#toranto

I just spent ~10 days in Calgary and Edmonton for work. It was my first time there and I expected oil patch bros to drive worse than the 401 bros. How wrong I was.

Almost everybody drove the speed limit. “Maximum 90” meant MAXIMUM 90, not MINIMUM 90. The highway lanes were much wider and they had far less traffic, and people were still capable of going the speed limit without spontaneously combusting. The speed limits were lower than comparable roads in ON would have.

People would speed up to pass in the passing lane and then move back over. Nobody tried to play road rash either.

On the way back home from Pearson, I see two absolute dumbasses switch into the same lane from left & right and then refuse to move away for 10-15 seconds. And there was a semi that went from the right most lane to the left most in one go. And multiple cars that switched lanes across solid lines. And a TTC work truck thing that had crashed into the back of an SUV on Lawrence.

I’m so grateful that I don’t have to drive in Toronto and can rely on the TTC for the most part. The odd occasion when I have to drive here makes me lose what little faith I have in people.

  • thisorthatorwhatever@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Car drivers in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area have gone batshit insane. Speeds are now 140km/h on the highways. Cars and trucks weave in and out of lanes! It’s like a Mad Max world. And its not just highways, drivers have given up all etiquette of driving.
    Ford’s dismantling of speed cameras made it even worse. Parkside, the road that runs parallel to High Park in Toronto, the large urban park, now see regular speeders going over 60km/h, some going over 100km/h.

  • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    We lived in Ontario for a long time before moving to Vancouver BC. Southern Ontario drivers are just entitled pricks once they get in their cars.

    Biggest thing I noticed was roadrage aggressive driving in Southern Ontario, compared to BC where people speed like crazy but most are courteous.

    I.e. in Ontario with a merge lane the drivers are actively going to speed up to block your entry even if there is tons of room, like it is a race. Vancouver area everyone understands how zypper merging works.

    Also pedestrian courtesy in Vancouver area is great, people stop when they see you crossing the street. In Ontario I have had people accelerate when they see you step into the cross walk as a way to intimidate you into not crossing.

    Just such a messed up mindset for Ontario.

    • scripty@lemmy.caOP
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      1 month ago

      Oh yeah, the merging thing confused me in Alberta. People who were already on the highway would move over to the middle/left lanes when they saw someone trying to merge. Like whaaat? Are they stupid or something? Didn’t anyone teach them that the correct thing to do is to speed up in an attempt to stop new cars from entering the highway? It’s like they hate their home life and are not even trying to get home 0.2 seconds faster.

    • darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 month ago

      Yup and it has been that way for as long as I can remember. I’ve driven out west and on the east coast and the driving habits are just different. There are assholes everywhere but for some reason, Ontario has the largest concentration of them. Something about the people here changes when they get behind the wheel.

  • Stampy@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    Lack of enforcement, very few people get pulled over, most people know where the speed traps are going to be in their area. Without the cameras, everyone knows there’s little chance of a penalty. The driving culture just grows worse from there

    • scripty@lemmy.caOP
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      1 month ago

      There was construction going on every fucking where in Calgary, so I didn’t get to experience much of their city driving itself, so I can’t comment on that. Drivers were lovely outside of the city and in Edmonton though.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    West of Oshawa, York Region and south, and east of Hamilton, all highway driving rules and etiquette seem to go out the window.