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Top 10 Toronto motorists’ worst driving habits
FILE PHOTO BY CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR
Staying right except to pass is one way to improve traffic flow in the Toronto area. And traffic appears to be behaving in the eastbound Gardiner lanes, left.
It’s easy pickings when it comes to collecting a list of Toronto motorists’ worst driving habits.
I had to leave some out.
If we all did just a little better, we could probably improve traffic flow by a considerable amount.
Suddenly, you’d find yourself at home before your child had a chance to become a latchkey kid. Or you’d catch the cable repair guy who was just leaving because no one was home. Or you’d make your plane for that deserved vacation in Cuba.
So here, in no particular order because they’re equally bad, are the worst driving habits of this city’s motorists.
NOSE DIVERS
The car approaches the street corner at a high rate of speed. Man, I think, that guy isn’t going to stop – then, suddenly, the car’s nose dives, crosses the stop sign point, and the crosswalk, then the bike lane and finally lurches to a point that blocks part of the cross-street driving lane. The driver looks like he can’t believe he’s had to stop. He’s completely oblivious to the fact he’s brazenly “run over” several pedestrians, two bicyclists and a city bus. Theoretically. (Not to mention threatening the lives of actual pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists.)
SIN? Excess of self-importance
THE PROPER WAY: Approach the stop sign and/or crosswalk expecting to stop instead of planning to drive through. You’d want another motorist to do the same if your child or husband were crossing the street. Odds are you’d have to stop 49 times out of 50 anyway. Besides, it’s illegal to blow off a stop sign.
CORNER CUTTERS
The side street has a fairly wide entrance, which seems to make it fair game for the corner cutter. But the corner cutter is an equal opportunist, narrow or wide streets, and found mostly in daytime. You don’t see him coming behind you as you’re crossing the side street in the same direction he’s going because he’s started his turn way behind you. As you get a sense of movement from your blind side, he’s not going to stop and let you pass. Suddenly his car’s tires kiss your toes and knees as he simply must get to where he’s going now, fellow human be damned.
SINS? Improper turn, bad timing and high risk conduct.
THE PROPER WAY: Signal your turn, conduct the turn at a right angle to enter the street and, having done everything properly, you’ll not have spent any more extra time than a couple of seconds. Bonus: you’ll have avoided getting caught waiting for a crossing pedestrian and forcing oncoming traffic to slow or stop.
RUBBER BURNERS
The car sits at the stop sign, seemingly for a long time. But there doesn’t seem to be much traffic to delay his left turn across traffic. A few cars pass, another straggler, then a string of cars released by a green light. Now he’ll be delayed. But wait, patience is not a virtue and neither is the fact he missed a couple of opportunities to get under way when he first arrived because he was on the cell phone. Okay, someone’s going to pay and he lights the tires and threads his car between cars. Horns yelp and he lights the afterburner.
SIN? Driver distracted by cell phone
THE PROPER WAY: Pay attention to driving and nothing else. When you’re not distracted, you are a better judge of conditions.
OBLIVIOUS OBSTACLE
Traffic is sporadic on the eastbound Gardiner Expressway, with occasional gaps in the Jim Kenzie lane (right-most). I go down the ramp at Jameson, a very short path directly onto the eastbound Gardiner. The odd car heads toward downtown yet no one “sees” the entering vehicle and no one shifts over into the centre lane. Instead, I have to come nearly to a stop and then peel off into the lane and hope a following eastbound car doesn’t ram into my back end
SIN? Lack of give and take.
THE PROPER WAY: Sadly, no one has to co-operate and let you enter. But wouldn’t driving be less stressful if we all co-operated? If you see a car entering an expressway from a ramp, why not move over if you think the timing will bring you to the same point of the roadway at the same time?.
UNCIVIL SPIRITS
The sirens wail and lights flash as two fire trucks head westbound on Front from Station 333. Traffic shifts over. Four cars let the emergency vehicles by. The lead car, mine, now gets stuck on the side of the street as the other three overtake me and block my return to the flow of westbound traffic. In fact, each leading car gets blocked as those following don’t let other helpful motorists out, preferring to ignore the niceties of the co-operative spirit.
SIN? Civility be damned.
THE PROPER WAY: Sadly, again, there’s nothing you can do about poor manners. If the cars ahead of you pull over to let emergency vehicles through, let the ones ahead retake their positions.
SLOPPY TURNS
You’re not piloting a ship but many seem to drive that way. It’s not at all necessary to push the bumper of your car left into the second lane in order to turn right. Believe it or not, the front wheels can actually turn your car. Who knew?
SIN? Sheer laziness.
THE PROPER WAY: When you turn, stay in the middle of the lane and turn your wheels sharply before advancing, placing your car in the centre of the nearest lane.
NERVOUS NELLIES
When leaving a side street, or a parking lot, I’ve had to wait behind motorists as the empty near-lane beckons. Then a vehicle goes by two and three lanes out. We remain motionless as yet another single vehicle goes by two lanes out. There have been a couple of times when I’ve slipped by on the inside and turned. Meanwhile Nervous Nellie is still waiting for ALL traffic to clear.
SIN? Lack of trust of fellow motorists. Can you blame them?
THE PROPER WAY: See Sloppy Turns above.
SUDDEN SIGNALLERS
A car ahead of me is rolling down the east side of the Eastern Avenue bridge across the Don Valley Parkway. Everyone slows down here due to lights at Broadview. The car ahead of me goes slower and slower even though there’s a green light. Finally it slips into the left- turn lane for northbound Broadview and NOW the signal goes on. What good does that do? This is particularly exasperating when the centre lane allows both left turns and straight ahead and you’re stuck behind someone who only signaled 6-to-8 metres from the stop line.
SIN? Complete misunderstanding of the art of signaling.
THE PROPER WAY: Plan ahead. Signals only help when they are done well before the action. Signal, then start braking.
TICKET BAIT
Let’s see, a $30 parking violation ticket versus a $6 parking fee. Which would you choose? Torontonians seem to like risk. So they tempt fate by parking in a no-parking or no-standing zone (or worse, a transit zone) instead of driving unfettered into a large Green P lot where you can park from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for a few bucks. Or do you like to give the city $60 every time you park in a bus zone? What’s up with that?
SIN? Poor risk assessment.
THE PROPER WAY: Park, pay and have a completely stress-free evening out.
FREE PASS LANE
I kind of love Toronto drivers because they give me a complete free pass down the inside lane. In the big wide avenues of the northern city, cars course west and east on six-lane roads. I’ll let you in on a secret. You can make headway along the curb lanes because no one ever uses them. There you are, driving along Sheppard, all the traffic is in lanes two and three and there’s that lonely little curb lane, beckoning to me to rip past everyone. Hahaha, bye-bye suckers.
SIN? Can’t explain this one unless there’s some unconscious need not to be seen on the right wing.
THE PROPER WAY: Use the right-most lanes, unless you have to pass or turn left. If everybody did this, Jim Kenzie would never have to write about his particular lane again.
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