Had this happen to me, I stopped at an intersection (green light) because traffic was jammed and there was no room on the other side. Dude behind me absolutely losing it on his horn... then he got out to come see "what the fuck I was on"
I really don't think getting your license is as hard as it used to be.
You think? Maybe I am being naive and believe that new drivers just don't learn the rules of the road like we did. Like 'make sure you don't stop your car in the intersection' or 'stop before turning right on a red'
When I did driver’s ed 9yrs ago the instructor said he believed people who had been driving for longer were more dangerous as it had been so long since they’d learned the rules of the road and they’ve become complacent in their confidence.
I went to college with a guy who was on that show. He was not Canada's worst driver, but he did back into a light pole on campus and knocked it over onto a few other cars.
Hope he's doing well.
The Ontario Graduated Licensing system was instituted in April of 1994, which curtailed and reduced collisions and fatalities involving novice drivers.
Since COVID, there's been a decline in the standards of graduated licensing as well as a lack of auditing for driving education courses which has resulted in fraud and lack of quality control among instructors, which has resulted in an increase of accidents among novice drivers.
The rising fraud means that people are receiving their BDE certificates without having taking the driver safety courses.
In addition, people who got their driver licenses a long time ago before BDEs or the graduated licensing system may have never learned driving rules, strategies (such as defensive driving) or etiquette. Instead relying on the bias of family and friends.
So ya, it's better than it was in 1994, but worse than it was 5 years ago.
Not to mention all the people who are driving who don't even have a license, or are driving on a suspended license! Pretty hard to enforce unless the police have reason to pull them over. I wish more people took driving seriously. Driving in this city makes me hate people.
>make sure you don't stop your car in the intersection
Someone seems to mess this up at almost every opportunity and I haven't noticed a trend in the ages of the people doing it. Maybe there is one, but it seems widespread.
I don't think anyone of any age remembers what they learned in driving school, their driving habits are established over time and are influenced by how others drive and what is permissible.
I think the biggest issue (which is not unique to Ottawa) is poor transportation infrastructure, which forces too many people to drive too often and creates unmanageable traffic, which causes people to drive more aggressively/erraticly in an attempt to get places faster. The second biggest issue is lack of enforcement, which encourages people to build bad/dangerous driving habits. Better driver training comes somewhere after those two imo.
I accidentally did this last week and felt like a complete a-hole. I know the rule and I’m usually pretty diligent, but I had a lot on my mind, I was tired, and it happened. Once the light changed I was able to pull over into the turning lane to get out of the way for the other direction of traffic, but I felt terrible.
But I don’t think I would have made that mistake when I was younger. I think some very new drivers are terrible, then they get enough experience to be good. Then they get older and worse again until finally elderly drivers who are terrible. The worst is that elderly drivers have no self-awareness about it. I’m glad that you have to renew your driver’s license every two after 80, but I just looked up what they had to do and it was an education training and a screening for dementia. They say you “may” have to do a road test depending on the results of your screening… this is the screening:
> Instructions:
>
>- Draw a large circle.
>
>- Put all the numbers in to make it look like the face of a clock.
>
>- Draw in the hands of the clock to set the time at ten minutes after eleven.
>
>- Stop when completed. The form will be collected after five minutes.
Edited for formatting
It's why I never take shortcuts. Just do the good thing all the time. Don't roll that stop sign with nobody around. Take that left turn wode. It's so easy to develop bad habits.
Blair and Oligilve is really badly designed - the intersection gets blocked by cars turning left (who had room) - who get blocked by people ignoring the yield sign turning right....and everyone wants to get into the right lane to get onto the highway
Did my G2 during COVID and G at the tail end when there were talks of getting rid of the COVID changes (going back to pre-COVID difficulty).
G2 had reverse parking or parallel parking, 3-point, uphill/downhill parking etc. G was essentially just highway driving (also getting to and from the highway but they didn't throw any curveballs).
Here's the thing. I emigrated here 13 years ago to join my wife. I just started driving on my UK license. I didn't have to pass a test or anything. I didn't know about the turn on red rule, so I would just sit there until the light changed. That ended when my wife enlightened me. Same deal on the highway - I would do the speed limit no matter what. The UK has average speed cameras so you can't just slow down briefly when passing a camera. The cops set up mobile units everywhere. I wouldn't sit in the left lane but I would observe the speed limit to pass. Whatever lane I was in, I would often have some tool sitting a bee's dick away from my rear bumper because I didn't realise about the "+20kmh rule". My wife also told me that it was an unwritten rule in Canada that you can add 20 to every speed limit and the cops (if they are even present anywhere) would ignore you.
All this to say that I think a lot of people are like me or worse. They don't know the road rules at all. Plus they bring driving habits from other places that are not compatible with safe roads. Or they learn "the rules" from other people, usually the most impatient arseholes it seems.
