Wanderings – Driving into danger

Returning from Ottawa last Friday, I nearly — as the expression goes — bought the farm. It was the first day of spring, but the weather did not get the message and dumped another few inches of snow on the ground. Driving south, I was approaching a northbound snowplow when, in the last few seconds, an idiot driver pulled out from behind it and passed. The oncoming vehicle was mere inches from hitting mine as that driver swerved back into his lane, and I veered as far onto the shoulder as I could. Thankfully no one was harmed in this ordeal. I had to pull off the road for a minute to collect myself and utter some directed expletives before returning to my southbound journey.

How many times have there been headlines of collisions closing roads, traffic snarled, people injured, or worse? It seems to happen with nearly every weather event and it seems like there are more collisions every winter than the previous one. Most are preventable if drivers would just drive carefully.

Just after Christmas, while returning from Toronto in a storm, I drove with my knuckles white from gripping the wheel. We were moving, at most, 60 km/h in the driving lane. Meanwhile, transport trucks flew by in the passing lane. I was surprised there wasn’t a collision or a vehicle in the ditch that night. I guess I was lucky that night.

It’s not just that drivers seem to be less safe out there; some of the vehicles people drive are also contributing to that. I drive a lot in the evening, and one scourge on the road are the bright LED headlights on newer vehicles. No, it is not just your eyes that notice this. When the vehicles travel toward you at night, it looks like the vehicle has its high beams on — but it does not. These “ultra-bright” headlights have no standard for colour or how many lumens are projected, and it has become a Wild West out there. Normally, if an oncoming vehicle did not switch to low beams, a quick flash of your headlights would remind that driver to do so. Now? Not so much.

Whether it is poor driving skills, impatient drivers, or poorly regulated technology, some things need to be done to make the roads safer. One solution for the light issue is for Transport Canada to review and fix the regulations in the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for light quality and intensity. This should include aftermarket retrofit bulbs. Fixing bad drivers is much more complicated.

Ontario’s graduated licensing program already requires classroom-based driver training and one-on-one instruction. This is far from mandatory — there is a loophole. G1 learning drivers must wait one full year before going for the G2 test. Training is not mandatory and is only an incentive. Take the G2 and a driver with their learner’s permit can shave four months off that waiting period. Spend money on a course and they can jump the queue, that needs to end. Mandatory training should be required for all new drivers — and periodic testing for those who already have their driver’s licence.

A new testing bureaucracy goes against recent changes in Ontario, such as removing yearly plate renewal fees. Yes, it would be inconvenient to go in every five years when renewing your licence and complete a quick test. It is a small price to pay for safer roads. We rely on trusting other drivers to know what they are doing — clearly some do not. This is when bureaucracy is helpful as it will help weed out drivers who maybe should not be on the road. Those wanting to gamble should buy a lottery ticket, not get behind the wheel of a car.

Roads do not become dangerous on their own — they become dangerous because of the actions of a few drivers. It only takes a driver who thinks they can take a chance, who believes they have ‘got this,’ and make a poor decision. Technology can only do so much. As we have seen with ultra-bright headlights, it can sometimes over-correct, causing new issues. For roads to be safer, something has to give.

This column was originally published in the March 25, 2026 print edition of the Morrisburg Leader.