iaink

Unless a sign tells you not to, you may turn right on a red light only after coming to a complete stop and waiting until the way is clear.
Ontario drivers handbook (ie the highway code here)

Did anyone mention school buses yet? Thats another big difference, No one, and that mean NO ONE passes a stationary school bus with its lights flashing and sign out. I think the penalty is death or something....people will grass on their own grannies if they saw it happen.

That includes buses on the opposite side of an undivided dual carriageway.

Butch Cassidy

You have to stop?
Nobody told me this!!!! I thought it was just a rolling stop you had to do???

Butch Cassidy

OH SHEET.

Can I choose hanging??

Souvenir

We drive on the right, remember? If you're at a light-controlled junction waiting to turn right, what's the point in sitting there if nothing is coming from the left. All you are doing is idling the engine, which is less efficient and chucks out nastier emissions. Canada could certainly do with more roundabouts, for the same reason.

Alberta_Rose

I've not yet seen a school bus with flashing red lights and the stop sign sticking out ..........

.....though I did once spend several minutes debating whether I was allowed to pass a school bus that just had its orange (hazard?) lights flashing as it was loading up kids outside a school.

I eventually decided it must be ok to pass it when I realised that all the drivers behind were hooting and yelling at me to move!

Bloody Canadians and their silly traffic rules .......

daft batty

the penalty is public humiliation, followed by disemboweling then hanging. thats only if they are in a good mood

daft batty

i did that too!!!

Snave

On a bike you are expected to put a foot down. That shows you have actually completely stopped. Same applies at a four-way stop.

dbd33

When I first arrived, I bought a cheap car, a 1973 Oldsmobile Regency Brougham. A very large car which, perversely, had the front seat stuck fully forward requiring that the driver bow his legs as if on a horse. I was driving this monster to work in a suitably stately fashion with another new import from the UK as a passenger.

"Oh look" said the passenger, pointing to a school bus with its lights flashing "there's a school bus, arent you supposed to do something?"

"Er, yeah, stop maybe" I said, stopping hard.

The catering truck behind didn't stop. Fortunately, there's ten feet of trunk between the back bumper and the rear window of a proper American car so we felt the impact as a gentle wave some while later. The truck was in a bad way and needed towing. Before it was towed, the driver agreed to pay me $500 for the damage to the Oldsmobile (cost of car $850). Inevitably he paid me from his takings; $500 in twentys, tens and smaller.

flashman

I would suggest the following differences

UK narrow twisting roads require firm suspensions and sensitive steering where wide straight roads in Canada require softer suspension and looser steering.

Butch Cassidy

I always put my foot down when I see a red light.

qjamesfloyd

It's funny reading all the negative comments about the Canadian driving, because my wife who is Canadian thinks we all crazy over here in th UK. She thinks we drive more faster, and the roads are narrower(which they are) and she says because the roads are narrower it's weird we are aloud to park on both sides of the road, making the road even more narrow.
Her family have come over for a visit here and they are the same, they get scared on our roads, to me it's just natural, the funny thing is my wife took and failed her driving test 6 times in Canada, but took it here and passed it first time!! it took me 2 times to pass and i'm English, go figure!!!
I have driven in Canada lots of times, always in Ontario, and i find it so much better over there, in the rural areas it's so laid back and relaxed, and it's great to ba able to drive a long time without seeing traffic lights!! I live in Southampton, and they have more light than almost any other UK city, so rural Canada is lovely. Even driving through Ottawa i did'nt find it that bad, no where near as bad as London.

louisasurreygirl

I personally cannot stand driving in Canada and avoid it as much as possible, especially as we are downtown Toronto. Everyone seems to speed through the green lights, and it terrifies me that pedestrians are allowed to cross at the same time as cars turning. Even walking downtown to work, I have had my feet virtually touched by aggressive drivers wanting to mow me down!

I cannot stand the huge highways with lots of lane swapping too, and the idiots that brake for no apparent reason right in front of you at 80mph. Another thing, virtually nobody signals the 'thank you sign' by simply putting a hand up when you give way - pure ignorance.... !

Give me teeny country lanes, roundabouts and british courtesy anytime over this!

dbd33

In Toronto another problem is the beggars at the lights. I drove yesterday and had some chap press his nose against the window and leave snot streaks. When I commuted by convertible working girls would climb right in and try to negotiate a ride for a suck. It really is most bothersome.

louisasurreygirl

Urgh gross!

We've had a few 'beggars' shaking their Tim Horton's cups at us before and boys just coming up and washing our windshields with gawd-knows what, but that is just nasty (on both accounts!)!