Why is Ontario becoming the wild-west of roads and highways? | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Why is Ontario becoming the wild-west of roads and highways?

Not enough officers out there for sure, coupled with countless drivers not respecting the law. There are police and MTO twitters posting almost daily of pulling over suspended/unlicensed/ un-insured drivers. No one seems to care anymore about the consequences. Many pulled over multiple times for stunt driving, suspended driving etc. One Burlington officer posted 3 or 4 uninsured drivers he caught in just one shift. Pulling over a suspended driver, ticketing, and then seeing same car and driver driving down the road half an hour later. Ticketed again.

The blackout vehicle plate covers and fake or bent up motorcycle license plates really bother me :mad:

Suspicous vehicle the other day had a "mountain hyundai" (Hamilton dealer) sticker on the back, with Maryland plates on it. Would guess the driver is just hoping Hamilton police don't have access to American states registration, and likely a fake.
 
AllistonGT said:
I just was informed that someone I know, was just charged with stunt driving today.
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For every person who gets nailed with this, thousands of others in the GTA go unpunished on a daily basis.
I think most of the people getting caught with these sorts of serious charges are either "wrong place wrong time" type scenarios - IE blowing past a cop who was sitting at an intersection doing 120 in a city 60k zone...or they were in an accident and get nailed with careless or dangerous or whatever after the fact.

Face it...if the police actually setup a radar trap on an overpass on the 401 through Toronto with chase cars further up the road (they used to do this, but it doesn't seem like they do anymore) they could make a killing on tickets...every...single...day. And after a few months peoples driving habits might actually improve because...(gasp!)...there might actually be consequences to their actions..

This is the thing that I don't get - if police actually cared to actively enforce our highways they could easily make enough money in fines to actually pay for the required increased police officers. It could easily be self funding.
 
FullMotoJacket said:
Drove to the Falls yesterday. Bro in a dually hauling a 18x8 enclosed trailer @ 109 in the passing lane (limit is 110) with people trying to get past him in the center/right lanes. Camped there the entire time from Stoney Creek to St. Catharines. When they first increased the limit on that stretch of the QEW the lane discipline improved dramatically, then it gradually regressed (devolved?) back to "normal". When asked about his thoughts on the devolution theme in their music now that it's been 40 years, Mark Mothersbaugh replied "I knew it was going to happen. The only surprise is how quickly."
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We are Devo.
 
jc100 said:
I like how more drivers are environmentally conscious by not using their indicator lights and saving energy these days. It’s a good job I acquired psychic abilities in the last few years so I can read minds and know where they are going to go without them having to use those useless blinky things.
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Major pet peeve of mine.
It’s a lot of effort to use them blinkers!
 
I'm not going to get behind over-policing roads, but I do think there should be more enforcements of driving standards. I commute 40km each way daily, I often see OPP pick off a single driver going with the flow of traffic moving at 130. To me this isn't enforcement, it's quota catching.

I'd like to see:
  • speed limits raised to 120kmh on the 407, same for 407 highways east of 48, west of and 407/401 north of Hwy 7. Speed limits on regional roads reset to 80kmh (not sure about other areas by York Region dropped speed limits in a lot of places)
  • have cops standing at the corner of busy intersections ticketing drivers using cell phones in their lap, or donning makeup.
  • targetting left lane loafers and HOV cheaters on highways
  • have cops show up at accidents with more than $2000 damage to assess liability and ticket obvious infractions (there's a growing trend toward letting tow bandits clear serious collisions with no injuries).
  • more education, both in the media and in the form of first-time warnings. I think it's reasonable for drivers with clean records to get a warning for minor infractions with no aggravating circumstances -- get caught again and take a ticket.
 
robertv19 said:
Meanwhile cops around here sit in transition zones and try to nab people dropping from 80 to 50. Because that’s where the problem lies apparently.
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Don't forget those "racing" at 132 in an 80 on the 400 where it has been under construction for years. Meanwhile it can be months between sighting a worker anywhere in the project. OPP sends out those tweets like like have nabbed a menace.
 
