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Before getting to the Traffic Law Question of the Day, “If I get a ticket (or get in an accident), do I have to tell my parents/guardian?”, here are some:

Words of Wisdom to Parents of New Drivers: If you can in any way afford it, hire a professional to teach your teenager (or any loved one just learning) to drive.

Note: Do you think you can’t afford driving lessons? Wouldn’t you be willing to give up something, anything, to save your child’s life – or someone else’s child’s life? Yes, you can give up $500 worth of fancy, fattening coffee drinks and other Not Good for You treats for a couple months – and possibly save a life while you’re at it. Regular coffee tastes just fine and in fact it will taste even better knowing what you did with the money you saved.

I’ve always found a lot of mainstream transportation types fairly limited on the imagination front. Transportation types speak about bikes, cars, buses, and feet, with a few drive-by motorcycles, scooters, wheelchairs, and golf carts.

How someone riding a horse (or even Thor’s wheel) was able to make the leap, so to speak, to the automobile will always amaze me.

Surely, in the very near future, something new will be rolling, scooting, and perambulating over (above, or below) the Earth – we can dream, can’t we?

Most people (at least those who never had to pass a driver test in the U.K.) don’t know how to navigate Roundabouts, but they can learn. DMV can’t teach everyone, but they and you can at least try to teach yourself and your fellow Oregonians some basic rules. (And count your blessing we don’t, yet, have the Double Roundabout – yikes! See the DVLA for more info on driving in Great Britain.)

HOW TO NAVIGATE A ROUNDABOUT:

1) Official Rules, read the DMV driver pamphlet (large file, 5+ MB – if you survive the download, look for the word “roundabout”)

2) Chapter 811 of the ORS (search for the word roundabout), or

The Oregon State Police website has lots of information on the new “Move Over Law” (2009 ORS 811.147) (effective 1/1/10) including a flyer on the new law and on updates to the new law.

“Move over or it’ll cost you.

The Move Over Law (ORS 811.147) states that if you are driving up behind any type of police car or emergency vehicle pulled over on the roadside with emergency lights flashing, you must:

It’s only right to start off the New Year with the new Oregon “cell-phone” law, which you have probably heard about (unless you’ve been on the phone too much – remember Groucho Marx and his cigar – so get off that phone once in a while and pay attention to the world!).

Starting January 1, 2010, you may be ticketed for texting or not using a hands-free cell phone device. (You may be ticketed for other things too, but we’re focusing for the moment on the new cell phone law.):

There are lots of places to go for information about the new law, but I like to start at the beginning, people who wrote the law and the people who will enforce it:

I start off the New Year (January 2010) on the right foot (or the 3rd wheel) with Traffic Week at the Oregon Legal Research blog.

Stay tuned for posts on texting, roundabouts, turn signals, cows, pedestrians, bicyclists, traffic tickets, joggers with death wishes, auto insurance, and more.

For a preview, check out the New Oregon Traffic Laws webpages: ODOT and OSP (click on OSP Spotlight and Latest News).