ARH

I've now been here 7 months with the family and loving it so far. However there is one constant issue that gets me worked up.....

Are Calgary drivers generally the worst in Canada (or even the world?) Some of the stuff I see every day on the commute to work leaves me shaking my head in disbelief. Today took the biscuit.......

On the way into work I was following someone weaving all over the road, I moved over to the next lane and pulled alongside the guy then stopped at some traffic lights. The guy was literally juggling his cell phone, a cigarette and a cup of Timmy Ho's at the same time!

Only the other day, I was following a lady who spent about 2km looking over her shoulder trying to reach something behind the front passenger seat of her car. At one point she didn't look out of the windshield for over 10 seconds!

Add to this a complete inability to merge onto the Deerfoot, driving even closer to the car in front in snowy weather, generally having no comprehension of what turn signals are used for and suddenly realising that their exit is only 10 metres in front of them whilst in the outside lane and pulling across three lanes of traffic whilst all around them panic; it all adds up to a laugh a minute on the highways in Calgary!

I'm not a perfect driver, but I like to think I'm safe and that I consider other road users around me. I've driven in many different countries and I must admit Calgary rates very highly on the numpty scale.

Anyone else with similar experiences?

TheLimey

I've been here nearly 4 years and it never gets better. The suprising thing is many people say...."oh...its much worse in Montreal/Toronto/Vancouver" !!
I too like you had thought I had seen it all until I landed in Calgary. I am going back to blighty in the summer for 3 weeks...will be interesting to see how my driving habits have deteriorated and if it really was so much better back home on the roads.

Iain Mc

It's bad in Vancouver, but we're always shocked when we go to Calgary.

I particularly like the 4x4 drivers who use the sloping embankments on the side of the road to bypass queues at intersections.

Mind you, I guess one should be impressed with how impeccably a Calgarian can judge the precise width / length of their vehicle when weaving in traffic. Can't say we've ever seen a crash!

gingnut

Most drivers in Calgary are Saskibums that moved, so its not the drivers from Calgary that are bad, its the drivers from Sask.

Steve_P

I was nearly in one this afternoon.

Idiot in a half ton passing me on the left but is impeded by the vehicle in front of him, so he throws on his indicator and starts to pull in to my lane, but he's only three quarters past me so I hammer the brakes and the horn at the same time. He reacts by jerking back into his lane and nearly goes over the concrete divider on his left. He had no clue whatsoever that I was there.

Situational awareness zero, happens so often these days.

roanin

Cheeky monkey!!

steve666

It's the same here in Ottawa, in 5 months I've had 3 'almost' collisions, with cars pulling into my lane suddenly and without indicating. I've witnessed one incident of rear ending (cars not people). Cars driving along the sides of snow banks, to get past other vehicles and one time waiting at lights I watched in disbelief as two women were smoking while a 2 year old or so was sitting in the back seat coughing his lungs up, then one of the women got an enhalor out and began sucking on it

I tell yees, I blame Tim Horton.

MCrocker

That's part of the problem - anyone I discuss this with who is native to Alberta uses the excuse that it's all down to people 'not from around here' - they don't think it's their issue.

However, having driven with many of them they are as bad as anyone else.

The other excuse I have heard is that it's because it's 'the wild west' and a throw back to driving wagons with horses

Canadians are some of the nicest people I have met but put them behind the wheel of a car on the Deerfoot and they become something else completely. No one seems to mind though...

The worrying thing is that you find yourself over time starting to immitate the driving habits...you have been warned.

Steve_P

Resistance is futile.

You "will" be assimilated.

geo4

You moved to Cowboy country- what did you expect??

Parts of Toronto are no better. I'm not saying which parts....

<runs>

Judy in Calgary

So all this time I've been participating in Demolition Derby? It's been a sport? I've been getting my exercise at the same time? Thanks for helping me to reframe the experience of commuting in Calgary, Geo.
x

Jay Bird

Hi! I live in very rural SW Ontario where the driving is every bit as bad as it sounds in any other part of Canada. I'm actually in the UK as I write this.....been here for the whole of March - a few days to go before we return to Canada - and I can tell you the driving here is MUCH better! Amazing when you think how small this country is compared to Canada - maybe that's why. But I have a theory that drivers in Canada are complacent about having so much open space they feel they don't have to bother too much....and they certainly don't know anything about "road etiquette".
I always maintained that it was, and I can say it definitely is!

Alberta_Rose

Timmy Ho's ....... that well-known Chinese Coffee shoppe!

geo4

I like their cold tea.

XCMTBer

Again, Ottawa seems as bad as the comments made regarding other areas in Canada, the usual last second change of lane with no indication or check for other cars is the normal weapon of choice! Every day have 1 or 2 special people changing lanes to to under take / over take just to gain a couple of car lengths at the next set of lights

The strangest part is for all of the urgency behind the wheel - to get to work - i rarely seen any urgency in their work ethic!