News   Jul 30, 2024
Ambitious Residential Proposal Retains Car Dealership at Jane and St Clair
 357     2 
News   Jul 30, 2024
8 Wellesley's Distinctive Slope Emerges as Construction Reaches Crown
 1.1K     3 
News   Jul 30, 2024
News Roundup for July 30, 2024
 537     0 

Brutal drivers in the GTA.

True, especially those that ride on the sidewalks. Get the hell off the sidewalks, please!
 
I speak as both a transit rider, pedestrian, semi-regular cyclist and a motorist when I say that I agree, some cyclists are bad - I hate it when I am on my bike, and I stop for a red light and others just fly past. I also hate it when I get off a streetcar and have to dodge cyclists.

There's the courier cyclists, a crazy breed, who are the equivalent of taxi drivers of cyclists. (Taxi drivers are the worst for city driving - with their weaving, illegal turns, and rushing to get ahead of you at intersections). And some cyclists just have no respect for motorists, so there's a bit of cockiness in their behavour. But there's still a lot of good cyclists - perhaps it takes having the expericence of driving to know something about motorist behaviour as well.

I admit to one non-compliance with the HTA, and that is making a full and complete stop at stop signs (all-way stops), but how many people do this in a 2-tonne car? I treat it as a yield sign. Though I feel that I am sticking to the spirit of the law, if not the letter. Though many cyclists fly through these with no regard.

Now to wait for AP to berate me.
 
I don't find Ontario drivers bad on the highways I drive, mostly outside of Toronto. I occasionally have a person who weaves or tailgates, but they aren't that common. I also find that the 'stay on the right unless passing' is observed most of the time, though it's a pet peeve of mine when it is not. I think the problem is that all the niceties go out the window once things get congested. Interesting thing is, traffic flows better when lane changes are minimised, so if everyone were to just stay in their lanes rather than attempting to self-optimize, they'd all get where they're going sooner.
 
I agree there are many good cyclists, just as there are many good drivers. Sadly, we notice the bad ones.

What really drives me nuts are automobile drivers that treat the bike lanes as right-turn lanes. The fact that the bike lane is a fraction of the width of their car does not dissuade them. They have no qualms driving within 2 cm of your car so that they can make their turn 1.3 minutes earlier than if they had waited for the light...
 
I was waiting for my brother in front of a restauant on College on Friday around 6:30. Within 8 minutes, I saw one car double-parked blocking the bike lane, another car stopped in the bike lane right at the intersection, and a third car blow past a streetcar with its doors open, speed up to a free park, and parallel parked so bad, it blocked over half the bike lane.

This is something I'm noticing more lately - motorists ignoring the streetcar doors.
 
Archivist said:
The worst city I've seen for driving in N America, however, is Boston. Boston is truly, remarkably horrible. In Boston I saw an instance where they put concrete barricades every 500 m along a shoulder of a road, because they could not keep drivers from using it as a lane. Quite a few drivers would deke into the 500 m stretch, then merge with traffic around the concrete barrier, deke back in, and keep going that way, creating traffic chaos.

LA has lovely drivers, well marked highways, and signage that tells you way in advance what to expect, and it's mostly grid like Toronto, so easy to navigate. It's a dream for driving, providing there is not much traffic.
Click to expand...


My friend from Boston calls them Massholes.
 
SeanTrans said:
That's just adding insult - if you ever get in the way of one of these asshats, or honk when someone gets way too close for comfort that you have to brake, they flip you like things are a big joke to them.

Get outside the GTA and off the 400-series highways, and you get much less of this problem - incredibly, drivers on the 400 "extention" start following the "keep right except to pass" guideline. But anywhere on the 401? Forget it.

The 417 wasn't bad, nor were the Quebec Autoroutes in the Montreal area. There's a bit of this around every US city, but I felt that Toronto was always the worst.
Click to expand...
Driving in Toronto definitely has more challenges than rural areas, but trust me, tailgating is very common outside the GTA. On the busier two lane undivided roads you'll find huge amounts of impatience, especially when someone doing the speed limit is followed by a dozen cars tailgating and jockeying to pass. Passing is an art on roads like that.

Driving in Toronto has its challenges, but I'd actually rather drive there than in Ottawa. The Queensway is next to impossible to drive a decent speed on. Nobody gets out of your way in the left lane, even when it's not busy. Plus I find Toronto's street system to be easier to navigate than Ottawa's. If you accidentally turn onto one of their limited access parkways or byways you could end up halfway across the city before the next intersection, and end up having no idea where you are!
 
wonderboy416 said:
I really hate people who don't signal with a passion, I don't know how anyone can be so godamn inconsiderate.
Click to expand...

In that case, I advise you in the strongest terms to never, ever consider driving in Vancouver. Signaling is simply not part of the ostensibly 'laid-back' (read: 'mindless, selfish & dazed') culture in this town. TO and other places can be frustrating and trying to drive 'round in, but you don't know what truly maddening road behaviour is until you try this place.
 
Plus I find Toronto's street system to be easier to navigate than Ottawa's. If you accidentally turn onto one of their limited access parkways or byways you could end up halfway across the city before the next intersection, and end up having no idea where you are!
Click to expand...

That's very true. The parkways can be downright disorienting.



Kinda like the inside of the Rideau Centre.
 
I can't stand it when you've indicated a right turn, begin to proceed and then a cyclists races up your right side and cuts you off. The smart cyclist would pass on your left, as every other driver does.
 
I can't stand it when you've indicated a right turn, begin to proceed and then a cyclists races up your right side and cuts you off. The smart cyclist would pass on your left, as every other driver does.
Click to expand...

That's a good way for a cyclist to injure or kill themselves. I don't like the idea of licencing for cyclists, but it might be worth it just to knock some common sense into their heads.
 
CDL.TO said:
That's a good way for a cyclist to injure or kill themselves. I don't like the idea of licencing for cyclists, but it might be worth it just to knock some common sense into their heads.
Click to expand...
Of course now you've got these electric powered scooters zooming about, again with no license or insurance. The riders don't understand that if they hit someone, they'll be held personally liable.

If I have to license my dog and even my indoor cat in the City of Toronto (which is the by-law), then why not license each road going cyclist and bicycle?
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top