road rage..... what do drivers do to piss you off???

[The Daulfin]

I suggest you engage in some remedial reading, and improve your "education" on the topic. You may actually learn something if you put your mind to it. These are not difficult concepts.

Actually, it is you who needs to hit the books as MLAM is correct. There are reams of documents in city archives and at the MTO that outline how police request and get speed limits changed all the time to set up speed traps to bring in revenue for the province. Hell, all new highway improvements include such design changes to make it easier. In 2005, the number of traffic tickets issued for speeding was I believe 76% of the total, yet they fail to publicize that over 50% of all accidents are related to red light/stop sign runners, followed by improper lane changes, failure to signal, failure to yield, etc., and those termed as caused by "speeding" are the final 2% before the category of "other" (and the fact is all those "speeding" stats are likely careless/reckless offenses that a improperly categorized). The enforcement is totally disproportionate to the death/injury ratio for the given offenses but speeding is ticketed heavily because it is the easiest and allows the police to be lazy. These are not things that are hard to uncover for yourself; you just have to stop allowing yourself to be spoonfed by police propaganda. Check the figures for yourself.

Cheers, and have a safe and law-abiding weekend.

Funny story. I was fighting a speeding ticket and was questioning the ticketing officer, asking why he pulled me over. He stated simply that I was speeding, to which I asked if he had ever sped in his own car. He stammered a bit so I asked the judge if he had ever sped as well, following it quickly with a reminder that pulling the computer module from a modern car can tell exactly all this information and more. Needless to say after more such fun, I got off on that ticket on a "technicality" as they put it (they just didn't want to overturn the ticket and make new law) but the point is that everyone breaks the law and everyone knows it. For you to insinuate otherwise is quite simply dishonest and the fact is some of us choose to break the laws that will result in fewer deaths. I call that ethical driving compared to those who follow some laws while ignoring the ones that are statistically more likely to cause deaths.

 

[goodtime]

I would assume that in the middle of the block if there are no markings you are entitled to cross, but if you are close to an interesection you are expected to use it.

Not expected. It's the law. Campaign last year after several accidents with jaywalkers.

 

[goodtime]

Every driver in Canada is terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,,,none of them know how to drive like drivers in Europe...there they are the best drivers in the world!!!!!

Courtesy is the difference. People shared the road.
Rare to find left-lane bandits (In U.K., on the right).

 

[tboy]

goodtime....

You absolutely right on the money...that is the difference!!!
When you're passing in Europe in the left hand lane and flying up on a car in front and you flick on your highbeams...guess what???...the car pulls over immediately!!!!..in Canada the asshole gives you the finger and applies his brakes!!

LOL too right, flashing the lights is the universal signal for: "Would you mind pulling over a second please? I'm in a bit of a hurry and I'd really like to get by you, have a nice day"

Someone previously touched on the pedestrian factor which is something we haven't brought up really.

I just got back from a little chore run and encountered the following things that pedestrians do that REALLY burn my ass:

1) The ones that cross the intersection at the cross walk and are just too damn tired from that long trek to actually step UP onto the curb and insist on standing directly in your path (when making a right).

2) The last minute crosser: Oh don't you just love these ones? They are the ones who look at the flashing red hand, and think "oh my I so have to get across this street" and set out at a snail's pace and the light turns red halfway through. Then to top it off, do they rush to get off the road after the other light turns green? HELL NO

3) The kitty corner crosser: See number 2 above then to top all THAT off they take the short cut to the other crosswalk, still at their snail's pace, and STILL prevent you from making the right....

4) Crosswalk Kamikazes: Don't you also just love the joggers who slap the crosswalk button on their way by and RUN out into the crosswalk? Little do they know that we drivers are in charge of vehicles that weigh in the neighbourhood of 1 - 2 tons of steel and no matter how good our brakes are, we can't STOP ON A DIME.

As a side note to the fucked up pedestrians out there (and since someone mentioned jaywalkers) oh I SO hate those stupid fucking idiot drivers that insist on STOPPING on a major thoroughfare to let some lazy fuckwad cross.

 

[fuji]

Not expected. It's the law. Campaign last year after several accidents with jaywalkers.

Yeah, but I think drivers assume anyone crossing the road other than at a crossing point is j-walking, when in fact if you cross far from an intersection it isn't j-walking, and if when isn't j-walking, the pedestrian has the right of way.

In any case, if you drive downtown, people walk across the street. Legally and illegally. It's a fact of life. If you honk whenever you see someone doing it you are the jackass because you're not just annoying the guy who is crossing (and is going to no matter whether you honk or not), you are annoying about 1000 other people in the area.

