Canadian Driving Tips

Having driven in major cities within Canada for several decades now, I’d like to share some thoughts with others that I share the road with, since some fellow drivers seem to be lacking in a few areas.   I see these driving behaviours at least once a week.

DO NOT BACK UP ON ON-RAMPS

This has to go down in history as the STUPIDEST practice ever.  You WILL get KILLED.  Or you WILL KILL someone else.  Eventually.  Get on the blessed highway and get off at the first stop.  Turn around.  Get back on the highway in the opposite direction.  See?   Simple.  Its not the end of the world.   Stop endangering every one around you because you made a mistake.  Suck it up, drive the extra ten minutes, and keep our roads safer. 

If you cannot ”do” 4 way stops correctly, the only thing that fixes this is PRACTICE.  

As you come to a complete stop, take an inventory of who stopped before you.  Once they have gone, THEN you go.   I cannot tell you how many drivers either do not understand this or are unwilling to respect it.  There are the drivers who create a standstill in traffic as they are terrified it is actually their turn.  Or those that just charge through, regardless of order.  They usually get a good dose of my very loud horn, and I hope I’m shaming them into better behaviour.

Drive with the crowd

If you or your vehicle are incapable of driving the speed limit, please get off the road for everybody’s safety.  If you want to drive the speed limit on a major highway, please do so in the right hand lane.  If you stay in the left lane because you think it is your “right”, all you are doing is creating a dangerous situation for everybody, including those drivers who are now illegally passing you on the right.    I have known someone to receive a ticket for driving too SLOWLY on a 400 series highway, which caused me no end of pleasure – as the person vowed to stay off the highways thereafter until they were more comfortable. 

Park your ego at home 

We have road rules for a reason.  Unless you are a trauma surgeon rushing to save someone, you really have no good reason to drive like a maniac.  And I don’t necessarily mean speeding.  I’m talking about the combination of speeding and agressive driving, like weaving in and out of traffic.  You are not Mario Andretti, and even if you were, you shouldn’t be driving like that.  If someone does something really stupid in front of you, go ahead and mumble at them, but then GET OVER IT AND YOURSELF.  We’ve all done stupid things while driving.  Remind yourself of this.  Offer it up.  And at the end of the day, that person’s punishment is that they have to go home and be themselves for the rest of their lives.  If they are driving that stupidly, this thought should be sufficiently karmic to satisfy most of us. 

Respect the weight of your vehicle 

Do not drive your sport utility like it is a regular compact car.  You cannot stop as fast as other vehicles because you are heavier.  So stop tailgating lighter vehicles and causing accidents.   I learned this the hard way, as a very young driver driving a four door sport utility, I tailgated a civic hatchback who decided to do a break stand.  I almost lost control of my vehicle into a guard rail while stopping so as not to crash in to his butt.  And PS, if you do crash into his butt, its ALWAYS your fault.  Another good reason to leave some breathing room, no matter what size your vehicle.  Also, you avoid overuse of your brakes, another annoying habit some drivers seem addicted to.  Sometimes taking your foot off the accelerator works too, people!

Respect the truckers 

They are often the safest drivers on the road.  Don’t cut them off.   Let them in.  They don’t have time or luxury to react properly because they are exceedingly LONG and HEAVY.    When they are trying to change lanes to get in front of you, be courteous.  Flash your lights once briefy to acknowledge you see what they are doing, and will not attempt to cut them off.   Change lanes and drive around them if you don’t like driving behind them.  and don’t tailgate them.  If you can’t see their mirrors, they can’t see you.

When you are driving, DRIVE

Get OFF your cell phone. While this could potentially be illegal in Ontario, anyway, it is presently illegal in Quebec and it just makes sense.  Studies have shown as much as a 30% decline in spatial/cognitive abilities when trying to drive and talk at the same time.   Most drivers can’t spare the decline.

Don’t put your makeup on, eat cereal, talk on the phone, or play with your GPS.  Seriously. If we all just concentrated a little bit more on what we were doing, and had a little more respect for our fellow drivers, and spent our leftover time anticipating the errors that other drivers will make, we would have a lot less road congestion from accidents.  And hey – perhaps it will reduce fatalities, too.  If you don’t believe me, this is what a Canadian policeman has to say,

“…Bulmer, who has investigated upward of 500 fatal collisions, said one factor that continues to contribute to serious crashes are people’s relaxed attitudes toward driving….One thing that I have seen over time is that everybody’s life is so much faster-paced now…Everyone has BlackBerrys and cellphones and are responding instantly to any piece of information.

“It’s spilling into driving. I catch women doing makeup, men shaving while they’re driving, and working on spreadsheets. People still think the car is an appropriate space to conduct business.”

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=6a901486-5671-4c6c-8ee8-25dee8c3f948

Pull over for ambulances, police and funerals

If you have ever ridden in the back of an ambulance, desperately trying to get to a hospital with a loved one, you know what it is like to have traffic part for you.  It is wonderful.  You also have experience traffic ignoring you.    If you have participated in a funeral, you know what it is to experience complete strangers acknowledging the magnitude of your loss.  You will see it if you ever go to a funeral in small town Canada.  The road simply stops, and allows the funeral party passage.   This is a little seen tradition in the big cities.  Pity.  A little of our shared humanity has died with the tradition.

Learn how to handle emergency situations, especially the wintery kind

When it is snowy, go to an empty parking lot, slam on your brakes, and practice controlling your car in a skid situation.   When it is snowing, make sure BOTH hands are on your wheel when you are changing lanes to fight against the snow build up, or to steer out of hydroplaning.  If your wheel falls off the road, do NOT jerk the wheel.  That’s the best way to roll-over.  Slow down, and ease back on the road once you have control of the vehicle.    When it is snowy, try easing up on the accelerator before braking.  Its much easier on the drivers around you, who are not constantly jumping from your brake overuse.

Challenge drunks with keys in their hands

I HATE drinking and driving.  I’ve lost two close friends from it.   I don’t care who knows it, either. I think MORE of us need to get more OBNOXIOUS about taking keys away from our friends and less worried about the SOCIAL ramifications.   I stopped being embarassed about challenging drunk drivers the day my best friend was run over by a drunk driver while walking home down a country road.  We were both 14 at the time.

I was once in the US on a somewhat tense business trip with a colleague from another firm.  We were meeting a client for dinner.  My colleague, who had driven us from the hotel, started to drink excessively.  In front of our client, I told him to give me his keys.   He jokingly said, “Or what?”  I, not jokingly said, “Or I’m going to take them, and you aren’t going to enjoy the process.”  He replied, “You know, I believe you when you say that” and surrendered his keys.   When we left, the client pulled me aside and said, “Thank you for doing that.  I was about to, and wouldn’t have been as gentle about it”.   When I looked confused, he pulled back his jacket to show his police revolver.  I had no idea he was a part-time policeman.   If there is a moral to these meanderings, it is that when standing up against a drunk, you never know what allies will surface. 

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/24/impaireddriving-charges.html

Thank you all for bearing my rant.  I feel better now.

The Northerngardener (an ex-road warrior)

(Copyright 2008 by the Northerngardener.  Go ahead and link to me, just don’t copy me. )