Please note that the driving school instructor may use a different presentation to teach this module.
Sharing the Road
PHASE 3 SEMI-GUIDED DRIVING 1
Outline of Module 9
• Activity: Improvisation on Sharing the Road
• Sharing the Road with Vulnerable Users
– Pedestrians, cyclists, moped and scooter operators,
motorcyclists, users of motorized mobility aids, etc.
• Sharing the Road with Heavy Vehicles
– Trucks, tractor-trailers, tractor semi-trailers, road trains,
intercity motorcoaches, city buses, school buses, emergency
vehicles
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Targeted Competencies
• Taking other road users into account
• Driving cooperatively and courteously
• Evaluating one’s behaviour with regard to sharing the road
• Anticipating potential at-risk situations
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Activity: Sharing the Road
Instructions (team of improvisers)
• Take 10 minutes to:
‒ Choose an improvisation card and prepare an improvisation
of not more than 4 minutes (refer to the lists of the main
characteristics of vulnerable users)
• During the improvisation exercise, consider the following:
‒ The characteristics of vulnerable users
‒ The Observe-Evaluate-Act (OEA) elements that drivers of a
road vehicle must apply in their presence
• Present your improvisation
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Activity: Sharing the Road (cont.)
• Instructions (the other teams)
– Appoint a spokesperson to report back to all participants
– Take 10 minutes to complete the Checklist for Sharing the
Road based on your current knowledge
– During the activity, you can flesh out the checklist with any
new elements you identify
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Checklist for Sharing the Road
Road User Main Observe Evaluate Act
Category Characteristics
What to Watch For What to Think About What to Do
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Sharing the Road with
Vulnerable Users
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Vulnerable Users
• Different types of vulnerable users
- Pedestrians, cyclists, moped and scooter operators,
motorcycylists, users of motorized mobility aids
• Characteristics
- Less well protected and more likely to be injured in a
collision
• Remember
- Pay special attention to them
- Maintain adequate safety margins
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Pedestrians
• Often difficult to see, especially in the evening and at
night
• Most at risk are child pedestrians and seniors
• Approximately 3,000 pedestrians are killed or injured
every year in Québec
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Pedestrians: Characteristics
• Children • Seniors and disabled
– Small persons
– Often absent-minded and – More fragile physically
impulsive – Get around more slowly
– Unable to judge the speed of – Their faculties are
oncoming vehicles sometimes diminished
– Not always aware of danger
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Pedestrians: What to Watch For (Observe)
Urban area Rural area
• Scan sidewalks and • Watch along the sides of
intersections, particularly roads and highways
in residential areas and in
the vicinity of schools and
playgrounds
Pay special attention to children, seniors
and disabled persons
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Pedestrians: What to Think About (Evaluate)
• Be aware that
- Pedestrians may change directions or cross the street without
checking traffic or signalling their intentions
- Cars may hide the presence of children
- Seniors and disabled persons need more time to get from one
place to another
- Children can be unpredictable. They may
• cross the street between intersections
• suddenly appear from between parked cars
• cross the street without checking traffic
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Pedestrians: What to Do (Act)
• Obey road signs, traffic signals and traffic rules, particularly
when you must yield the right of way
• Reduce speed as required, particularly in residential areas
and in the vicinity of schools and playgrounds
• Make eye contact with pedestrians and use a hand signal or
a nod of your head to indicate that they can cross in front of
you
• Be patient and courteous
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Did You Know…
• Adult school crossing guards have the same powers as peace
officers
• Drivers who fail to obey the orders or signals of a school
crossing guard or a flag person are liable to a penalty
of 4 demerit points
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Cyclists
• Collisions between bicycles and road vehicles are responsible
for the majority of cyclist deaths, i.e. nearly 80%
• The same kind of accident also causes 20% to 25% of cyclist
hospitalizations
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Cyclists: Characteristics
• As a rule, they travel on the right side of the road
• They sometimes make sudden moves
• They are slower moving than road vehicles and can easily
weave in and out of traffic
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Cyclists: What to Watch For (Observe)
• Watch along the sides of the road
• Pay attention to cyclists’ hand signals
• Scan the road at intersections
• Do shoulder checks (blind spots) and check your mirrors
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Cyclists: What to Think About (Evaluate)
• Be aware that cyclists don’t always stay on the right side
of the road
• Be careful in the vicinity of cycling lanes and bicycle
paths
• Anticipate sudden moves by cyclists
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Cyclists: What to Do (Act)
• Obey road signs, traffic signals and traffic rules, particularly when
you must yield the right of way
• Use the left lane if there is not enough room to maintain the
mandatory safety margin between you and the cyclist
• Make eye contact, where possible
• Yield the right of way
– when driving into or out of a private driveway
– when making a turn
– at intersections
• Before opening the door of a stopped vehicle, make sure you can
do so safely
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Did You Know…
– Head injuries cause about 60% of cyclist deaths in
accidents