Should be illegal to honk a horn downtown. Period.

 

[The Daulfin]

Yeah, but I think drivers assume anyone crossing the road other than at a crossing point is j-walking, when in fact if you cross far from an intersection it isn't j-walking, and if when isn't j-walking, the pedestrian has the right of way.

Not entirely true. The HTA states that crossing anywhere outside of a crossing point is jaywalking and there are no mention of distances before this is no longer true. As such, while the police likely don't enforce this, it is still very much illegal.

 

[tboy]

....intersection it isn't j-walking, and if when isn't j-walking, the pedestrian has the right of way.
......Should be illegal to honk a horn downtown. Period.

Couple of minomers here, the pedestrian doesn't ALWAYS have the right of way, they only have the right of way when it is safe for a driver to stop... For eg: a pedestrian believes they have the right of way at a crosswalk but again, ONLY if it is safe for the driver to stop.

As for being illegal to honk downtown, so you're saying that if I'm driving in the curb lane and one of those GQ stock brokers is so wrapped up in the crop reports that he steps off the curb or is about to step off the curb directly in my path I should just hit him? rrrIIight......

 

[RTRD]

Like I said...

Actually, it is you who needs to hit the books as MLAM is correct.

...why bother?

A little man, whose passive aggressive frustrations with the world have led him to take on others, albeit in high handed psychobabble fashion. You keep arguing with him, and he will keep being more right...

 

[RTRD]

Tell the truth....

I suggest you engage in some remedial reading, and improve your "education" on the topic. You may actually learn something if you put your mind to it. These are not difficult concepts.



I suppose it is for the same reason that some don't care to yield to j-walkers.

Really. If you can't be bothered to follow the rules of the road, just surrender your licence and stay the fuck off the road. It's really that simple.

In any event if your insults, blustering and angry posting help you feel like a man or help you get through the night without crying yourself to sleep in your pillow, I am happy to have served as the lightening rod for your choleric outbursts. It is therapeutic. However, professional help would probably be advisable. Cheers, and have a safe and law-abiding weekend.

...I used to kick your little punk ass back in HS and now you figure this is a way to get back at me, right? (Just kidding...I didn't go to HS in Canada, so it couldn't have been you...just someone like you)

Someone else has already taken the intellectual high road to explain how wrong you are...I could have done the same (I was referring to the same information Daulfin used, though admittedly my sources were from and regarding U.S. data), but I didn't consider you worth the effort.

I will say this though...I am sorry that your short comings have embittered you to the point where you feel like you have to control those who don't agree with you, and that you are certain anyone who doesn't must have trouble sleeping at night or feel less like a man. I am a man by the standards that matter to me...which may not be the same as yours, but hell, not like I care. You should remember this though...I didn't know your sorry lame ass even existed before you decide to counter post to MY post, and I even tried to "walk away" from the argument once. yet, because apparently your life is somewhat empty...I come back a couple days later to find you again lobbying grenades over the fence.

You are a little man, probably with a little dick. A smooth "posting voice" doesn't change any of that.

"Think a little, it is not a difficult concept"...lol.

I "think" you are a passive aggressive greeny who wishes you had the means to afford a car as large and as fast as mine...but since you can't (actually, you probably could if you didn't spend your money on convincing women to put up with you one hour at a time) you instead "punish" people like me by clogging up traffic. You sprout babble about safety, when you could go to ANY website on the topic and it would tell you the SAFEST thing to do when approached by a vehicle moving faster than yours is to move to the right and let them pass. You imply that I am reckless without knowing that I have probably spent more on safety and performance driving courses (because I LIKE cars and I LIKE driving) than you spent on that piss ass excuse for a rice burner you likely drive. I have not been in an auto accident since my 1st year of driving...more than 20 years (save for last year when that nice older lady in her 10 year old Camry rear ended me while I was sitting at a stop light...was that you??). I "think" I am a safe driver, in the relative sense (compared to much of what I see on the road), who knows enough about driving (unlike some wannabe intellectuals) to understand that SPEED and SAFETY are not at all directly connected...my car is safer...the person behind the wheel because of his training and diligence is safer. The fact that I typically drive at a normal / natural / safe for conditions speed, which by design of the government is in excess of the posted limit does not make me unsafe. It does however mean I periodically come across pricks like you. And all I ask is that you do the SAFE thing for both of us, and move to your right. Really. Flip the bird if you must, think little of me if you must. Just move to the right so I can continue on my way.

