Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

I don't think "average" is quite the right word.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

to the o/p i don't think its poor drivers here, just a much lower standard than you have been used to. we are champagne drivers in the UK, now awash with brown ale. tis the nature of things. thanks for asking for my input anyway for what it is.

oh and i get it as much as anybody, even while working, folk are just oblivious.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

I followed a van this morning for about 8-10km. The van driver was on the brakes every 5-10 seconds during that distance, because s/he was only about 4 feet from the car in front.

It never occurred to him/her just to drop back a little bit and give his brakes (and my eyes) a rest.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

I agree to a large extent.

I had had the "pleasure" of being driven long distances by many Canadian drivers. And my summary is that they simply (all of them) fail to look ahead to see what is going on. There is no preparation or anticipation of what might happen.

So they pull in or pull out at the last minute, even though we've had about two minutes warning that the truck ahead of us is going at a slower speed, or that the turn off is 2km away (these are dead straight roads after all, it ain't difficult!).

They do drive right up the bum of the car in front and then pull out wildly trying to get past (because it never occurred to them to think about 20 seconds before hand). And as a passenger, I participate in much head bobbing and psuedo whiplash movements as they brake too hard.

And then there is the obligatory phone and the Timmies. I would put my head back and close my eyes to doze if I wasn't so stressed ;)

I offer to drive quite a lot :p

Having said that, my two best friends in the UK are exactly as described above and are pretty awful drivers. My dad taught me really well, and then I've done police courses. But it really is not that hard to look a few hundred meters up the road.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

I've taken they keys from one friend after being a passenger in her car.

Actually I think blissful ignorance of how to drive helps them get by when driving in the winters here. If they realised everything that they should be doing then, well, there would be a brain fart.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

I will agree with all of the above except.;)

I learned to drive here as did my wife who is "a cradle Canadian" and we do not drive this way. We complain loudly about those that do but we don't over simplify it and say "all" a lot perhaps maybe even most but not all.. :sneaky:

We also have a friend who is a very smart person (has a doctorate) she is from the UK refuses to drive anything but a standard, she would be classed as one of your "all", she is bloody useless as a driver no pre-planning no positional awareness whatsoever, turns at the last minute, comes almost to a stop to change lanes because she is too close to her turn and in the wrong lane, just an atrocious driver who thinks she is doing extremely well and complains equally loudly about others inabilities as she sees them.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

I really have no problem with the drivers around me... They may tailgate occasionally, but no worse than in the UK and at slower speeds.

They may be inconsiderate sometimes, but mostly they are happy to let people into a line up etc, and that seldom happened in the UK

I dont get it. Its not just the traffic density here either cos they drive FM batty, and shes just up the road from me. It was probably me that overtook her on the yellow line though....If its safe to pass, pass already. The solid line is a guide if you are going at 80, not 20kmh, Far as I know the law about unsafe passing says nothing at all about the line, its just a guide as to if its safe or not;)




I bumped into a brit recently who was a driving instructor here....I bit my tongue! Having said that "Canada's Worst Driver" is an eye opener as to what's out there, although obviously they are the extreme (I hope!). Probably just as bad in the UK though, but in the UKs defence I would think everyone is used to dealing with traffic. Here you could grow up on the country and have no idea how to deal with it when and if you move to the city.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

She overtook before a bend, you couldn't see what was coming. These drivers can risk their own necks but I don't want to be part of a pile up caused by their stupidity. I see enough of the effects of bad driving at work to be driven batty when I see it on the roads.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

I've seen some pretty bad standards of driving in the UK too especially "oop Norf", but you see it less often because a lot of the traffic is bumper to bumper.

There is almost a Jekyll and Hyde quality to Canadian drivers. Drive in any small town Ontario setting, and the scene is almost idyllic with slow moving pick ups and cars - but those same ppl turn into tailgating speeding nutters once they get on the 401 entry ramp.

Living in Mississauga, I make no apology for racially profiling drivers who appear in my rear view mirror. A lot of the drivers have no concept of Stop Sign behaviour, and I've had some close shaves with folks who don't know how to use brakes. The worst drivers are Chinese in my humble skewed opinion.

I do agree with an earlier poster who made reference to lack of manual transmission drivers. Driver awareness is definitely encouraged by the need to ensure choreography of clutch, gear and speed for appropriate traffic conditions.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

When I went back to UK in the spring I was pleasantly surprised by the driving. The M1, M11, A19 and A1 were a delight compared to the 401. Even round Lakenheath with all those American drivers was better than here.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

I did recently wonder if the driving 'fun' here was because of the multinational aspect....lane discipline anyone? undertaking, running red lights, tailgating, not allowing cars to pull in front of you to get off a highway...sometimes I come home and feel like doing a 'Pope' and kissing the ground......but in all of what I have seen I have not seen any aggression! I did between 40000 & 50000 miles in the UK a year and everyday I would see roadrage! And as someone has already said ...try driving in Ireland....they expect you to pull over onto the hard shoulder so that they can overtake!:huh:

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

Undertaking is perfectly legal. Of course if it werent for the numpties cruising in the middle lane it might not happen as much...


No one in the UK floors it on an amber light any more? Perhaps the proliferation of speed and red light cameras has calmed everyone down there in recent years, but thats not at all how I remember UK driving....fast, crowded and inconsiderate are the adjectives that spring to mind based on my last trip over. It seemed terribly aggressive / competitive / dog eat dog to me compared to Canada.

The 401 and the like in TO can be that way too though.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

Am I allowed to make a comment on drivers in the UK, without being branded a loony racist?

I worked in an emergency control room and answered 999 calls for a good while. We often had phone calls from frantic or bemused members of the public about possible drunk drivers, and they then proceeded to tell us for several minutes all the dreadful things the driver in front was doing - till we could try and muster a police car to find them (and while the complainer was giving directions whilst driving and talking on their mobile phone :sneaky: ).

I would do a check on the registration plate and I was rarely surprised when it came back as a Nissan. This is my Asian profiling. There is nothing racist when I say that Asians like Nissans - they just do - (White Van Man is a white middle aged guy, older BMW's have a black 20-something male at the wheel, Beetles have a white 20-something female at the wheel - dbd being my exception - you get the idea).

I digress - 7 out of 10 of these weaving and presumed drunk Nissan drivers were Asian or Sri Lankan - and none of them ever turned out to be drunk drivers. They were just crap drivers.

I am not conscious of doing any racial profiling here in Canada - they are mostly just poor and oblivious drivers - everyone here is equal - it's the Canadian dream :p

And I've no doubt just upset someone on this board, for which I shall now apologise if I have offended your sensibilities.

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

In the summer I expect to see a fight on the 410 every third day or so. People get very hostile when you say something to them like "get your shitbox Honda off the highway, it's not worth blocking a lane because you've crashed the likes of that".

Re: Standards of driving in Canada
 

It really upsets some Mustang drivers when you pull up behind them at a stop light and yell move your horse before it sh*ts on my car. :sneaky::)