valid today. At the time this advertisement appeared in 1944, Canada was at war and many products, including tires, were rationed. Dunlop’s tire maintenance suggestions were intended to conserve tires and extend tire life because, as the advertisement says, tires were scarce due to wartime rationing. But these tips are still true and all drivers should be aware of them.
These Dunlop tire maintenance tips in 1944 were:
So the tire maintenance tips given in this 1944 Dunlop advertisement are still true today. We will put out a video about this in future.
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While doing some research we came across this article, Forfeiting [Drivers] License Inculcates Care, in a February 1926 edition of the Daily Colonist [now the Times-Colonist]
Here is the text of the article:
“FORFEITING LICENSE INCULCATES CARE
Fear of Being Deprived of Privilege Induces Carefulness, Investigation Shows
Chicago, Feb. 27, – Fear of losing their licenses makes automobile drivers more careful. This declaration was made today by S.J. Williams, director, public safety division, National Safety Council, after a study of reports received from more than ninety American cities. In those states where operators of motor vehicles do not have to obtain licenses the drivers are not as careful as in places where they not only have to pass an examination, but face revocation of the permits if convicted of recklessness. [Emphasis added]
“The National Safety Council believes that every state in the Union should have real applications for automobile license applicants and should revoke the driving privileges of motorists convicted of operating a car while intoxicated, of taking a human life while driving, upon being convicted of a felony, upon being found physically or mentally incapable of operating a machine and for other good causes,” declared Mr. Williams. “The state should impress upon its citizens that driving is a privilege which is likely to be cancelled if abused.
“Suspension of automobile licenses is also a good step. A motorist is taught a good lesson when he is deprived of the right to drive for thirty, sixty, ninety days or more. Reports from our affiliated safety councils throughout the country show that accidents have decreased in places where licenses have been suspended or revoked and where it is not too easy to get a permit to operate a car. Publication of the names and addresses of persons whose licenses have been called in also has a good moral effect on the community in question. [Note: in December 2018 there was media coverage of an Ontario police department, York Regional, publishing the names of impaired drivers]
“Once drivers learn that they must submit to control, or sooner or later pay the penalty, we shall see a gradual but substantial decrease in the number of automobile accidents, which last year [1925] took 21,000 precious lives.”
We also liked the second story in the photo. It’s about traffic police in Berlin being provided with electric foot warmers and the elevated octagonal stands they stood on to direct traffic being used for advertising.
“Traffic Policemen
In the belief that traffic policemen will be more affable and polite with their pedal extremities [i.e. their feet] heated, safety islands in the middle of busy streets in Berlin, Germany, will be equipped with electric foot warmers. Another new fixture of the so called “islands”, which are octagonal in shape, will be paid advertisements on their eight sides, which will be illuminated at night.”
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This is a good anti-speeding video from Monash University Accident Research Centre in Australia. DriveSmartBC.ca put me onto this one.
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Here’s a good video from the Washington State Department of Licensing called A Second Look: Sharing The Road With Motorcycles.
Cars turning left across the path of oncoming motorcycles, like the scenario in the video, is a leading cause of roadway injury and death for motorcycle riders.
As the video says, look twice before you do that left turn.
Also leave extra following distance when driving behind motorcycles; motorcycles stop more quickly than cars do and you need to compensate for that when driving a car.
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