This week is National Passenger Safety Week (January 22–28), which is all about empowering yourself and others to stay safe even when you’re not the driver. This is the third and final post on the subject, and it covers something we don’t often think about—reporting dangerous driving to law enforcement. Years ago, I rode along with the Washington State Patrol during a nighttime shift with one of their drug recognition experts (DREs). It was an evening to remember, in which we apprehended a drunk driver who had never been arrested before for this offense (I won’t say he was a first-time drunk d ..read more

Happy New Year! I hope 2023 has gotten off to a wonderful start for all of you! I’m looking forward to writing more often on this blog this year. Also, pssst … I have big news coming out soon—I’m writing a new book on road safety! More to come. But, first things first. Later this month comes National Passenger Safety Week, a movement launched in the United States by We Save Lives and the National Road Safety Foundation to empower passengers to speak up when their lives or those of others are in danger from reckless drivers. This year, NPSW runs January 22–28, but every day should be a day when ..read more

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During National Passenger Safety Week we all must have the courage speak up to prevent needless deaths from drunk, drugged, and distracted driving. Did you know it’s National Passenger Safety Week? At some point in our lives, we’ve all had the uneasy feeling of being a passenger and just not being comfortable with how the person behind the wheel is driving or conducting themselves. Maybe the driver has had too much to drink, or they’re going too fast, or they’re distracted, talking on the cell phone and not paying attention to the road. Or perhaps we’ve seen friends or family head to the car t ..read more

Did you know It’s National Passenger Safety Week? At some point in our lives, we’ve all had the uneasy feeling of being a passenger and just not being comfortable with how the person behind the wheel is driving or conducting themselves. Maybe the driver has had too much to drink, or they’re going too fast, or they’re distracted, talking on the cell phone and not paying attention to the road. Or perhaps we’ve seen friends or family head to the car to go somewhere, and you know deep inside that they’re really in no shape to drive safely, that they’re in danger of harming or killing themselves an ..read more

Happy Summer! In traffic safety, we talk a lot about crashes, their causes, how to prevent them, and even fatality statistics, but oddly enough, hardly any attention is paid to those who survive serious ones, even with life-changing consequences. We need to change that. This month, I’m super-pleased to introduce Dawne McKay, founder of the Crash Support Network and the author of a book called Talk Crash to Me. Dawne survived a horrific motor vehicle crash that left her with multiple injuries, including brain trauma, caused by a distracted driver. As she faced her long recovery from this l ..read more

Happy New Year (a little late) and we hope 2021 will be a better year in all ways! This year marks the 11th year of Driving in the Real World® as a blog (which simply boggles my mind) and a time to reflect back and look forward on traffic safety questions. Over the past decade, I have helped strengthen driver training, testing, and licensing standards in Washington State and was nationally recognized by NHTSA in 2017 and Washington State’s Traffic Safety Commission for this work. That work involved, along with another citizen advocate, co-organizing and leading a fact-finding trip to the UK in ..read more

Happy Fall! This month, I’m so pleased to introduce Will Thornton, a driving instructor who teaches near Houston, Texas. Will just wrote a book called Are We There Yet? The Epidemic of Risk, Aggression, and Distraction: Its Impact to our Nation’s Roads, and a Practical Program to End the Resulting Deaths and Wrecks. I’ve known Will for several years through several mutual connections when he was an instructor in Seattle, and I was very pleased when he contacted me for input on his book. His perspectives on safety, risk, and habit are well worth paying attention to, regardless if you’re a novic ..read more

How do you handle the stir-craziness from being forced to stay at home in a year like no other? Millions of us in North America have canceled or put on hold our summer travel plans because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we’re pent-up and itching to break out of the confines of our homes to go somewhere, anywhere. But traveling overseas or getting on cruise ships, trains, and planes just aren’t appealing or even possible now. But, you could still hop in your car or an RV for a road trip, and it might just be the mental relief you need. I myself just completed a weeklong road trip between Seattle ..read more

As we all know, the coronavirus pandemic has upended our lives with astonishing speed. Almost no industry has gone untouched, and the same is true for the driver training industry, which depends heavily on teaching and learning in the confined space of the car where social distancing is impossible. As of May 5, the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has suspended on-road drive tests for up to three months after March 20, and theory tests are not being administered until at least May 8, according to its website (although exceptions are being made if you’re an emergency key worker ..read more