Drivers in Ontario

[ExRetailDrone]

I swear, I've never seen such bad driving as I have since moving to Korea >.< I thought drivers back home were bad. Here, the only time I've ever seen police in regards to traffic is when they are helping direct it at lighted intersections during some particularly busy times on the weekends. I probably see at least one person completely blow through a red light every day I venture outside for any length of time. Usually it's much more. People here seem to think that as long as they put their hazards on, they can do whatever they please. Driving laws are pretty much just guidelines because they're not enforced. Riding in a taxi is a treat, that's for sure. And I know I've lived here too long when my husband and I get into a taxi and aren't even surprised when our driver is drunk, because they pretty much all are to some degree. And don't get me started about walking on the sidewalks... I fear for my life because there are motorcycles who fly up the sidewalks because they are delivering some food to someone and have to get it there 10 minutes ago apparently. And cars drive along the sidewalks sometimes, too, which is just fantastic.

And some of my co-workers wonder why I refuse to get a car here >.> Walking is dangerous enough.

[Nekojin]

For people who are unfamiliar with Los Angeles, let me give you some background/insight to Andara's comments. The 10 freeway is one of the oldest freeways in Los Angeles and Orange County. It's old. And, in addition to being old, is also pretty much boxed in by the property around it. It's near impossible to perform upgrades more significant than road patching, because there's just no ROOM. There are offramps that are all of 30 feet of 15-MPH right turns right onto a residential street, because when the freeway was built, cars were only doing 30-35 mph. There are houses that are only a few feet - just enough room for a walkway around the house - from the freeway walls!

Short of a massive imminent domain (which is probably inevitable, sooner or later), the freeway is just plain ancient, and can't really be modernized.

[Greenday]

I swear, I've never seen such bad driving as I have since moving to Korea >.< I thought drivers back home were bad. Here, the only time I've ever seen police in regards to traffic is when they are helping direct it at lighted intersections during some particularly busy times on the weekends. I probably see at least one person completely blow through a red light every day I venture outside for any length of time. Usually it's much more. People here seem to think that as long as they put their hazards on, they can do whatever they please. Driving laws are pretty much just guidelines because they're not enforced. Riding in a taxi is a treat, that's for sure. And I know I've lived here too long when my husband and I get into a taxi and aren't even surprised when our driver is drunk, because they pretty much all are to some degree. And don't get me started about walking on the sidewalks... I fear for my life because there are motorcycles who fly up the sidewalks because they are delivering some food to someone and have to get it there 10 minutes ago apparently. And cars drive along the sidewalks sometimes, too, which is just fantastic.

And some of my co-workers wonder why I refuse to get a car here >.> Walking is dangerous enough.

Well, this explains how someone my mom knew died in Korea this year. They WERE hit by a car while on the sidewalk.

[Andara Bledin]

I was almost hit by a car while on the sidewalk a few years back.

An unmarked detective's car needed to get past some heavy traffic (they should never have even been on that street - it's always backed up disproportionately to the surrounding area), so he just hopped up on the sidewalk - no lights or siren - and nearly mowed me down. >_<

This was in North Long Beach, in sunny southern California, and the reason I knew it was a detective is that I could see the light bar in the back window, and he had exempt plates (which kind of makes the lack of markings rather less effective all the way around).

^-.-^

[wolfie]

Generally speaking the Highway 401 (essentially a Canadian interstate if you will) corridor from Kingstonthe Quebec line east of Cornwall all the way to Windsor is pretty bad.

The 401, which connects Detroit, Toronto and Montreal, is the single biggest transport route in Canada (and one of the most traveled in North America I think).

As a result the 401 is almost always LOADED with trucks, which makes navigating it even more fun.

The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and it's major highways (QEW, 410, 427, 403, Don Valley ExpresswayParkway and of course the 401) is always a pain in the ass. Smart travelers know that when you are planning to drive through Toronto, you shoot for a time that will put you well outside of commuter rush hours.

Also the 401/400427 interchange near Pearson International Airport is a well known trouble spot/gridlock magnet.

Fixed a few errors. A few comments:

- The DVP has earned its nickname of "Don Valley Parking Lot".
- While 401/427 is significantly closer to YYZ than 401/400, both are nightmares, especially with the construction that's going on in the westbound collectors east of 400.
- While SOME of the trucks on the 401 are a problem, those ones are easy to spot (going faster than 105 km/h on the level or uphill). EVERYONE with a "G" license who uses the 401 is an unpredictable, dangerous moron (if you see a car driving properly on the 401, you've found an off-duty trucker).
- The traffic status signs on the 401 are a joke - sometimes showing half-truths ("401 moving well beyond Islington" - it's moving in Tilbury, and that's well beyond Islington avenue), and sometimes showing total B.S. ("Express and collectors moving slowly beyond next transfer" - that implies that traffic is MOVING beyond the next transfer). Of course, you sometimes encounter operators who believe that when the clock reaches a certain point, rush-hour congestion is over, so the signs switch from road status to either showing which exits the next transfer takes you to, or a safety message.
- The merged QEW/403 section has undergone renovation in the past few years, and it's a case of WTF. As you approach the split, the 4 lanes from left to right are bus/carpool, ordinary traffic with trucks prohibited, ordinary traffic including trucks, and ordinary traffic including trucks. In the last 2 kilometres before the split, the 2nd from the left loses its "no trucks" status, then the diamond lane loses its "multiple occupants only" status, then the rightmost lane peels of onto an off-ramp. At the split, of the 3 remaining lanes, the leftmost takes the QEW, the rightmost takes the 403, and the middle lane has a choice. Of course, more than half the carpool traffic wants the 403, and more than half the trucks want the QEW, so in a short distance you get large numbers of vehicles trying to change into the same lane from opposite sides. Needless to say, this produces a worse bottleneck than pre-renovation. A better design would have been to NOT have the right lane exit, and have the diamond lane take a left exit onto a "flyover" to the 403. That way, trucks to the Niagra border crossings could pre-position in the 2nd from the right lane, and diamond traffic to Niagra would make a single lane change without a mass of vehicles trying to get into the same lane from the other side.