It's a simple concept....really. LOL!!!

Difficult concepts....dude, if you are going to play "intellectual" stick with topics you actually know something about...because you know SHIT about traffic safety and how speed limits are determined...and my guess is you know a hell of a lot less than me when it comes to driving, safe or otherwise.

 

[MuffDiver]

Through virtual non-policing of driving behaviour on 400 series highways, we have been left on our own to respect the rules and we have responded like prehistoric savages.

Most if not all of us should be ashamed of the way we drive. Dangerous and inconsiderate driving habits have become the norm rather than an exception.

Ask me 20 years ago if I would be driving the way I drive now and I never would have thought it possible.

 

[tboy]

MD, I agree somewhat but I think the majority of drivers (albeit a SMALL majority) really haven't changed that much.

What highlights those that are fucking idiots on the roads are those that not only have NO concept of what to do behind the wheel but almost go out of their way to prove their incompetence.

For eg: During last summer's OPP crackdown they caught people doing the following:
Eating a BOWL of soup (while driving with their knees). An ACTUAL bowl and spoon, NOT a cuppa soup, no, that would be too easy. A FUCKING BOWL

I think the number was between 10 & 20 drivers were caught with PETS in their laps. Mostly dogs. Yeah, that's safe....

There was one other that totally blew my mind that someone would be dumb enough to try but for the life of me, I can't remember it right now.

Anyhow, for the person that thinks it is ok to eat a bowl of soup while driving? They should have been thrown in cuffs for reckless endangerment, their car sold for scrap, and have their licence revoked for life. Why? Because if they thought it was ok to eat a bowl of soup while driving, what ELSE have they been doing?

Another thing that you slowpokes are forgetting. Not too long ago the speed limits were in MPH. Now that they are in kilometers everyone like FREAKS over someone doing GASP 20 KMS over the limit, OMG say it isn't so?? Remember this: 20 KPH is ONLY 12 MPH. Hell, a good brisk walk is about 4 kph...and when I inline skate I average 15 kph.....

 

[ggaleazz]

Another thing that you slowpokes are forgetting. Not too long ago the speed limits were in MPH. Now that they are in kilometers everyone like FREAKS over someone doing GASP 20 KMS over the limit, OMG say it isn't so?? Remember this: 20 KPH is ONLY 12 MPH. Hell, a good brisk walk is about 4 kph...and when I inline skate I average 15 kph.....

Another reason why speeding violations should be in %'s above the posted limit rather than a hard (made up) value. You tell me which is more dangerous. Doing 80 in a 40 or doing 140 in a 100. Obviously a 40 zone is a residential area with much more obsticals (sic?) than a 100 zone. But under the current system you're still doing 40 over. Under a percentage system you'd be doubling (100% of posted limit) the limit in the 40 zone but in the 100 you'd be doing 40% above the posted limit. Makes things seem very different no?

 

[fuji]

Couple of minomers here, the pedestrian doesn't ALWAYS have the right of way, they only have the right of way when it is safe for a driver to stop...

The way the HTA writes it, pedestrians have the right of way if they enter the roadway legally. As a driver it's your responsibility to make sure that you are able to stop safely. In residential/downtown areas where there are people along the sidewalks and such that means driving slow enough that you can.

As for being illegal to honk downtown, so you're saying that if I'm driving in the curb lane and one of those GQ stock brokers is so wrapped up in the crop reports that he steps off the curb or is about to step off the curb directly in my path I should just hit him? rrrIIight......

Nope. You don't hit him. You slow down or stop. Even assuming he is in the wrong he's annoyed exactly one person: you. When you honk your horn you will be annoying hundreds of people. That makes you a bigger asshole than he is if you honk at him.

That said, people cross the streets downtown all the time. It's reality, so don't speed around such that you can't stop when they do, and if you don't like people doing that, don't drive downtown.

 

[wumpscut]

MLAM, while we are "sharing our thoughts"

I'd like to share that a lot of your posts come off as bragging, like everyone should take note that you beat people up in high school, feel you have a big dick and that people who disagree with you have small ones, drive a fancy car while others who drive smaller cars are somehow inferior, etc. Seems like you're more likely to have an accident looking lovingly at your self in the rear view mirror than from driving too fast. Needing to brag all the time... isn't that a shortcoming?

 

[fuji]

Not entirely true. The HTA states that crossing anywhere outside of a crossing point is jaywalking and there are no mention of distances before this is no longer true. As such, while the police likely don't enforce this, it is still very much illegal.

