nerdherd

My husband and I drove about 3.5 hours each way at the week end to visit his father in Cheshire (we are in Bucks). Basically, M40, M42, M6 etc...

It seems that the number of middle lane drivers in the UK is getting higher by the day. They drive me absolutely mad. Seriously, most times there was no one in the slow lane, and tons of idiots sitting in the middle lane, not overtaking anyone, and slowing the whole flow of traffic as a result. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr........
A friend of mine is a traffic modeller (!) and she once said that motorways and journey times would be an awful lot faster if drivers were less stupid about being in the middle lane for no reason. Also stats show that over half of motorway traffic jams in England are caused by this.

Just wondering - is it the same in Canada? I am guessing that out of the big cities it's not an issue since density is hardly comparable. Certainly the few times I drove in Canada on a motorway, it didn't seem to be an issue.

Oink

Much, much worse.

iaink

God help you when you get to Canada. I'm afraid that after 3 hours on the 401 in the GTA (about 60 miles if you are lucky ) your head might explode...

Im pretty laid back, but even out in the boonies where I live where the 401 is only 2 lanes (but at least its moving) one truck overtaking another with a 1kmh speed differential has my blood pressure rising.

Denhamgirl

oh my, I don't know what part of Canada you've experienced, but here in Ontario middle lane driving is an absolute curse on the highways. Add to that the completely mental truck drivers, the random unsignalled lane changes (when first here, we used to joke that cars here didn't come with indicators), the random braking for absolutely no reason, the insanely fast driving, the oblivious-to-anything-around-them-slow driving, driving while on the mobile and trying to drink a coffee at the same time, I could go on and on, it's terrible...

Former Lancastrian

+1
Unless you are in one of the bigger cities TO, Vancouver, Montreal rarely will you see 3 lanes of traffic which you could compare to motorway driving.
The TCH is Canadas main highway and for most parts its only 2 lanes so you get the outside lane hoggers who are quite content to do the 100 kmh limit and not move over plus of course the semis scenario that is mentioned above. At times you will be whizzing along at about 120 just to keep with the flow then BANG stop start crawl for several miles.

dbd33

I drove extensively on two lane, and one lane widening to dual carriageway in places, roads in Ontario. I found that when the road widened there was a 50% chance of the driver in front choosing each lane. Of course, it's different from the UK as there is no obligation upon drivers here to keep right; they can, and do, drive in any lane at any speed. Even I get car sick sometimes with all the swerving to pass this one the right, that one on the left. Canadians earn their sky high car insurance premiums.

dbd33

The traffic density on the 401 is higher than anywhere in the UK except arguably one junction on some ring road around somewhere up north, Birmingham, maybe. There's a road in Mexico with consistently higher traffic density than the 401 and one in LA that's about the same. Otherwise the 16 lanes across the top of Toronto are as shitty a place to drive as anywhere on earth.

Note that I'm in Guelph, the people adjacent to me in this office live in Ajax(3), Scarborough(3), Oshawa(2), Barrie. It's 120 degrees outside and very humid. Is it any wonder there are so many shootings in the GTA? If I had that commute some minivan or Toyota owner would be laying dead by now.

HSJones

+1

cheeky_monkey

Using a football analogy...UK drivers are premier league...Canadians are pub Sunday league...its that bad

el_richo

Sorry to say but you're ****ed when you move to Canada

nerdherd

Yes, it would seem like it! There goes my resolution of not swearing as much on the road anymore

Oh well, good job we are not planning to buy a car but to use transit as much as possible, to start with at least. Living in downtown Montreal is the plan, and hiring a car only as and when needed.

el_richo

I mostly enjoyed driving in the UK, and even through London.

Here, it mostly winds me up that i had my first real road rage a while back that wasn't pleasant.

It's nicer once you get into the national parks or mountains.....unless you get stuck behind a driver from Alberta.

If using public transit, and you're used to London, Canada seems a little more achaic but for me it's a much more relaxing experience......and just as smelly.

iaink

This idea of "Canadian drivers" is just wrong. Probably less than half the drivers in the big cities learned to drive in Canada. Probably 5 or 10 percent of "Canadian" drivers learned to drive badly in the UK!

All this holier than thou nonsense about Canadian drivers is getting a bit old. Bad road habits are a symptom of the driving conditions here, frustration and congestion due to weight of traffic in the cities, Long straight wide roads that people dont have to concentrate on, automatic transmissions, rules that let you pass either side, cruise control etc etc.

iaink

I was told by a friend when I arrived here that if I saw a Quebec plated car with the indictor on, it was probably because it came that way when they bought it....

At the time I thought he was joking

nerdherd

I always like driving in London too, somehow. It really is the middle lane drivers that drive me nuts in the UK, other than that I find people mostly courteous and fairly well behaved. But then again I come from France and most people there are mental drivers (not as crazy as Italians though!). I think I would take a middle lane driver over a demented Niçois any day

We live near London but don't go there a lot. We are not looking for a huge hustle and bustle type of city, so I think transit in Montreal will be just fine