Courteous driving in Canada?
Sep 29th 2010, 4:21 pm
#91
Lowering the tone
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Here and there
Posts: 7,347
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
I think the police will have a different opinion.
It is still perfectly legal to go straight ahead from that left hand lane is it not? All you need is one guy that is going straight ahead to do just that when you are making your left turn and he t-bones you.
Who is in the wrong?
It is still perfectly legal to go straight ahead from that left hand lane is it not? All you need is one guy that is going straight ahead to do just that when you are making your left turn and he t-bones you.
Who is in the wrong?
Sep 29th 2010, 4:23 pm
#92
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Calgary
Posts: 3,340
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
Here's something for you...
On my regular commute, there is a 3 way stop. (A left turn and a straight ahead).
Each of those 3 roads has 2 lanes in each direction. No lanes are marked as being straight on only, or left turn only - there are no directional markings at all, it's just a plain old 3 way stop with 2 lanes in each direction.
The vast majority of the traffic wants to make the left turn, and accordingly the left-hand lane is always backed up quite a way. All these people (correctly) make the turn into the outside lane of the left-hand road, while I (equally correctly) simply zoom up the right hand lane, and make the turn into the right-hand lane.
People have honked their horns at me for this, but I am certain that I am not in the wrong.
So, BE Traffic Police... what do you reckon?
Actually, I am so fed up at work today that I have sketched it out for you... the sheep are all in the left hand lane, while your hero Jings is in the empty right hand one.
On my regular commute, there is a 3 way stop. (A left turn and a straight ahead).
Each of those 3 roads has 2 lanes in each direction. No lanes are marked as being straight on only, or left turn only - there are no directional markings at all, it's just a plain old 3 way stop with 2 lanes in each direction.
The vast majority of the traffic wants to make the left turn, and accordingly the left-hand lane is always backed up quite a way. All these people (correctly) make the turn into the outside lane of the left-hand road, while I (equally correctly) simply zoom up the right hand lane, and make the turn into the right-hand lane.
People have honked their horns at me for this, but I am certain that I am not in the wrong.
So, BE Traffic Police... what do you reckon?
Actually, I am so fed up at work today that I have sketched it out for you... the sheep are all in the left hand lane, while your hero Jings is in the empty right hand one.
Sep 29th 2010, 4:23 pm
#93
Lowering the tone
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Here and there
Posts: 7,347
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
I reckon you are disobeying the spirit of the law if not actually the law itself. More pertinently, don't the people facing you on the 3 way stop, expect you to carry on straightahead rather than turn left in front of them? Given the standard of Canadian driving (or the impression one gets of it from reading this thread) I'm amazed you've survived this long.
I also indicate - I don't try to hide where I'm planning to go.
Sep 29th 2010, 4:25 pm
#94
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 15,883
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
Sep 29th 2010, 4:33 pm
#96
Joined: Feb 2006
Location: Red Deer, Alberta
Posts: 10,612
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
Odd, its not been a feature of my life in rural canada, and I live next to a big river and have to deal with inpenetrable fog virtually every bloody morning for 4 month of the year. You just drive slow, r e a l l y s l o w l y until you can see farther.
Being late due to weather is perhaps part of life in rural canada, you probably disagree, but I'd rather get there without incident.
You just drive slow, r e a l l y s l o w l y until you can see farther.Being late due to weather is perhaps part of life in rural canada, you probably disagree, but I'd rather get there without incident.
On a side note, this past weekend a man was killed whilst crossing the road in a local one horse town, my OH told me the police were not going to set charges as the driver couldn`t see because the sun was in his eyes. I personally think this is disgraceful, a man has been killed and one can only assume that the driver was going to fast for the conditions.
http://www.albertalocalnews.com/redd...103860314.html
Sep 29th 2010, 4:39 pm
#97
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
TO follow on from Piff Poff's amazement....
I am frequently surprised, still, by the number of people killed here each year who are not wearing seatbelts. Having grown up in the 'clunk click on every trip' era, wearing a seatbelt is automatic and I would feel naked as it were without one. Yet here, people, both young and old, don't wear seatbelts and accidents that would be survivable if you were wearing a seatbelt, turn into 'being catapulted out of the car and killed' ones.
What Newfoundland's drivers need is Jimmy Saville. Clearly.
I am frequently surprised, still, by the number of people killed here each year who are not wearing seatbelts. Having grown up in the 'clunk click on every trip' era, wearing a seatbelt is automatic and I would feel naked as it were without one. Yet here, people, both young and old, don't wear seatbelts and accidents that would be survivable if you were wearing a seatbelt, turn into 'being catapulted out of the car and killed' ones.
What Newfoundland's drivers need is Jimmy Saville. Clearly.
Sep 29th 2010, 4:39 pm
#98
Assimilated Pauper
Joined: Mar 2005
Location: Ontario
Posts: 40,018
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
That seems to be a common excuse. When I had the collision with the rebar, the attending officer wrote my statement to say that I was blinded by the sun. It was a cloudy day but, as he pointed out, the insurance company wouldn't know that.
Sep 29th 2010, 4:41 pm
#99
Moderαtor Emeritus
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Upstate South Carolina
Posts: 30,768
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
In ontario you are in the wrong.
"Diagram 2-27: Two-way road to a two-way road.
Turn from the lane closest to the centre line to the lane right of the centre line, following a smooth arc. Then, when you can, move into the right curb lane."
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dan...ion2.6.4.shtml
Legal or not it seems pretty risky to me.
Loving the sketch though, hope your day gets busier!
Edit. Wrong in alberta too:
"When turning from a two-way road onto another two-way road, drive to the right side of and as close as practical to the centre line. Turn the vehicle left at the intersection. Complete the turn by driving to the right side of the centre line of the road you entered."
