Driving Habits Across Canada

[rousseau]

I've started noticing a lot of drivers on two-lane rural or inter-city roads driving so far to the right that their right wheels are on top of the white line dividing the travel lane from the shoulder. These drivers are usually texting, which I can tell they are doing either by the way their head bobs up and down at several-second intervals, or by visual confirmation when the road turns into a four-lane and I pull up beside them.

What's alarming is that they are essentially acknowledging that their distracted driving might cause them to drift, in that they are compensating against the potential of a collision with an oncoming vehicle by giving themselves some leeway on the asphalt. What's terrifying as a cyclist is that cyclists are riding on said white line.

I don't ride my bike on crazy busy two-lane highways, but I do spend some time on some that have a modicum of traffic. It's daunting to realize that while cycling awareness and acceptance among drivers is gradually getting better overall, the dangers from distracted drivers are increasing.

Distracted driving the No. 1 killer on the roads, OPP says

I think the penalties for distracted driving need to be as harsh or harsher than those for drunk driving.

[matthew6]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I don't know if this is a uniquely Ontario thing, but I've noticed that a lot of drivers approaching a red light who plan to turn right drive at full speed almost right up to the intersection and go across the white line before stopping.

As a Montrealer, I had to think for a few moments about what this meant.

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

If it is, I don't know how these people would survive Toronto, where you get tailgated for driving 130 on the 401.

People say this about Toronto but it's not really true. People tend to speed up as they leave the city. I often pass someone on the 404 going north and by the time I get out of the city the same person will be passing me.

Originally Posted by Canasian

It seems that the bigger cities TO and MTL have the more aggressive drivers, although Calgarians were quite polite. In these cities, people are just in more of a hurry. As an easterner myself, it seems like normal city driving!

I've been cut off and almost hit more times in Calgary than in Toronto. But Calgarians are better at not hogging the left lane, I'll give them that. Overall the differences are pretty insignificant.

[eemy]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I've started noticing a lot of drivers on two-lane rural or inter-city roads driving so far to the right that their right wheels are on top of the white line dividing the travel lane from the shoulder. These drivers are usually texting, which I can tell they are doing either by the way their head bobs up and down at several-second intervals, or by visual confirmation when the road turns into a four-lane and I pull up beside them.

What's alarming is that they are essentially acknowledging that their distracted driving might cause them to drift, in that they are compensating against the potential of a collision with an oncoming vehicle by giving themselves some leeway on the asphalt. What's terrifying as a cyclist is that cyclists are riding on said white line.

I don't ride my bike on crazy busy two-lane highways, but I do spend some time on some that have a modicum of traffic. It's daunting to realize that while cycling awareness and acceptance among drivers is gradually getting better overall, the dangers from distracted drivers are increasing.

It's becoming more common in Waterloo Region to pave wide shoulders on the busier rural bike routes in the area to avoid some of the problems related to this. Nevertheless, this is pretty alarming, because I'm not convinced that someone who is texting, even if they aren't crowding the right-side of the lane, is going to notice me when I've decided to take the lane. Fortunately most of the routes I use are quite popular with cyclists, so I hope that most motorists are aware of the hazard before encountering anyone.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I think the penalties for distracted driving need to be as harsh or harsher than those for drunk driving.

Couldn't agree more. It took a long time for governments to really crack down on drunk drivers, let's not drag it out that way with distracted drivers. Fines, suspensions, jail. Texting while driving is not something to be taken lightly.

[Blader]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Distracted driving the No. 1 killer on the roads, OPP says

I think the penalties for distracted driving need to be as harsh or harsher than those for drunk driving.

I couldn't agree more - I think it's a lot worse than driving at .08 alcohol and equivalent to drunk driving approaching stupor.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

It's becoming more common in Waterloo Region to pave wide shoulders on the busier rural bike routes in the area to avoid some of the problems related to this. Nevertheless, this is pretty alarming, because I'm not convinced that someone who is texting, even if they aren't crowding the right-side of the lane, is going to notice me when I've decided to take the lane. Fortunately most of the routes I use are quite popular with cyclists, so I hope that most motorists are aware of the hazard before encountering anyone.

I've often taken the lane when riding in urban areas. It's better than moving over to the curb and getting passed by cars with inches to spare, or getting taken out by a mirror. I've been hit by mirrors, though thankfully not knocked over.

I've also banged on bumpers and mirrors in anger, which isn't a great idea, because you never know what kind of idiot is behind the wheel of a car. There have been two or three occasions where I've explained to the surprised morons in the offending cars that "if I can touch your fucking car, then you're too fucking close to me!" but I assume they didn't get it, and probably thought that the angry cyclist they almost hit should have been on the sidewalk or at home watching Friends with a bowl of chips on his lap instead of being out on the road causing trouble to motorists.

I would never take the lane on a busy or semi-busy rural two-lane road, though. They're coming too fast, and they're probably texting. If they're approaching the apex of a hill and you're just on the other side of it, well, that's not a good scenario.

[rousseau]

I did a bike ride in Toronto yesterday along the Lakeshore and then along city streets like Queen West. Say what you will about the startling, in 2015, lack of cycling infrastructure for a city its size in the Western world, the streetcar tracks, which are treacherous, and the general chaos of vehicles, parked cars and pedestrians befitting such a teeming city, but motorists on the busier streets seem to have a full awareness of cyclists simply by dint of the sheer number of two-wheelers surrounding the cars on all sides.

I think that even the awareness of the need to check your mirror for cyclists coming up behind you before opening the door of your freshly parked car is quite high in Toronto.

