The Problem with Ontario Roads is Uneducated Drivers

 Our roads are being driven by selfish, arrogant and bad drivers.....In case you didn't already know

I have had just about enough of the pathetic drivers I see on a daily basis on our roads. I have been putting off getting seriously into this topic but the more time goes by, the more ridiculousness I see on the roads and the more I feel the need to vent about just how dangerous our roads are becoming and my belief of why that is. Trust me, you won't necessarily see where I am coming from until the last paragraph.

First, let me start by saying that there are way too many luxury car drivers in the GTA. When you drive a luxury car, at least from what I have noticed, you suddenly develop the mentality that you have the right of way at all times, speed limits do not apply to you, you don't need to use your turn signals and, generally, you can do whatever you want on the road. I have seen more driving errors done by luxury car drivers then anyone else on the road (except for maybe mini-van/SUV drivers).

Don't know if I would trust GTA drivers enough to ride a bike (or even a horse) around town....

Maybe it's the ego that comes along with owning a Mercedes or a Lexus but there just seems to be this attitude for drivers of these cars in this area that they seem to think they are entitled to do and act as they wish on the roads and, seeing as how nothing ever seems to change with regards to this attitude other then it's continued growth among these drivers, I would hazard a guess that they have and continue to get away with their actions.

The main issue I have is that our Police force have been so concerned with raising fines for excessive speeding and, despite the proven fact that highway speeds are not the sole factor in road deaths (just look at the Autobaun in Germany), they are choosing to focus on young drivers of "suped" up lower end cars (like Civics, Neon's, Cavaliers and Lancers) instead of going after the higher end vehicles that can EASILY surpass the 200 Km\h mark. Instead of picking and choosing who they single out, our police force needs to start cracking down on luxury car owners. Hell, they can certainly afford the car so if they want to act like idiots on the road, then they should be able to pay the fines that go with that idiotic behaviour.

 Just another typical day for drivers in Toronto

Unfortunately, that's just one aspect of the problem, or, more directly, one segment of people on the road acting like morons. Changing gears a bit, I want to point out a few of the common things I have seen over and over again. So, in no particular order, here are some of the most infuriating things I continue to see over and over again on our roads (right after I list them, I will delve into my thoughts as to why they keep happening);

-A signal does not mean you have the right to jump into a lane. The rule is you signal to let the other motorists around you know your intention to change lanes, then do so WHEN SAFE. You don't just signal and move right into the lane without looking. Your signal does not automatically make the other drivers stop in their tracks to give you right of way over everyone else. YOU have only indicated you want to move, EVERYONE ELSE does NOT have to slow down or move over because you signalled.

-When make a right turn onto a busy street (like for example when you are exiting from a strip mall onto a street like Mavis Road), it is NOT the responsibility of the car already on Mavis to slow down to YOUR merging slow ass speed but rather YOUR responsibility to merge when safe and get your car up to the speed of traffic as soon as possible. If you fail to do so, expect to get a long ass horn hold from the car you forced to slow down to a snails pace (or, more appropriately, your pace) and some angry gestures or words from that same angry driver now forced to drive behind you. You DO NOT have the right to get angry at the motorist behind you swearing and honking their horn at you because YOU were the one that made the driving error. Just shut up, put your hand up to apologize and move on.

 The pic may say New Jersey on it but all three are pretty much the way things are in the GTA

-The highway seems to bring out some really arrogant morons that act out in so many ways but a few in particular that come to mind. The first is similar to the last point I just made. When merging onto a highway, it is not the responsibility of the cars already on the highway to slow down to let you in. The merging vehicle needs to speed up to the speed of traffic and then merge safely. I had an asshole get mad at me for not letting him slowly merge in front of me on the highway over the weekend, when there was NO ONE behind me. He was going slow, gave me the finger for not letting him in for at least 2 exits on the highway and seemed to honestly think he was in the right when it came to this situation. He was going 90 on the merging lane, I was going 110. Sorry moron, you were not about to cut me off when there was no one behind me.

The second point has to do with the new HOV lanes that are popping up on our highways. There are only certain areas where you can and can't get into and out of these lanes and yet every single time I am on a highway with these types of lanes, people swerve in and out of these lanes as if they are normal lanes. It gets so frustrating seeing people do this that I actually have a suggestion for the Ministry of Transportation; Put up those plastic lane markers every 5 feet along the HOV sections that you don't want people to traverse in order to force people to either stay in or get out of them at the proper places. Since they would be made of plastic, they would last long (unless they are hit by cars) and they would also cause enough damage to the cars of violators that they will think twice about trying to cross the lane markers illegally like they do now.