Mad Mike said:
I'm not going to get behind over-policing roads, but I do think there should be more enforcements of driving standards. I commute 40km each way daily, I often see OPP pick off a single driver going with the flow of traffic moving at 130. To me this isn't enforcement, it's quota catching.

I'd like to see:
  • speed limits raised to 120kmh on the 407, same for 407 highways east of 48, west of and 407/401 north of Hwy 7. Speed limits on regional roads reset to 80kmh (not sure about other areas by York Region dropped speed limits in a lot of places)
  • have cops standing at the corner of busy intersections ticketing drivers using cell phones in their lap, or donning makeup.
  • targetting left lane loafers and HOV cheaters on highways
  • have cops show up at accidents with more than $2000 damage to assess liability and ticket obvious infractions (there's a growing trend toward letting tow bandits clear serious collisions with no injuries).
  • more education, both in the media and in the form of first-time warnings. I think it's reasonable for drivers with clean records to get a warning for minor infractions with no aggravating circumstances -- get caught again and take a ticket.
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When my late brother was a traffic cop decades ago I asked him if he had a quota. He said there wasn't a quota but if you handed out fewer than average tickets they might challenge your powers of observation. Cops with poor powers of observation don't get promoted. Hint.....

Few people care about their driving any more. A guy or gal will suds up and do their hair, not one out of place. They put on a top dollar outfit fitting perfectly and colours matching. The wardrobe suits the activity. They could fit on the cover of any fashion magazine. They drink properly paired wines.

They hop behind the wheel of a car and drive like a pig.

Don't speed excessively, don't run reds too often, don't DUI and you'll rarely get a ticket.

Nobody cares if your turns are illegal, your lane discipline sucks and you only use turn signals when you illegally park. You might as well complain about dogs peeing on fire hydrants.
 
I'm lucky enough to live close enough to my place of business I can walk. During this 1.5km walk I typically feel like a 2nd class citizen, I can see the looks I get when someone has to wait for 3 seconds while I cross the street preventing them from making their turn, I see the shaking fists as I cross an parking lot entrance on the sidewalk while the guy in the F150 now has to wait for another break in traffic. I see the truck drivers that can only drive in a straight line and when they have to turn half the truck is on the sidewalk. I see the speeding, the cell phones, the nose pickers, the lack of signal use, I hear the screeching of brakes and the revving of engines at red lights. The simple fact is driving has become a "right" and a "right" that everyone seems to abuse when it serves them.
 
I don't care what you do, just stay off the left passing lane.

@PP, when you're doing 90 in an 80 zone and you see that black truck behind you, why not wave him through and let the guy pass?
 
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Jampy00 said:
I'm lucky enough to live close enough to my place of business I can walk. During this 1.5km walk I typically feel like a 2nd class citizen, I can see the looks I get when someone has to wait for 3 seconds while I cross the street preventing them from making their turn, I see the shaking fists as I cross an parking lot entrance on the sidewalk while the guy in the F150 now has to wait for another break in traffic. I see the truck drivers that can only drive in a straight line and when they have to turn half the truck is on the sidewalk. I see the speeding, the cell phones, the nose pickers, the lack of signal use, I hear the screeching of brakes and the revving of engines at red lights. The simple fact is driving has become a "right" and a "right" that everyone seems to abuse when it serves them.
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I’ll never forget the first point in the old drivers handbook.

“Driving is a privilege, not a right”

But with this entitled society we live in now - everything is becoming a right.

:/
 
robertv19 said:
I’ll never forget the first point in the old drivers handbook.

“Driving is a privilege, not a right”

But with this entitled society we live in now - everything is becoming a right.

:/
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Government reinforces their position. If driving was a privilege, it would be harder to get a license and easier to lose it. It's pretty hard to lose it and for those that have, they have little reason not to continue driving. Every day people are getting pulled over with multiple driving suspensions. Some people have more than a half dozen lifetime driving suspensions, what is the point of that waste of paperwork?
 
It's not becoming the wild west. That was almost forty years ago in the mid eighties.