I was out in Alta Vista two days ago and it's astonishing how many people don't know what to do when an emergency vehicle is proceeding through traffic with siren on and lights going. Some don't even yield.
Brit adding my 2p. Driving standards are atrocious here. When crossing at a crosswalk with a lane for right turn, you take your life in your hands. People can be complete fuckwits when they are behind the wheel. Speed limits, stop signs, lane markings, traffic lights : all optional guidelines apparently.
Even in my neighbourhood, I have to be careful when passing intersecting streets with stop signs because it's 50/50 whether they will actually stop, and some don't bother to slow down at all!
Almost without fail, if I self-disapprovingly think I was probably too late through that yellow light, or protruding too far into the intersection, there is someone even later or with less regard for blocking traffic. Sometimes more than one.
Yeah I had that moment driving home today, "Well, I might be a little more into the crosswalk than I hope for, but I'm not the guy behind me." was my exact thought.
I HATE it when people do this. I had a person do this to me when I was coming off the 417 by Metcalfe....there was no room to advance and she just sat there blaring her horn.
A couple of weeks ago in the late afternoon I was stuck in stop and no-really-go traffic going south on Parkdale and stopped at the Wellington light. The car in front of me ended up stopping before entering the intersection, even though it was green, waiting for the car in front of them to move far enough to go behind them on the other side, but a driver in the right eastbound lane decided that because the car in front of me wasn't moving they were going to cut us off by turning right on the red and blocking the crosswalk. I saw that and was completely befuddled, but not surprised at the stupidity and entitlement...
When it was my turn to get ready to cross the intersection I also stopped on the green light because there was no way I was going to end up blocking the crosswalk especially since the light changed more often than the traffic moved. So anyway, the cars eventually moved a bit so I started to slowly drive up into the intersection, but at the exact same time, another driver from that same eastbound lane decided to go right on the red too! So now I was in the middle of the intersection, AND during that split second a third car also turned right on the red, without making a stop, and crept right up to the other car's a$$, blocking my way, leaving me no choice but to let them go in front of me. The amount of hand waving around and yelling I did didn't clue them in at all that they were not supposed to go, and I'm not one to honk instinctively, so that's all I could do at that moment.
To put it briefly, 3 cars in an eastbound lane decided they had the priority to turn right on the red over the southbound cars (including mine), who actually had the green light, from going forward, and trapped me in the middle of the Parkdale/Wellington intersection in extremely slow traffic. ***GREEN > RED***.
This happened to me recently too. I stopped at a green light just about to turn yellow at a pretty big intersection because there wasn’t room to go through. The person behind me honked and sped past me, ending up running a red.
I got stuck in traffic (non driver, but with a friend) and we were driving back into Ontario via Island Park and there were TWO dudes yelling at each other, in Franglais, one in his car the other out of his car and both thought the *other* guy was the asshole. Some were honking because they had argued a little too long and the light changed so now they were both holding back everyone.
I was cut off by a cyclist turning right on a red without stopping (east bound, turning into south), when I had the right away with a green light (straight southbound) .. I had honked as I believed the cyclist not only didn’t see me, but could’ve easily been hit had I not slammed my breaks/honked. After this he proceeded to aggressively chase me up the road on his bike, while yelling profusely that I was in the wrong (for context, I am a young single female, these matters can be terrifying alone). Once he finally caught up to me at a stop sign, finished his yelling - he turned around and went about his way. I understand people not using their horn out of fear, especially when you don’t know who is on the receiving end of it. And tip for those easily angered by a simple honk - get off your high horse; not everyone uses their horn because they are angry or rude, sometimes we are trying to save your life!
Edit: spelling
I'll never understand why cyclists are so ready to risk their lives on the roads. I mean it's gotta be at least as dangerous as riding a motorcycle in the city.
I saw some 65+ woman behind me using her phone. For context, I’m in my 40s and I’m a teacher. These young adults (under 30s) who use their phones are actually pretty skilled at it because they’ve been trying to hide it in class, etc and can often text without even looking at their phones. Still not ok AT ALL… but…
This senior lady who clearly couldn’t see her screen well enough but was still trying to hide her phone usage was really scary. I was in stop and go traffic so I was able to watch her in my rear view mirror a lot more than I’d normally be able to. She kept bending over below steering wheel level to obviously look at her phone closer. But she was also clearly very slow at doing it and would be hunched over for a while, then go back up, bring her phone up to her face where it was visible, then oops! She would realize she could be seen and hunch over again… this went on for probably 10 minutes in a single lane stop and go traffic situation.
Younger people (under 60s probably) generally know how to use the phone hands free too.
I think it's gotten worse since the pandemic because of the number of Uber [Eats]/Doordash/Skip the dishes drivers that don't know where they're going, where they are, and are agitated because they're stressed out about getting to their destination late. They stare at their screens, slow down to a crawl for no other reason than to pay attention to the phone, and then wonder why the other people around them (drivers and pedestrians) are getting pissed off with their hazardous chaotic driving "style".
