Road Rage: Your GTA Driving Complaints
Posted March 26, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Passing lane hoggers. Discourteous drivers. People yakking on their phones or fiddling with their BlackBerrys both in their cars and on the street. And motorists taking up space – or not using enough of it.
Those are just some of the complaints you cited when we asked for your pet peeves about drivers and those using the roads in the GTA. And your gripes come with a tragic exclamation point, after a woman believed talking on her cell phone was struck and killed in a horrific accident in the city late Wednesday night.
We can’t solve the problem in this forum of course, except to suggest that if some of these habits are yours, you may want to think about how they’re affecting others.
Here’s a sample of some of your replies about the rules – and the riles – of the road.
“I moved to the GTA about a year ago and it amazes me that the majority of drivers don’t know how to signal, this is probably because most of them are busy yapping on their cell phones before they even leave a parking lot or their laneway. I would honestly like to know what is so important that it cannot wait until you get home to use the phone there or at least park your car before making a call.
“Red lights and stop signs don’t seem to mean anything to some people and they drive right through them and I have witnessed many near misses because of this action and I drive less than 5km to work. I wonder if these individuals actually get to where they are going any faster when they run red lights and stop signs.”
Heather Lockhart
“How about the idiots that drive continually in the passing lane and refuse to move over? I’ve driven throughout the U.S. and this courtesy of respecting the passing lane is observed almost universally. Some of them think that as long as they are driving at the posted speed limit they are entitled to stay in the lane. WRONG.”
John Timms
Another viewer had similar concerns
“Isn’t it funny how in the U.S. when you drive on the highway in the passing lane that is what you are doing … passing. Once you have completed this you would move back into the middle lane.
“Not here. Here on the highway people do not keep up with the speed limit and they do not even look in the rear view mirror to see if anything is approaching (police, fire, ambulance), let alone another motorist just so long as the road is clear.”
Ron Toffoli
“My peeve is tailgating cars and trucks. I drive along the Parkway at about 100 and the 401 at about 110, but it doesn’t seem fast enough for many drivers. They probably hate me! I don’t hog the left lane like some people, but if I am in the middle lane, then people follow me closely enough to create an unsafe situation.
“Sometimes the same thing happens if I am in the right lane. You see rear-end collisions all the time on the highways yet people keep doing this.
“What is especially awful is when a big rig comes up behind you on the highway. Their lights are right in your mirrors and I have to turn my mirror away to stop the glare. It’s intimidation, basically.
“Sometimes I flash my brake lights or spray my windshield – the spray lands on the other vehicles if they are close. I’m trying to drive safely, people, why do I have to do this!”
Alex Laney
“My biggest beef is when you are stopped at a red light waiting for your turn for the green. There is always someone in the opposite direction on their cell phone talking. The light will turn yellow then red. That person will proceed to go through the red light while talking on their cell phone. They really are not paying attention.”
Sharon Hilton
“Why do people rush all the time? They rush to work (they are always late) they rush back home. They are actually rushing home to relax. Driving along in the right lane I am passed by a motorist in the passing lane (no other traffic behind me). He (she) cuts in front of me, puts the brakes on (no signal) and turns onto a golf course. Now, that makes sense.”
Marc Jaspar
“Pedestrians that insist on crossing when the light says DO NOT WALK, blocking turns on an advanced green. Particularly those who use their kids in strollers as a battering ram.
“People who cross against the light should be fair game and should have a bounty on their heads. They assume the law could not apply to them. They could well be dead right. Seems that common sense is just not all that common.”
Ron from Newmarket
Some viewers couldn’t restrict it to just one thing.
1: When you’re driving, in the left lane especially, get the hell off your BlackBerry!!! This is NOT the time or the place to text or email your colleagues or clients. And if you do want to put our lives in danger, at least drive at 90km/hour or more, otherwise you are slowing me down and now I have to zig zag through the other 2 lanes just to be able to pass you!!!!
2: If you don’t know how to drive, get off the left lane!!!! When the weather is bad and I see that you have slick tires on and you’re barely doing 50 in the left lane of the DVP maybe you should opt for public transport.
3: TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS AT NIGHT/EVENING, they still haven’t invented sensors to sense cars around me…
4: Signal! Whether you’re at a red light or you want to change lanes on a highway. I’m not a mind reader and can’t guess your next move!!!!
“I could keep on going but I have to work sometimes. Thank you, I feel better already!”
Lukasz Frejlak
“Being a pedestrian in the downtown core is a dangerous proposition when you have to share roadways with autos. Everyone is in such a hurry that cars swerve around and in front of you while you’re crossing the street; and motorists inch their cars into your hip as you start to cross the street so that they can make a turn quicker (Huh?!?!?).
“One time I was crossing at Queen & Bay, and a cube van made a ½ right hand turn so that he was completely blocking the sidewalk because of traffic in that direction. Since his window was open, I asked, “Was that necessary?” He told me to “Shut the f**k up.” Toronto the Good? Plllllleeeeease!”