– In 2014, only 53% of cyclists wore a helmet, despite
numerous awareness campaigns over the years to
encourage their use
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Moped and Scooter Operators and Motorcyclists:
Characteristics
• They are entitled to the full width of the lane
• They sometimes make sudden moves
• They are less visible in road vehicle blind spots
• They are not protected by a passenger compartment
• It is difficult to judge their actual speed
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Moped and Scooter Operators and Motorcyclists:
What to Watch For (Observe)
– Scan intersections and the right-hand side of the road
– Do shoulder checks (blind spots) and check your mirrors
– Look for clues from the operator’s posture
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Moped and Scooter Operators and Motorcyclists:
What to Think About (Evaluate)
– Anticipate
• sudden moves
• lane positioning when they prepare to turn
• their presence in the vicinity of secondary schools
• braking fast, and short braking distance
– Take into account that it is difficult to judge the distance
between you and a moped, scooter or motorcycle, and to
estimate its speed
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Did You Know…
– Teens 14 to 16 years of age represent approximately 65%
of moped and scooter operators involved in accidents
– On average from 2014 to 2018, for every 10,000
motorcycles travelling on Québec’s roads,
105 motorcyclists were injured or killed
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Motorized Mobility Aids (MMAs):
Characteristics
– MMAs include electric wheelchairs, and three-wheeled and
four-wheeled scooters
– Not clearly visible at night (do not always have front or rear
lights or a flag)
– Fairly quiet, and therefore may not be heard when
approaching
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Motorized Mobility Aids (MMAs)
• What to Watch For (Observe)
– Pay attention to their movements
• What to Think About (Evaluate)
– Expect the behaviour of their users to be unpredictable
– Expect them to move from the sidewalk to the roadway and back
again without signalling their intentions
• What to Do (Act)
– Be careful when passing MMAs
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Sharing the Road with Heavy Vehicles
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Heavy Vehicles
• Different types
– Trucks, tractor-trailers, tractor semi-trailers, road
trains, intercity motor coaches, city buses, school
buses, snow removal trucks, emergency vehicles
(ambulances, fire trucks, police vehicles)
• Characteristics
– Many blind spots
– Much heavier and bigger than a car
– Longer braking distance
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Blind Spots
Front Rear Left Right
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Size and Weight
Maximum 4,500 kg
Maximum 59,000 kg
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Braking Distance
APPROXIMATE EMERGENCY STOPPING DISTANCE
Distance (metres)
TYPE OF VEHICLE 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
| | | | | | | | |
3-axle truck
22 metres
50 km/h
88 metres
(GVW 25,250 kg) 100 km/h
7-axle tractor semi-trailer
21 metres
50 km/h
84 metres
100 km/h
(GVW 55,500 kg)
Passenger vehicle
(Net weight 2,570 kg– Large vehicle) 9.5 metres
50 km/h
38 metres
100 km/h
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Flying Road Debris and
Road Spray
• Road Debris
– Objects can fly off trailers, tire treads can separate from tires and
stones can be thrown up by tires
• Road Spray and Reduced Visibility
– In poor weather, heavy vehicles can spray water and slush onto your
windshield, resulting in reduced visibility (driver’s trick: turn on your
windshield wipers before reaching a heavy vehicle)
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Heavy Vehicles Are Part of
Daily Life
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School Buses
• They make frequent stops to take on or drop off school
children
• They stop at level crossings
• Pay special attention to
• Alternately flashing yellow lights
• Yellow emergency or hazard lights
• Flashing red lights
• Stop arm
• Children near the vehicle
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Did You Know…
Passing a school bus when its flashing
red lights are activated
9 demerit points and
a fine of between $200 and $300
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City Buses
• They make frequent stops to take on or drop off
passengers
• They stop at level crossings
• Pay special attention to
– the bus as it merges back into its travel lane
– passengers near the city buses
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Did You Know…
Failing to yield the right of way to a bus that is signalling
to merge back into its travel lane
A fine of between $100 and $200
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Tractor Semi-Trailers
• This combination of vehicles composed of a semi-trailer
hitched to a road tractor is one of the largest vehicles on the
road
• Pay special attention to
– signalling by the vehicle
– signs on the tractor or the trailer(s)
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Tractor Semi-Trailers: Signs
• Vehicles transporting dangerous
substances are identified by
diamond-shaped signs (placards)
• Two types of rectangular signs identify road trains
• Outsized vehicles
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Emergency Vehicles
• Emergency vehicles include police and fire department vehicles,
ambulances and vehicles operated by utility companies
• Pay special attention to
– flashing lights
– sirens
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Emergency Vehicles
What to Do (Act)
• Yield the right of way
• Allow unhindered passage as soon as you hear a siren or see
flashing lights in your mirrors
• Safely free up the lane in which the emergency vehicle is
travelling and stop your vehicle, if necessary
• Leave a buffer lane between your vehicle and an emergency
vehicle, tow truck or surveillance vehicle that is stopped on the
roadway
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And Don’t Forget…
SHARE THE ROAD!
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