sparkyphil

Going to vancouver for fist time on the 1st of Jan and would like any advise on driving there.

bazzz

Don't bother indicating. No-one else does.

Err. You can turn right on a red light if the coast is clear.

Oakvillian

it'd be quicker to fly. You might get a bit wet if you try to drive there.

sorry

Steve_P

Should dry out as you cross the country, well if you don't freeze first.

So you should be

JonboyE

We drive on the other side of the road (I forgot that one once or twice).

Traffic lights are at the the back of a junction, so the stop line will be 30-40 feet before the lights.

It is customary to greet other drivers with a clenched fist, apart from an extended middle finger.

OK, maybe not the last one.

Judy in Calgary

Canadian drivers are crap, well at least according to the British posters on this forum.

My reference point when I arrived in Canada was Swazi drivers, so I thought Canadian drivers were bloody brilliant.

A complaint that one quite regularly hears from newly arrived British expats in Canada is that there are so few traffic circles / roundabouts. This complaint rapidly evaporates once the plaintiff has actually negotiated a traffic circle in Canada. Then he/she goes down on his/her bended knees and thanks the Almighty that there are as few traffic circles as there are, and indeed begs that none more be built.

Steve_P

One thing that seems to throw new drivers from the UK is the fact that it is legal to pass on the inside, provided of course that there is a lane available to do that.

A link to some reading material that might help to read before you arrive. http://www.icbc.com/Licensing/lic_ut...an_drivers.asp

Biiiiink

That got me at first and led to many screeching halts!

Also flashing red = stop sign equivalent, flashing amber = caution or part time traffic lights, flashing green = equivalent of green filter arrow. Not knowing those led to much dithering and honking at junctions

Watch out for 3 way stops on 4 way roads (around malls often, the incoming traffic does not stop but every other road does).

Parking is often only allowed on one side of a road, check signs, and don't park the opposite way to traffic, it's not allowed for some reason.

Good luck OP, you'll be fine. If I can do it, anyone can

Oakvillian

me too. It can be hard to judge at first, especially at night in the snow when you have no idea where the stop line actually is.

flashing red & amber happen in Europe (though not UK) too, but the green confused me until I read the drivers' handbook... it means that yours is the only traffic stream on a green light, and you can turn across all traffic from other directions.
There's one of those near us. Scared the living daylights out of the OH, who is learning to drive... not to mention what it did to me in the passenger seat!
yeah, never understood this one. Net result is lots of U-turns in the middle of the road to end up pointing the right way to parallel park. I'm sure that causes more accidents than parking on the wrong side. You're too modest. Seriously, though, it's not complicated. The same pedals still make the car go and stop, the steering wheel still has the same effect (except on snow & ice...). If you keep your wits about you and look out for passing traffic in all lanes on the highways, you'll be fine.

JonboyE

Not in BC! A flashing green light means the light is controlled by a pedestrian button rather than a pre-programmed sequence.

U-turns to parallel park are also illegal in BC.

JonboyE

Don't forget that you must come to a stop at a red stop sign (or flashing red light as said earlier). If all roads at a junction are controlled by stop signs you proceed in the order that you arrived at the junction. It is always best to make eye contact with other drivers because some are better at observing this rule than others.

rwin

Don't park on the wrong side of the street.

Also as far as driving on the other side. When we were in England last year the driving on the other side wasn't really a problem. It was the turning onto another road. For me, a right turn means you need to look left. In England it means look both ways. I forgot that once or twice. One time I forgot that it was a very close shave (with a very large truck).

So, I'd say get in the habit of looking both ways no matter which way you turn just to be safe.

bazzz

As are 3-point turns and reversing-round-a-corner within the Vancouver city limits (dunno if this applies to all of Metro Vancouver).

JonboyE

Having checked with the Road Sense booklet, U-turns, 2 and 3 point turns are actually all OK, so I guess this is just a by-law in Vancouver - I've no idea about the suburbs. I've seen several people being ticketed for U-turns in Vancouver

Lychee

JonboyE's right - this is a very important thing to note. There are subtle distinctions between provinces - a flashing green light in Ontario is not the same thing as a flashing green light in BC.

If you're driving in Vancouver, you will come across many intersections (Granville Street between downtown and the airport, for example) that have blinking green lights. Treat those blinking green lights as you would a regular green light - drive straight through. The only time those blinking green lights will change is if a pedestrian needs to cross and they press the crosswalk light button. Then the blinking green stops blinking, it turns to amber, then to red, and the pedestrian crosses. After 20 seconds or so, the light goes back to blinking green and traffic continues on through until the next pedestrian comes along and presses the crosswalk light button. You generally find these blinking green lights where there aren't many pedestrians, but where the road is too busy/wide/dangerous for a pedestrian to cross without some sort of traffic control.