Shawna Olive
“I would like to complain about stop signs and yellow/red lights. I live in a quiet neighborhood in Scarborough and on my street is a stop sign. I live within viewing distance of said stop sign and I would say that only 1 in 20 cars stop. Most don’t even slow down for it. I have contacted the local police station and it doesn’t seem that they care about traffic enforcement any longer.
“Also yellow changing to red traffic lights. It seems that these are only an invitation for people to race through. What happened to red light cameras and the rules of the road? It seems that in this day and ag
e people are more worried about where they are going and not how they are getting there.
“Most intersections now have countdown pedestrian signals and I watch them to see if I am going to have to stop as I approach an intersection, slowing as the time is getting closer to 0. But again people see this as an invitation to speed up or race the light.
“I think it is time for drivers to have to take a mandatory written test every 4 or 5 years to renew their license. This way it reminds them of the BASIC rules of the road. But I am sure the MTO would say that the cost of mandatory ongoing testing far outweighs the benefit of the testing itself.
“Come on people driving is a privilege not a right. Drive Smart!!!”
Kevin Tomlinson
“My biggest annoyance is that police don’t seem to think that road rules apply to them. In the 15 years I have been driving, I have yet to see a police cruiser signal to turn or change lanes. I don’t know if police officers don’t think they need to signal, or are too busy doing other things – but we can hardly expect civilians to signal their intentions when those who should be setting the example don’t find it necessary.”
Erin Churchill
“There is one idea or concept which I think should be used in every red light camera intersection and that is a crosswalk countdown or timer. I drive through a red light intersection at least twice a day. The posted speed limit is 50km/h however the yellow is very fast and it is a busy intersection which is frequented by large slow moving trucks.
“I think it is a no brainer to put a countdown in place so motorists know how long they have before the light will turn yellow. Not only are people getting stuck in this intersection at Airport Road and Derry because of slow moving trucks but also because there is another set of lights east of the intersection about 10 metres away that aren’t always in sync with the main intersection.
“Also there is an increase in motorists being rear ended because they are slamming on their brakes so they aren’t captured by the red light camera and the car behind them isn’t fast at reacting to the quick stop.”
Daniel Newport
And finally a lengthy complaint from a motorist looking for a little more patience – and a little less space.
“I’m not sure if there’s a law about leaving room ahead of you, but increasingly I find more and more drivers unnecessarily leave two or three car lengths between them and the car in front, or the line that defines a cross street. I think they must teach this now as a safety issue, as I see it far too often to be an individual driving quirk.
“As a motorcyclist as well a car driver, I am all too aware of being hit from behind, and leaving a buffer is a prudent defensive driving action. But when there are many already stopped behind you, leaving that space is hogging real estate that could allow a driver from behind to perhaps complete a turn or access a left turn lane.
“I have two recent experiences to relate that pertain to the above issue.
“On a Sunday in an industrial area near Woodbine north of Steeles I approach a car stopped at the light, but about two car lengths short of the light. There is virtually no one around. After a minute or two I realize that the light might never change – there is no opposing traffic, and the sensor in the road is far ahead of the car ahead of me.
“I toot the horn twice politely. The driver looks up and I gesture with a shooing motion to pull forward. Now there is car behind me and I can’t back up to go around. The driver ignores me, the car behind toots at me. Now I’m the bad guy it appears.
“I lean on the horn. The driver doesn’t even look up now. The car behind me goes around us both, and we exchange frustrated glances. He cuts in front of the car in front of me, triggering the light change in a second. We all proceed on the green light.
“Southbound Woodbine approaching Steeles. Heavy traffic, three lanes southbound, and a right turn lane on my immediate right as I slow to stop behind a car stopped with three car lengths to spare ahead of her. There’s a gas station on the right and a large truck is exiting, intending to enter the right turn lane and turn right on Steeles. He can’t quite make the turn without encroaching on my lane, so he slows with the intention of completing his turn once I am past his front bumper.
“But I can’t go ahead, and now there is traffic behind me, behind the truck exiting the service station, and in the right turn lane, unable to get past the truck who is trying to complete his turn. I toot at the car ahead. I give her the shooing gesture when she looks in her mirror. She gives me the finger!
“The truck honks. I open my passenger window and he calls down for me to move up. I honked again, and I get the finger again. He can’t see this so I tell him. By now we have the car behind me tooting, the cars in the right lane honking, the cars behind the truck (who can see the reason for the hold up) are just leaning on their horns.
“The woman in the car ahead of me is steadfastly gripping the wheel and staring straight ahead. The trucker exits his cab, and I get out of my car – it’s time to have a chat with this woman. But, the lights are about to change, and we all hustle back to our vehicles so as to not further delay the entourage.
“I wish I had time to call some driving schools to see if they teach this behaviour as safety issue. Maybe your publication will get their attention.”
Kevin Andrien
