experience in Canada

Your kidding right?

I grew up in Toronto and now live near Vancouver and find that we maybe a little more courteous than our friends to the south, but, now that we spend 6 months in the US each year, I really don't see much, if any difference, in how we treat lights, stops signs or pedestrians.

I see major traffic (like on Lake Shore) stopping for a single pedestrian going across legally at a designated crosswalk.

For starters, cars came to complete stops at every stop sign--you're telling me this was only while I was there last week?

This has nothing to do with courtesy, it has to do with following the law. Canadians are certainly not more "courteous."

Well it is nice to see you had a good time, I would venture to say that it is a rarity to see most people to stop on a yellow or hardly slow for a red light. The amount of people running reds is unreal and that includes texting. This not everywhere but it is an epidemic. I just live north of T.O. and see it constantly,it is real disheartening to see the poor quality of drivers young and old.

I see more people daily running completely RED lights, never stop at stop signs. To many YELLOW means step on the gas. Cyclists are even worse, they go the wrong direction sometimes making you give way to them, run through red lights etc!

Cyclists are the worst offenders of rules of the road. They ride on the same roads but disobey practically all the rules.

I live in Kitchener, about 100 km (60 miles) from Toronto. Kitchener is part of the Region if Waterloo. The Region has a population close to 600,000, so its about 1/4 of the population of Toronto.

The majority of people slow down for yellows and stop on reds. However there is still far too many people that speed up for yellow; blow through the intersection just as it turns red; drifting stop signs; stopping well into the crosswalk and all the other things that you see in the USA. I can't say if we're better or worse than the US, but it does seem to be a universal problem.

At least the Region doesn't cheat on the yellows at Red Light Cameras.

We do seem to be the Roundabout Capital of North America, with about 40 or more, with more on the way. That creates its own problems, with idiots trying to race through the roundabout; not stopping for pedestrians and not yielding to the vehicle already in the roundabout. I'm sure we have more roundabouts than any place in North Amarica.

I think johnnatash4 was just lucky, or incredibly gracious to us Canucks. LOL

We certainly are

Yeah, I'm pretty much telling you that if you saw every car come to a complete stop at a stop sign then you were there for the only week in history that this would happen in Toronto, or any other city in Canada or the US.

On the other hand I do find that in the many cities in Canada that I've lived in, most of us do stop for people crossing streets in a crosswalk. You maybe taking your changes outside the crosswalk however.

Thanks for giving us Canuks credit for our driving habits but I think you maybe giving us more credit than a lot of us deserve.

In Toronto, there are always cop traps catching for rolling stops on stop signs or speeding when going from one speed zone to the next. And yes, cyclists are the worst - they break every rule and expect it's all the driver's responsibilities to watch out for them. Time and again, cars turning right hit cyclists because those cyclists don't slow down and pop out from your blind-spot.

I totally agree. Cycling groups are pushing drivers to show respect to cyclists. Cyclists also need to show respect for drivers. In addition to what you describe, there's the ones who ride two abreast on the road, riding through crosswalks, no hand signals, riding wrong way, etc.

Every fall I drive from Detroit, Mi to Laredo,Tx. and then into Mexico then return again in the spring. With the exception of the odd rednex in Arkansas and Texas, I find US drivers are more courteous in towns as well as on higways. For example on an interstate if you are on an onramp drivers move over to the passing lane to let you get on. Here they speed up to make sure that you do not get ahead of them.

I hate to admit it but most of the drivers do a rolling stop and if we do a road test now....majority of us will fail due to being complacent.

Can't blame everything on the driver...the pedestrians are as bad as anyone else. They automatically start walking when they see green regardless whether it is safe to cross it

Just because you have the right of way does not mean other drivers and/or pedestrians, cyclists recognize your right of way

I cannot claim to know more about Ontario than those living there, so the fact that there are RLCs implies there are red light runners....

But I did observe big yellow X's going across major roads indicating that these were places for a pedestrian to cross--and I observed pedestrians causing major traffic stoppage, sometimes a single person. Also, in the suburbs, I observed when nobody was around, cars stopping and seeming to even count while they were stopped.

Where I live, there are signs that you will be fined for a rolling stop, and people will do it anyway. Pedestrians, dogs, baby strollers, in the interest of common sense, yield to rolling motorists....

GPSgeek,
I have to agree with you about the Roundabouts. I believe in them and think they can be a very safe alternative to Traffic Light Intersections, and they have lower maintenance and cost for our Tax Dollar.
BUTTT,
I sure wish people would learn how to use them properly. It is kind of simple wait until the Roundabout is clear of Traffic in the direction you are going and then proceed "firmly and deliberately" so as to not confuse others that you are slowing down and/or trying to let them in. Moving forward confidently is a key, as I see so many people that do not know what to do once in the Roundabout or how to enter it.
DavidHH