The main difference between the GTA and the U.S. plus some of Quebec, is that people will move over for you to pass in those places.
 
Have to agree with this thread. Feels like people are driving way more aggressively and crazier than I remember. Feels like the majority of riders I see out there are using hidden/flipped plates and splitting between cars at high speeds.
Cagers are out there aggressively juking between cars, not signaling or even worse, parking themselves in the Left lane and not moving over.

I take the HOV lanes to and from work and the amount of people that change lanes over the double white border of the HOV lane is astounding. Everyday, multiple offenders....and I never see any enforcement. Motorists use that lane regardless if they meet the requirements.
Scuba Steve said:
I think it has a lot to do with the southern speed limits being realistic and enforced. 75 mph limits as opposed to 60mph.
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I took a trip to Texas once. My first day I was pulled over for doing 5 over the limit. I was shocked when the Trooper told me that I was stopped for such a small amount over, especially considering he was going the other way on the Interstate and went into the ditch separating the 2 directions to come and pull me over. But hey...I slowed down for the rest of the trip.
 
I used to drive up to Muskoka 40 years ago, and regularly saw people pass in the right lane doing 160-200 kph or more.
There were left lane bandits back then too, but the GTA wasn't as peopley. Now there's 172, and too many vehicles on the road.
Back in the 60's it was easy to play ball hockey on a 100m long street, as there would only be a couple of cars parked. Now every house has two or more. Then again, the corner stores, and local groceries, fruit/vegetable markets, butchers etc. have gone the way of the dodo.

If we're going to build infrastructure to encourage people to not use autos, some of these things have to come back, along with better/smarter traffic signals, transit, possibly raised crosswalk/intersection areas. More residential/commercial/industrial integration etc.

The Malls eventually took over, and then fell to big box stores, neither of which carry the variety of goods and services.
But the stores need to be viable and safe.
 
Mad Mike said:
I think it's reasonable for drivers with clean records to get a warning for minor infractions with no aggravating circumstances -- get caught again and take a ticket.
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But...this would require actual enforcement to begin with. Not only for the first infraction, but the repeated ones that actually yield tickets.
Right now we seem to have near zero.

But, to play devils advocate....I don't doubt that a large percentage of the people in Ontario driving like total and complete douchenozzles probably have clean records (simply because of said lack of enforcement), so I'm not sure that a "free pass" on your first infraction, especially if it could be years before they're caught again, would really be effective.

nobbie48 said:
Nobody cares if your turns are illegal,
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Ironically the last time I got pulled over it was for exactly that - failed to stop/yield at an intersection, blah blah. Ironically it was during one of "back to school" blitzes so it was 100% targeted, and not simply routine patrolling....and yeah, you know with near 100% certainty if it wasn't a school blitz you'd never get pulled over for that, so people just do it because they know there's no consequences.

xfactor said:
PP, when you're doing 90 in an 80 zone and you see that black truck behind you, why not wave him through and let the guy pass?
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I have no issues getting passed & I absolutely don't go out of my way to try to block someone. But I will NOT let someone "push" me out of some feeling of pressure or guilt to go faster, nor am I going to drive into the gravel shoulder at speed (or pull over) to accommodate their insane need to pass me until a safe opportunity presents itself. They have have a manchild hissy fit all they want in the meantime - it's their F'n problem that they can't manage an ounce of patience, not my problem.
 
PrivatePilot said:
I have no issues getting passed & I absolutely don't go out of my way to try to block someone. But I will NOT let someone "push" me out of some feeling of pressure or guilt to go faster, nor am I going to drive into the gravel shoulder at speed (or pull over) to accommodate their insane need to pass me until a safe opportunity presents itself. They have have a manchild hissy fit all they want in the meantime - it's their F'n problem that they can't manage an ounce of patience, not my problem.
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I've driven with my left turn signal on for ten kilometres trying not to "push" someone.
Others were whipping in and out, cutting me off trying to get by. It's dangerous.
F it, push them. For most, it's the only way they'll know you want by.
 
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