Opinion: Should you know all the traffic laws?

Doug Dahl of Target Zero discusses the complexities of traffic laws and the responsibilities of drivers.

Target Zero Manager Doug Dahl answers a question about the thick book of traffic laws

Q: You’ve mentioned before that the book of traffic laws is very thick. So that leads to what I think is a reasonable question: Is it realistic to actually know all the traffic laws? And assuming it’s not, how can I as a driver be held responsible for laws I don’t know (or even know they exist)?

A: The Revised Code of Washington, Title 46, (Washington’s book of vehicle and traffic laws) is about half a million words long. That’s approaching Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and some parts of Title 46 are only slightly easier for the average monolingual American to understand than reading Tolstoy’s tome in its original language. No, it’s absolutely not realistic for a driver (or police officer, traffic prosecutor, defense attorney, or judge) to have all those laws embedded in their brain cells.

At the same time, you’ve probably heard something along the lines of, “Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.” If you violate the law, traffic or otherwise, and get caught, you can’t get out of it by claiming you didn’t know it was wrong. So here’s the paradox: it’s impossible to know all the traffic laws, but you’re responsible for following all of them.

Before I reassure you that it’s not as bad as it first appears, imagine if ignorance were an excuse. In addition to the impossibility of proving what knowledge was (or wasn’t) in the mind of the defendant, we’d have a perverse incentive to not know the law. As long as I never look at a speed limit sign, I can’t be guilty of speeding. The best way to win in court would be to be as dumb as possible.

Even though there are thousands of traffic laws, you can be blissfully unaware of most of them without consequence. You could drive your whole life without knowing that the letters spelling “school bus” on the front and back of the bus must be a minimum of eight inches tall, unless your job is painting buses. Or knowing the fare requirements for limousine operators, unless, of course, you drive a limo. And did you know the law requires the Department of Licensing to have an official seal? In reality, lots of Title 46 isn’t about driving.

Of all the places where we need to follow laws, we’re most equipped on our roads. We’re born into a world of laws without a guidebook to know them. In contrast, before you can drive you have to pass a test demonstrating that you have both the knowledge and skills required. You have the driver guide, and hopefully have completed driver training. Plus, there are signs all over the roadway reminding drivers of the laws.

And from a safety perspective, impairment, speeding, distraction, and lack of seat belt use are the top factors contributing to fatal crashes. If you always drive sober, follow the speed limit, stay focused, and buckle up, you’ll have a critical part of the law covered, and you’ll greatly reduce your risk of a crash. The biggest problems aren’t coming from people who don’t know the laws, but people who choose to disregard them.

In 6th Century Rome, Emperor Justinian summarized the whole of Roman law as, “to live honestly, to hurt no one, to give everyone his due.” Similarly, our traffic law includes the overarching maxim that drivers shall exercise due care and caution as circumstances require. If you find yourself in a situation where you don’t know the rules, exercise caution and do the thing most likely to result in everyone getting where they’re going safely.

The Wise Drive is hosted by Doug Dahl, a Target Zero manager for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.