Winter driving also means keeping a closer eye out for pedestrians.
That's the message behind a campaign the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia launched this week in response to numbers showing collisions involving people crossing the street tend to rise as the daylight hours shorten.
"It's a little bit dark outside so we don't see quite as far," ICBC road safety coordinator Doug MacDonald said. "Whether somebody is crossing a road or crossing at a crosswalk, you've still got to be worried and watch out for them all the time."
On average, 59 pedestrians are killed and 2,300 injured in crashes every year in B.C., with almost half of the fatalities - 46 per cent - that have occurred in the last five years taking place between October and January.
As for those making their way by foot, MacDonald urges them to wear brightly-coloured clothing - ICBC is handing out promotional reflectors on that note - and to take their earphones out before crossing, "so that you can hear vehicles that are approaching."
(Cyclists are also encouraged to wear bright clothing and to keep the earbuds out.)
Also, make eye contact with the driver - and vice versa.
"It's important to take an extra second or two, when you're scanning an intersection that you're approaching, to make sure there aren't any pedestrians in the area and if there are, make sure that you make eye contact with them to make sure it's safe for them to cross," MacDonald said.
Above all, use a crosswalk.
"Don't try to cut across," MacDonald said. "Go up to a set of lights, cross where you're supposed to, and it'll make it that much safer for you."
When it comes to the law, there are some nuances when crossing the road.
Technically speaking, jaywalking is not illegal in B.C. But slowing or stopping traffic while crossing the road at a spot other than a crosswalk can lead to a $109 fine.
"They're allowed to cross between crosswalks so long as they don't impede the motor vehicle," Prince George RCMP Sgt. Matt Labelle said this week.
Not walking on the left side of the road facing oncoming traffic when there's no sidewalk or hitchhiking can also yield a $109 fine. And pedestrians who press the button to cross but fail to wait for the white walker emblem to flash can be hit with a $121 fine.
For the drivers, failing to yield to a pedestrian nets a $167 fine (with the penalties climbing drastically, along with the regret, guilt, shame and stress, if someone is hit). In other words, you need to stop if it looks like someone is about to cross at a crosswalk.
"If a pedestrian is on the corner ready to cross at a crosswalk, a vehicle cannot interfere with the movement of the pedestrian," Labelle said. "So if a pedestrian is moving along a sidewalk and is about to enter a crosswalk, the driver should recognize that before and be prepared to stop."
And once someone is crossing the road, you need to wait until they're to the other side before moving on, regardless of where you're situated.
"The rule of thumb that we're all taught at (RCMP) depot in Regina is the pedestrian has to go curb to curb and the only time that you don't have to wait for them to go curb to curb is if there is a cement median dividing the different directions or motor traffic," Labelle said.