I bet if I get charged with j-walking in a situation where it's perfectly safe to cross the road and I'm reasonably far from a marked crossing then I can argue in front of a judge that I did nothing wrong and have the ticket thrown out. I bet there's precedent. Therefore, I bet it's not illegal.

According to your strict interpretation it's not legal to walk across Yonge Street at any point from 1 Yonge to Rainy River other than at a marked pedestrian crossing, and that's plainly untrue. So even though the HTA doesn't actually state what a reasonable distance from a marked crossing is, there plainly is a concept reasonable distance in the law, when the common law (precedent) is included.

None of which means I'm going to be an asshole--if I start across the street in the middle of the block I look around and make sure I can cross safely. Sometimes there's a distant car approaching that is going to miss me by 10m or more (ie: i'll be on the curb before he actually passes me), but the driver decides to be an absolute asshole and honk. At that point the driver has demonstated that he's an asshole who likes to annoy a lot more people than just me. I also sincerely doubt that anyone could make a j-walking ticket stick in court in a case like that--I think there's going to be enough common law in place that I'm not actually guilty of j-walking.

 

[tboy]

The way the HTA writes it, pedestrians have the right of way if they enter the roadway legally. As a driver it's your responsibility to make sure that you are able to stop safely. In residential/downtown areas where there are people along the sidewalks and such that means driving slow enough that you can. .

The critical term here is "legally". It is illegal (also stupid) for a pedestrian to step into oncoming traffic without looking both ways and insuring it is safe for them to do so. As for driving slow enough so that you can (stop safely) it is IMPOSSIBLE to foresee all circumstances whereby you might have to stop at any given moment. That's why they have posted speed limits DOH. But you have to admit, the reason kids get hit all the time is because they dart out from between two parked cars.

Nope. You don't hit him. You slow down or stop. Even assuming he is in the wrong he's annoyed exactly one person: you. When you honk your horn you will be annoying hundreds of people. That makes you a bigger asshole than he is if you honk at him.

That said, people cross the streets downtown all the time. It's reality, so don't speed around such that you can't stop when they do, and if you don't like people doing that, don't drive downtown.

Ok, so like you put the entire onus on the driver? What about the pedestrian's responsibility for their action here? LOL don't drive downtown because someone might step off the curb in front of a moving vehicle? What drugs are you on dude? Maybe it should be that pedestrians shouldn't be allowed to walk around on curbs unless they are smart enough to be aware of their surroundings at all times?

 

[Gawd]

I was driving behind a car and we were approaching a traffic light that was still green, he went through then just as I was going through, some blonde woman comes running out in front of me. I slam on my brakes and honk my horn, she turns around and gives me the finger while I'm screaming at her. WTF is that? Stupid idiot nearly gets run over by me because of her own stupidity and yet has the nerve to blame is on me. Gawddamit.

Driving around in my car is bad, but not as bad when I'm riding on my motorcycle.

 

[goodtime]

When you're passing in Europe in the left hand lane and flying up on a car in front and you flick on your highbeams...guess what???...the car pulls over immediately!!!!

The preferred protocal seem to be left turn signals (right in U.K.) to indicate desire for passing.

It was like syncho driving with tour buses & trucks swap passing lanes, allow faster moving vechicles by with happy motorist.

 

[goodtime]

The way the HTA writes it, pedestrians have the right of way if they enter the roadway legally. As a driver it's your responsibility to make sure that you are able to stop safely.
...
That said, people cross the streets downtown all the time. It's reality, so don't speed around such that you can't stop when they do, and if you don't like people doing that, don't drive downtown.

Did you missed the whole MTP jaywalking crackdown?

People dodge between trucks & buses around Union station. Trucks & buses cannot stop on a dime. Regardless who's got the right-of-way, even at slow speed.

 

[RTRD]

Because...

I'd like to share that a lot of your posts come off as bragging, like everyone should take note that you beat people up in high school, feel you have a big dick and that people who disagree with you have small ones, drive a fancy car while others who drive smaller cars are somehow inferior, etc. Seems like you're more likely to have an accident looking lovingly at your self in the rear view mirror than from driving too fast. Needing to brag all the time... isn't that a shortcoming?

...I give a shit what you think as well, right?

Perhaps you should talk to someone about that inferiority thing....because there are apparently people on this board with A LOT more money than me, but I don't feel inferior to them, nor do I think they are "bragging". Besides - don't hate me because I have a big dick...I didn't have any say it the matter.

And get a sense of humor while you are at it too.

Thank you for sharing though....