[1overcosc]

Isn't it now law in Ontario that cars have to keep 1 metre away from cyclists?

[middeljohn]

Approaching 3 years in Edmonton I've become very used to Edmonton drivers. I've started thinking that maybe it's not because I learned to drive in Toronto, maybe I just drive like an asshole.

Three days visiting in Toronto right now has completely rid me of that. Man it's nice to drive in a place where everyone is assertive and doesn't take ten seconds to make a lane change or doesn't merge onto the freeway 30 below the speed limit, or where they don't wait 2 seconds to move after the light has turned green.

Yes driving in Toronto can be a tad unnerving - also a lot of tailgaters and weavers afterall, and the ruah hour traffic is in its own class - but for the most part if you appreciate a high skill level of driving then Toronto is a great place to drive outside of the hours of 6:30-9:30am and 3:30-6:30pm.

[OutOfTowner]

Signal levers are optional in Montreal. Dealers have to special order them and there is a hefty installation charge.

[OutOfTowner]

Those having suicidal tendancies in Montreal need only step into a pedestrian crosswalk. The barriers on the Jacques Cartier were a complete waste of money.

[TorontoDrew]

Vancouver drivers seem to be much more patient with pedestrians then in Toronto and for sure Montreal.

[rousseau]

It's seductive to assign greater significance to group driving habits than might be warranted, but it's probably not all that fair. Still, I can't help it.

I recently took the New York Thruway halfway across New York state after not having been there for a few years, and it once again confirmed my earlier observations: American drivers drive more slowly than drivers in Ontario or Quebec (don't know about the Maritimes, and I haven't driven in the west for so long I can't remember what it's like there save for the politeness middeljohn talks about), and they don't respect passing lanes like we do.

The NY Thruway is just two lanes, so what was typical was we'd be stuck in a long line of cars going 100 km/h for ten minutes or so before someone in the right lane took an exit off the highway allowing a bunch of us to break free at 130 km/h for five minutes before encountering the next cluster of five or six cars going 100 km/h in both lanes.

Maddening. Crossing the bridge at Buffalo/Fort Erie and hitting the QEW was like being released from prison, allowing for a straight shot to St. Catharines at 130 km/h where it turns into 3 lanes. People actively vacate the passing lane in Ontario these days. It's a good thing.

[OutOfTowner]

Originally Posted by rousseau

It's seductive to assign greater significance to group driving habits than might be warranted, but it's probably not all that fair. Still, I can't help it.

I recently took the New York Thruway halfway across New York state after not having been there for a few years, and it once again confirmed my earlier observations: American drivers drive more slowly than drivers in Ontario or Quebec (don't know about the Maritimes, and I haven't driven in the west for so long I can't remember what it's like there save for the politeness middeljohn talks about), and they don't respect passing lanes like we do.

The NY Thruway is just two lanes, so what was typical was we'd be stuck in a long line of cars going 100 km/h for ten minutes or so before someone in the right lane took an exit off the highway allowing a bunch of us to break free at 130 km/h for five minutes before encountering the next cluster of five or six cars going 100 km/h in both lanes.

Maddening. Crossing the bridge at Buffalo/Fort Erie and hitting the QEW was like being released from prison, allowing for a straight shot to St. Catharines at 130 km/h where it turns into 3 lanes. People actively vacate the passing lane in Ontario these days. It's a good thing.

I remember driving in one place, once. Dude cut me off, other dude tailgated.. all the drivers in that place are crazy! I know, because I once drove in that place, once.

[ssiguy]

People in BC drive sooooooo slow it's enough to drive you nuts.

[JHikka]

I've been back in NB for the past four months after driving in Ottawa for three years and everyone here drives so passively. Stopping way behind white lines at intersections, afraid to turn into traffic, drive slowly, take forever to turn off roadways. I find highway etiquette slightly better in terms of not sitting in passing lanes but the alternative is that many don't move into the passing lane when merging traffic is entering and will instead slow down rather than move over. People will gladly sit in the right hand lane and drive 90/100 if their exit is coming up in the next 3km or 4km.

On the other hand, people will complain about the tiniest of tiny traffic jams that might throw off their day by three or four minutes when they've clearly never had to sit on any 400 series in Ontario or Quebec.

[240glt]

Yes people in BC drive pretty passively for the most part, especially outside the lower mainland. Down in greater Vencouver a lot of the stereotypes about asian drivers are true though. In BC we used to get a kick out of Alberta drivers.. the big joke was that they will go a million miles an hour on the straightaways and then crawl around corners

Alberta drivers are pretty poor, I blame a privatized testing system and the "me first" attitude. Calgary has a lot of aggressive drivers, Edmonton just seems to have a lot of drivers who don't have a clue what they are doing. In all the places in Canada I have driven, Edmonton has the most careless, incompetent and generally least coordinated, shitty drivers

[middeljohn]

Fender benders are fairly common occurence in Edmonton. A lot of pople don't really concentrate all that much when they drive, probably because it wasn't as necessary 20 years ago. Now it is because the roads are getting more congested. In the GTA you'rr trained to drive with a high level of concentration, so despite everything happening faster the rate of road accidents is a lot lower.

[240glt]

^ yup. We just bought a new 4Runner a few months ago and I swear since we've has it I've had to take evasive action at least three times to avoid being hit. And the SUV is big and hulking and somehow people still manage to not see it

The traffic circles are hilarious. They are well beyond the skill level of many Edmonton drivers