Alphawolf

Hi Guys,

Been driving for 17 years in UK but never driven abroad on the other side of the road. In July we head to Lethbridge AB on a recce when I'll be hiring a car, to be honest I'm a little nervous about it, just wondered how any of you guys had found the experience of driving in Canada.
Thinking of driving from Calgary Airport to Lethbridge (about 2 hours), good idea or not???

snowshoveller

Canadian drivers are almost without exception the rudest, most ill disciplined bunch I have ever come across!!!!!!!

You need to keep your wits about you,

Also get a sat nav, I found calgary awkward to navigate !

dbd33

Big roads, motorways or highways, are easy on the wrong side; more so if you have a car set up for the wrong side. Be careful on small roads where no car comes along for a while, when one does you'll go to the wrong side of the road. Turning across traffic is also tricky but, if you're arriving in daylight, the trip shouldn't be too alarming.

dbd33

Oh yes, be aware that there's no concept of lane discipline here, people drive in whichever lane they fancy.

Alphawolf

Cheers guys, I noticed the lane discipline thing in America if its anything like that, gotta admit its the thing I'm most nervous about, not bothered about the job hunting

dbd33

In terms of lane discipline, Americans are to Canadians as Germans are to the British. Here you can drive where you like, most people won't know if you're doing the right thing or not. Americans may have little idea but Canadians have no clue.

BritBob

Yes, the use of indicators is null in Canada and possible all of North America. Very rare anyone signals, they just suddenly break and turn. I definately believe the driving standards are much worse than in Blighty, unless it`s a regional thing.

Keep an eye on the potholes, I had to get a new set of front shocks last week because of the crappy roads. They literally fall apart later winter and into spring (at least in these parts), not entirely the fault of highway/roads people with the winters they get here, but surely they can patch/build roads with a longer lasting material.

When I first came to Canada, I had never driven outside of England. It was an easy transition to drive in Canada, was a bit nervous driving in the towns with all the lights and the permitted right turn. Highways are long and boring, just watch out for the wildlife.

Auld Yin

Very rare anyone signals, they just suddenly break and turn.

I think this is a gross exaggeration. It may be the case in NB although I doubt it. In any driving arena there will always be those that do not use turn signals but in my experience in Ontario, most people use turn signals.

snowshoveller

I think most people use indicators generally, although if you do it gives someone the opportunity to know where you are going to, and then they can cut you off. I sometimes wish I hadn't bothered!

Also the canadians would rather close up the gap in slow moving traffic than let you in.

I have found that toronto has the best drivers I have seen in canada - but thats not saying much!

dbd33

That's a truly awful thought.

Something disconcerting is that people intending to turn left from a two lane road often pull into the other lane (the one with oncoming cars) to decelerate.

dboy

Yep, that drives me mad. All three lanes going the exact same speed, sometimes even the slowest in the fast lane! Alls tail-gating is a national passtime.

dbd33

I often drive on roads which have one lane in each direction with stretches of dual carriageway. 70% of the time, when the road widens, the car in front of me moves to the outside lane. Almost all of the time, on that sort of road, I pass people on the wrong side - they never seem to have any idea that maybe they should think about moving right. (And I'm not racing, btw, most of those roads are posted for 50mph and I'm going 60 - the locally accepted variance for large roads).

Brownstar

I find that most people in Calgary use their indicators a damn site more than I tend to do

The drive from Calgary airport to Lethbridge is a piece of p*ss, follow the signs for Highway 2 and head south. You'll be on a big highway with very little traffice, unless you hit it at around 4.50-5pm on a weekday and then it will only be the bit in Calgary, once south of the city is a doddle.

jericho

We landed at Calgary and drove 3hrs up to Edmonton. That was my first time driving on the right (wrong) side of the road, but it was easy as.

I've had a couple of momentary lapses where I've wanted to go down the other way but in general I got used to it very quickly- certainly within a week.

triumphguy

It's not that Canadians have no lane discipline: there's no fast lane. You can pass, legally, in any lane. There is no express lane.

Calgary to Lethbridge is easy: as BS says - highway 2 south. It's also called the Deerfoot Trail until south of the city.

Stay below 130 and you should be OK for cops.