[HYHYBT]

Apologies for confusing Australia with Canada.

I've only been to Los Angeles once, and spent pretty much the whole time trying, and failing, to find anything at all that prople want to see in that area. Much of it, I was stuck on the freeways because of not finding a way *off* them that seemed to go anywhere. But the thing that really stood out was that, regardless of the condition, layout, or traffic levels of the roads themselves, and very much contrary to all I'd ever heard, the other drivers were unfailingly polite.

[siead_lietrathua]

- The merged QEW/403 section has undergone renovation in the past few years, and it's a case of WTF. ....

oh god yes! i have ended up stuck on the 403 so many damn times coming home from T.O. that i jsut give up and go through hamilton and take the dang backroads home. so glad they extended the GO system down to the falls now.

i will agree to cali having some bad drivers. we went there a few years ago and i remember us almost getting smoked more than once on that road that follows the shoreline. can't remember the name. wicked steep sides and people would pass us on the turns. *shudder*

[ExRetailDrone]

Well, this explains how someone my mom knew died in Korea this year. They WERE hit by a car while on the sidewalk.

Sadly, I'm not surprised

A guy I knew who was also teaching here had an accident happen outside of his apartment building. A scooter driver (delivering something as all the food delivery people drive motorcycles) blasted through a red light as I often see them do, and got hit by a truck

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Fixed a few errors. A few comments:

- The DVP has earned its nickname of "Don Valley Parking Lot".
- While 401/427 is significantly closer to YYZ than 401/400, both are nightmares, especially with the construction that's going on in the westbound collectors east of 400.
- While SOME of the trucks on the 401 are a problem, those ones are easy to spot (going faster than 105 km/h on the level or uphill). EVERYONE with a "G" license who uses the 401 is an unpredictable, dangerous moron (if you see a car driving properly on the 401, you've found an off-duty trucker).
- The traffic status signs on the 401 are a joke - sometimes showing half-truths ("401 moving well beyond Islington" - it's moving in Tilbury, and that's well beyond Islington avenue), and sometimes showing total B.S. ("Express and collectors moving slowly beyond next transfer" - that implies that traffic is MOVING beyond the next transfer). Of course, you sometimes encounter operators who believe that when the clock reaches a certain point, rush-hour congestion is over, so the signs switch from road status to either showing which exits the next transfer takes you to, or a safety message.
- The merged QEW/403 section has undergone renovation in the past few years, and it's a case of WTF. As you approach the split, the 4 lanes from left to right are bus/carpool, ordinary traffic with trucks prohibited, ordinary traffic including trucks, and ordinary traffic including trucks. In the last 2 kilometres before the split, the 2nd from the left loses its "no trucks" status, then the diamond lane loses its "multiple occupants only" status, then the rightmost lane peels of onto an off-ramp. At the split, of the 3 remaining lanes, the leftmost takes the QEW, the rightmost takes the 403, and the middle lane has a choice. Of course, more than half the carpool traffic wants the 403, and more than half the trucks want the QEW, so in a short distance you get large numbers of vehicles trying to change into the same lane from opposite sides. Needless to say, this produces a worse bottleneck than pre-renovation. A better design would have been to NOT have the right lane exit, and have the diamond lane take a left exit onto a "flyover" to the 403. That way, trucks to the Niagra border crossings could pre-position in the 2nd from the right lane, and diamond traffic to Niagra would make a single lane change without a mass of vehicles trying to get into the same lane from the other side.

Is the standard 400 highways speed limit still 100 KM/H?

I remember that, despite the signs, the "default" speed limit on a well moving 400 highway was closer to 125-130. If you actually went 100 (approx. 60 miles an hour) you were considered a "slowpoke".

Not that people don't speed on Interstates here in America, but it doesn't seem like they do quite on the level I saw on the 401 in Canada.

[Andara Bledin]

People do the same in the US. It's just a matter of where you happen to be.

The 91, one of my local preferred freeways, tends to average about 75-80 mph (~125 kph) when it's not too crowded and has for as long as I can recall. The 405, another local freeway, is often not nearly as fast, even when it is clear and I've never really understood why two freeways serving the same general area can have such notably different traffic patterns. And the 110 is bipolar, with the LA side being slower than conditions allow, and the Harbor side often having people driving faster than is safe.

^-.-^

[siead_lietrathua]

people don't care if you go the speed limits on the highways up here. only if you are doing it in the passing lanes.

[wolfie]

Is the standard 400 highways speed limit still 100 KM/H?

Yep, and my reference to the trucks going over 105 km/h uphill or on the level being a problem, that's because "Uncle Dalton" has required that the driver endangerment devices (a.k.a. speed limiters - they take away one of your options to get out of a problem) on heavy trucks be enabled.