Observations while driving in Toronto & The GTA.

After driving this streets and highways in and around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) which is Niagara, London, Barrie, Kingston region of Southern Ontario I have some news on what I have seen these past ten years.

1. Passing on 400 series of highways is always done on the RIGHT hand lane. The left hand lane is reserved for those who are self described "I am too important to share the road or am too busy to think about how my driving skills are lacking."

2. There is zero difference between a person using a cellphone and a drunk while driving. These drivers don't signal, don't keep their speed or lane, don't see other drivers, and do cause accidents. Using a cell phone even hands free is not safe. Turn the cell off. Also you can't txt while stopped at a red light its still a ticket. The only time you can be texting while in the car is either while parked off the road, or while a passenger.

3.  Drivers enjoy the thrill and challenge of going from the far left lane into the off ramp at the last possible second while causes everybody behind them to slam on the brakes and cause a possible crash.

4. Fender benders block lanes. If you bump into another car then just pull over into the curb lane and then swap insurance etc. Stop blocking the live lane and causing a more dangerous situation. In some states its illegal to block a live lane if the cars involved can be driven off the road.

5. Trucks and other heavy equipment is NOT the cause of how slow the traffic is going. Truckers want to go as fast as possible in a safest possible way. We are professionals and though we all have our bad days, we are out here in traffic more than you are.

6.Speed limiters on Truck only causes more slow moving traffic and blocked lanes. Our provincial governments. Decided to limit trucks to 105kph. None of those politicians were or have ever driven a truck before. The end result is that trucks in an effort to pass other slower moving trucks are blocking our roads and making all traffic move slower. This might be a good result as speed kills.

7. Driver testing: All G class drivers once they have passed their final test are not tested again till they are 80. This needs to change. Did you know that all professional drivers Class A-F are tested every 5 years? These driver need to pass written and practical tests to keep their licence. We should start to pressure the government to force G class drivers to at least take a written test every 5 years. How often have you come to a set of lights and been confused about the signals? Do you really know what that sign means? Do you know how to safely navigate a "round a bout"?

There is so much a driver needs to learn and keep learning about the roads they are driving. Driving is VERY dangerous. Its a contact sport where we try not to hit each other, but when we do we can kill each other.

Driving is not for the faint of heart, the overly cautious or overly confident. Every day I am reminded how dangerous my job is.

Cell phones while driving?

Just in case you have not heard.... using your cell phone and any function of it is very dangerous... Why cause you are not using your mind to drive with. You must think that its easy or safe to driving with that thing on your ear. I and most people are able to pick out cell phone driving morons on the road. 
For some reason, while using your cell you think that its OK not to signal, check your blind spot or even keep up with the flow of traffic anymore. 


You have to remember that in my truck I am sitting about 4 feet higher than you are in your car. I can see into your car and see you with your cell phone on and trying to drive. PLEASE STOP YOUR CAR AND THEN OPERATE IT.


I would feel much safer with you no using that dam thing. I would love to be able to call the cops on each and every one of your drivers, but the problem is that I would have write down your plate number and then pull over to make the call. 


I wonder what would happen if you were in an accident and then the cops as a policy checked the cell phone useage of all drivers. They found that yours were on, and then charged you with the accident and you had to pay for all the damages... then you could not get insurance... because you were chraged with a DUI which resulted in your being stripped of your driver's licence for a year. Would you stop using your cell phone then? Or what if you caused the accident and killed somebody?


WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO STOP USING THAT DAME PHONE?