Sorry mate... Now, whether whats in the drivers guide is driven by the law and vice versa is another point of debate...
"Diagram 2-27: Two-way road to a two-way road.
Turn from the lane closest to the centre line to the lane right of the centre line, following a smooth arc. Then, when you can, move into the right curb lane."
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dan...ion2.6.4.shtml
Legal or not it seems pretty risky to me.
Loving the sketch though, hope your day gets busier!
Edit. Wrong in alberta too:
"When turning from a two-way road onto another two-way road, drive to the right side of and as close as practical to the centre line. Turn the vehicle left at the intersection. Complete the turn by driving to the right side of the centre line of the road you entered."
Sorry mate... Now, whether whats in the drivers guide is driven by the law and vice versa is another point of debate...
Last edited by iaink; Sep 29th 2010 at 4:49 pm.
Sep 29th 2010, 4:45 pm
#100
Joined: Feb 2006
Location: Red Deer, Alberta
Posts: 10,612
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
TO follow on from Piff Poff's amazement....
I am frequently surprised, still, by the number of people killed here each year who are not wearing seatbelts. Having grown up in the 'clunk click on every trip' era, wearing a seatbelt is automatic and I would feel naked as it were without one. Yet here, people, both young and old, don't wear seatbelts and accidents that would be survivable if you were wearing a seatbelt, turn into 'being catapulted out of the car and killed' ones.
What Newfoundland's drivers need is Jimmy Saville. Clearly.
I am frequently surprised, still, by the number of people killed here each year who are not wearing seatbelts. Having grown up in the 'clunk click on every trip' era, wearing a seatbelt is automatic and I would feel naked as it were without one. Yet here, people, both young and old, don't wear seatbelts and accidents that would be survivable if you were wearing a seatbelt, turn into 'being catapulted out of the car and killed' ones.
What Newfoundland's drivers need is Jimmy Saville. Clearly.
But a man died - it`s horrendous that the driver got let off so lightly IMHO.
Sep 29th 2010, 5:09 pm
#101
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: The Republic of Bacon
Posts: 3,192
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
Please tell him to stop that - two of my family have been involved in accidents just down the street from home. My son slid off the road (ice) into a neighbours tree a couple years back and just last week I got that scary 4am call - my daughter was a passenger in a roll over literally around the corner from her boyfriends house. Thankfully they were all belted!
Sep 29th 2010, 5:22 pm
#102
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
Like most drivers I don't stay within the speed limits 100% of the time neither do I drive at double the speed limit all the time. I've never received a speeding ticket in 25 years of driving, without the aid of a radar gun detector.
I know of people here who have been ticketed for doing 5kmh over the speed limit. That seems quite unreasonable to me. A radar detector might help in circumstances where the police are being over zealous. That said I doubt very much I would ever bother getting one. My opinion might change if I'm lucky enough to attract the attention of the police for doing +5kmh.
I know of people here who have been ticketed for doing 5kmh over the speed limit. That seems quite unreasonable to me. A radar detector might help in circumstances where the police are being over zealous. That said I doubt very much I would ever bother getting one. My opinion might change if I'm lucky enough to attract the attention of the police for doing +5kmh.
My view is that whilst speeding is illegal, exceeding them is pretty much universal. Laws that everybody breaks are shit laws. In fact laws that everybody breaks and where the punishment is a fine are just a way of generating extra taxes in disguise.
Sep 29th 2010, 5:37 pm
#103
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 10,129
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
In the UK, the obsession with Gatso camera's has taken what can be an effective deterent/control device and turned it into a generator of taxation revenues. No-one would object to a Gatso outside a school (although I've yet to find one in such a situation), but many people object to having them on A roads or Motorways. 'Flexible Enforcement' requires the human intervention of a traffic cop deciding whether the speeding driving is unsafe or not. Of course, laws don't provide this flexibility so the traffic cop has no option but to default to 'you drove to fast, so I am fining you'.
Sep 29th 2010, 6:03 pm
#104
Joined: Feb 2006
Location: Red Deer, Alberta
Posts: 10,612
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
Please tell him to stop that - two of my family have been involved in accidents just down the street from home. My son slid off the road (ice) into a neighbours tree a couple years back and just last week I got that scary 4am call - my daughter was a passenger in a roll over literally around the corner from her boyfriends house. Thankfully they were all belted!
If only he realised how much stress just those three things give me. I have told him not to expect me to look after him when he is a big drooling mess on the couch as that is not what I signed up for, yeah fine if he does everything to prevent the drooling mess but not if he ignores stuff.:curse:
Sep 29th 2010, 6:09 pm
#105
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Courteous driving in Canada?
The problem with speeding law enforcement is taking into account conditions. The old adage of 120 km/h on a clear road/good weather being OK but in a rainstorm not being safe. How do you frame and enforce a law that only applies when conditions do not permit that speed?
In the UK, the obsession with Gatso camera's has taken what can be an effective deterent/control device and turned it into a generator of taxation revenues. No-one would object to a Gatso outside a school (although I've yet to find one in such a situation), but many people object to having them on A roads or Motorways. 'Flexible Enforcement' requires the human intervention of a traffic cop deciding whether the speeding driving is unsafe or not. Of course, laws don't provide this flexibility so the traffic cop has no option but to default to 'you drove to fast, so I am fining you'.
In the UK, the obsession with Gatso camera's has taken what can be an effective deterent/control device and turned it into a generator of taxation revenues. No-one would object to a Gatso outside a school (although I've yet to find one in such a situation), but many people object to having them on A roads or Motorways. 'Flexible Enforcement' requires the human intervention of a traffic cop deciding whether the speeding driving is unsafe or not. Of course, laws don't provide this flexibility so the traffic cop has no option but to default to 'you drove to fast, so I am fining you'.