Absolute rubbish in terms of Toronto and the GTA. There is a huge lack of awareness on the part of many, many drivers here. Far more than in the UK. Taking evasive action is a constant part of any drive here.

+1. My local crossroads of Yonge and Eglinton (essentially two motorways meeting in a high density residential, working, pedestrian area) is a prime example of how red lights (and pedestrians) are routinely ignored. I have learned though that the police are willing to follow up if you are prepared to give a statement in writing and have done this a number of times after nearly being killed.

But according to some many of the taxi drivers are very well qualified to use a scalpel or other surgical instruments or other highly regarded professional occupations. Still I admit their driving skills are shite.

Amen to that.

I had a taxi driver go the wrong way up a one way street. That was alright because it was very early and no one was around. He then made a turn down a dead end street with underground parking at the end. This was rather alarming for a number of reasons. Instead of backing up and taking a more traditional route, he drove onto a grass verge, along an alleyway between two buildings and eventually found a street. At that point, I waved a tenner at him and bailed. On that morning, walking would have been more sensible, even through St Jamestown.

Driving in Canada will make you think that places such as Milan are centres of fine driving and etiquette..

Or put another way, with large car industry as a major lobbyist, the standards are set low enough such that if you can earn enough to afford the payments your clearly going to be able to pass the test..

To add to this, some ethic groups have worked out ways to circumvent the process so that some within their groups, those who are too stupid to pass the rather easy test will get others to do it for them, resulting in some spectacularly dumb people on the road in control of vehicles..




I believe there are places in the world worse than Canada, I do not believe any are in the first world,.
A simple comparison of insurance premiums will give you a clue to the incompetence of the Canadian driver!

They could rarely find my place even when it was "bottom of Yonge Street, the Star building will do". Canada wants to import proper taxi drivers, not more bloody PhDs who can't work a map.

One notable difference here, is the reluctance to wear seatbelts. Even with sometimes weekly accidents where someone was thrown from the car and killed/mained as a result. Growing up in the "clunk-click-every-trip" era in UK I still struggle to grasp why this is the case.

Oh.

I can completely and totally agree!!

Good thread!

I don't think there's any way we could describe drivers in the UK as being 'good' by any means, but Canadian drivers can be so infuriating that I find myself longing for the good old days of road rage on the M25. My particular bugbears:
- middle lane drivers. Those b*stards who get themselves into the middle lane as quickly as possible (despite a completely empty slow lane) and stay there, completely oblivious to anyone else around them
- lack of indicators. Must be a problem with North American cars. They just don't seem to have any.
- complete inability to merge into highway traffic, or the understanding that one might need to move out of the way to allow someone else to merge. Makes me weep.
- proliferation of pickup trucks, minivans and SUV's so large that those of us in a normal sized car can't see ahead and have to hope to god they've got working brake lights
- the amount of people driving around at night who haven't got their headlights on (my sister was visiting from the UK recently and this one amazed her)

That's just the unintended consequence of removing control of the headlights from the driver. No doubt they'll eventually change the law to make the back lights stay on all the time.

Good God you're not wrong!! I've rode my motorbike around the Arc De Triomphe several times just for kicks and then parked it on the road almost under the Eiffel Tower (it's broken down honest! ) while I took a sneaky picture before the Gendarmerie tried to move in, he he he! But this sounds worse!

We have a trip booked for May for 2 weeks, so what would be your 'top tips' for driving in Canada? Should we take out extra insurance on the hire car!

How many on this thread have passed any form of advanced driving course? Define "good".

I agree that most Canadian drivers appear to consider looking where they are going as a distraction to everything else they are doing while driving

Me!! Car and motorbike advanced training with extensive European driving. I can also drive a tractor but not legally, sshhh!

Me too though I don't see the relevance. I owned a tractor until quite recently, I don't think there's any law governing driving one except that you have to be aged 14 or over to go on public roads.