Now that I have gone over some of the things I have had the misfortune of seeing, let me get to why think they tend to continue to happen; plain and simple, it's arrogance. It all goes back to something I have mentioned repeatedly over the last few months about how we are raising our kids to think that they can do no wrong. The Soccer mom mentality. We are seeing the first real wave of these types of kids just now joining the workforce and/or dealing with people trying to say no to them (as in the student protests in Quebec).

 I really don't see bikes and cyclists gaining a real foot hold in the GTA any time soon

Not to say that I disagree with the protests in Quebec, I fully support them actually (especially when you think of the social and political ramifications of continuing to increase post-secondary education in this country), but the way everyone else is reacting in the Government around them reminds me of parents who are fed up with their OWN kids basically getting everything they want and instead, the Quebec government is simply acting like completely frustrated parents who, despite being the cause of the problem, have shifted the blame to the kids and refuse to acknowledge their own role in the situation.

That was a long winded way of saying that we are raising arrogant and self-centered kids who don't seem to understand when something is their own fault and can't accept responsibility for the mistakes they make, especially on our roads. But that doesn't explain the adults who were NOT raised that way developing such poor driving skills? Well, the easy way to explain that is to realize that people are copycats in nature. When we see something that works, we try to emulate it. Along the same lines, when we see people getting away with doing something that they shouldn't, the vast majority of us do the same thing until finally someone is caught and punished (and of course we all think that the person who will be caught will not be us).

 Now just imagine that kid has no insurance on top of that....

I could go into a couple of other personal reasons I believe effect the driving situation (way too many foreign born and trained drivers who have been allowed to "exchange" their foreign licenses for Ontario ones, Piss poor driver examiners who allow personal feelings to effect them in their evaluations both positively and negatively, insurance rates being ridiculously unfair thus making it actually a bad thing to put in a claim for something which then gives people the idea that not claiming something is better, resulting in sometimes unsafe vehicles on the roads) but each of those topics deserve way more attention then I have time to get into today.

One quick tangent before I wrap this blog up about auto insurance. Isn't it about time that either the  Provincial or Federal Government stepped up in the name of all Canadians and forced insurance companies to make the mandatory insurance coverage that we are all required to have by law affordable? Isn't it time that the government stepped up to the plate for Canadians and stopped the gauging that insurance companies are getting away with and using in order to pocket billions of dollars off of each and every one of us? Insurance companies are being allowed to rape each of us with their ridiculous and unfair charges based upon where we live, our sex, marital status (all things that everyone agrees are prejudicial and illegal in just about every other area of our lives yet used against us each and everyday by these multinational corporations) as well as how many traffic tickets we have (which should not matter nearly as much as it does) and how many times we have put in an insurance claim (which should instead count as the most important aspect of insurance claims, the actual number of accidents we have).

 These two need to stop playing Rock, Paper, Scissors and protect Canadian 

motorists from Big Insurance companies

Our governments sit back and  allow these corrupt companies to rob us blind and then when we need them, they throw a million and one reasons at us as to why we are not entitled to coverage we paid for. This is yet another reason why we have seen a recent increase in hit and run drivers. There are way more non-insured drivers out there then anyone realizes. I should know as I was one of them when I was younger. I drove my parents insured minivan for 5 years without coverage of my own in order to avoid paying the nearly $5000 they wanted to get out of me since I was among the last group of fully licensed 16 year olds in 1994. By not paying their insane fees, I saved my family $25000. I can assure you that I'm not the only one who has tried or is currently doing something along these lines. When you add the fact that being caught without insurance is a criminal offense, you start to understand why so many hit and runs are starting to occur more often.

Getting back on topic, suffice it to say that the way our roads are being used right now and the level of driver education on the road is down right frightening. We are seeing countless errors on our roads each and every day leading to many more accidents and taking us to the point where there are driver errors being committed each and every moment of the day. With the way our streets are being used and poorly watched over as well, it can be downright scary to drive in a place like downtown Toronto or even Mississauga. I would offer some suggestions on how to improve our roads but realistically, the state they are in right now is a direct by-product of how our society has shifted into a me-first, selfish, do whatever you want society that until the social aspects of our society change, our roads will continue to be a free for all.

Until that changes, we need to keep our eyes open, follow the rules of the road as best as we can and hope for the best. Or basically do your best to survive in the midst of the crap that is the general state of our roads today.

Good luck