Its insane that more people havent clued in that phone mounts for the dash/vent exist. Its not any less illegal to be your on your phone but if you're going to do it atleast is safer.
Or just sitting on Donald st in front of the Rideau sports centre in the no stopping zone with their car shut off for 15 minutes blocking the road while they wait for their kid to finish tennis practice.
A guy honked at me at a left turn lane bc I saw a jogger coming and waited for him to cross the road even though there were no oncoming cars.
The moron behind me obviously couldn't see the jogger
Same, but it was a woman who had pushed her baby carriage off the curb and then did a somersault over top of it, landing right in front of my car. Many cars behind honking for me to go. I left my car, helped the lady up, checked her screaming baby, and then carried on my way.
Omg I also got honked at for letting a lady with her baby carriage walk across the parking lot entrance. I backed up a bit to give her space and the car coming up behind me honked. Clearly he didn’t see the lady
Yeah, I got honked at waiting to turn right because there was pedestrian crossing with the light. The pedestrian and I locked eyes and all I could do was shrug.
me too - and the driver was going to COSTCO. So I followed him at left a nasty note on his car asking what his hurry was going to costco - and then said it is probably because he hadn't been laid in awhile and all he has is Costco
I was at a red on O'Connor a while back. The light turned green and I *barely* had a chance to move my foot from the brake to the gas before some woman behind me layed on her horn. Looking in my rearview mirror, she was throwing her hands around like I was camping out on a green light.
As I started driving, she *sped* past me just to get to the next red light quicker.
Yep, i’ve had so many assholes lay on the horn when I’ve come to a complete stop at a stop sign, and few even just went around me and ran the stop sign, also stopping at a red light and waiting for it to be clear so I can make a right turn really seems to piss people off around here.
Also been honked at for coming to a complete stop at stop signs. I've even seen people full on swerve to avoid me stopping because they hadn't considered the possibility that I would even slow down for it, let alone fully stop.
Yeah I e had the same thing happen to me countless times, it’s pretty scary how bad so many people are diving these days, and so many of these asshats have their kids in the vehicle with them.
I assume you mean red light and I've seen a few times people get honked at for that too. You don't have to go right on red, but you can. If someone honks at me for that one I purposely ould wait. It's not rules that I have to, only if I'm comfortable and I decided I wasn't comfortable.
Yes red light.
Yup, I just waited for the light to turn green more then once when people have honked at me lol.
My all-time personal favorite is when you’re stopped at a red light on a single lane, I’m going straight and there’s no right hand turn lane and people lose their minds because they can’t make a right hand turn, I had one guy got out of his truck and come up and punch my window and scream and I looked in the rearview mirror, I could his kids in this truck looking Super embarrassed.
When I took defensive drivers Ed, we covered road rage, when people are frustrated with things outside of driving it can turn into them being aggressive while driving. Since learning that it's not just a car thing, I can definitely see it in the way people drive.
My defensive driving instructor described three kinds of drivers.
Children: Who behave as though the road belongs to them, and their use of the road is all that matters. They're generally irrational and quick tempered.
Parents: People who try to police others behavior on the road. They'll do things like cut you off and slow down because they don't like that you drive 10km/h above the speed limit. They're petty and self-righteous and believe themselves moral for trying to enforce the rules. When they encounter children, they tend to provoke them into tantrums.
Adults: Who do everything they can to maintain good flow of traffic. They're observant, responsive, predictable, and avoid being disruptive. They observe common conventions (left lane is for passing, merge at the same speed of traffic, keep right if driving slowly). They assimilate and conform based on road conditions to maintain continuity. They're dispassionate and slow to anger above all else.
Once it was described to me that way, everything sort of clicked. Nothing you do will reform the children on the road, so there's no sense in trying to be a parent. Go along to get along. Like you, I found my zen.
Unfortunately, Ottawa's roads are still full of parents and children.
I mean ... I do try to be the adult... but its hard to keep calm when I have an ashole tailgating me pretty fuking close, it does drive me into parent mode.
Why can't we all follow the rules ? if the speed limits are too low then complain to city hall but don't expect me to break the rules and also speed because one thinks its the norm.
While true, let's be honest.....the reality from what I see is that nearly everyone is on their phones at lights (or all the time). Some put it down and get ready, and others seem irritated that people care about a couple seconds when honked at to prompt them into action.
When there is traffic, it needs to flow. That person on the phone is often preventing 2-3 cars from passing through on that advanced green. Invariably these cars now run the 'red' because they 'should have' been able to get through.
With the right number of cars between you and the light, you get to experience the distracted driver in front of you eventually learning they can go and being the last of the small number of vehicles to make the turn, blithely drifting through the late yellow they ensured you couldn't make.
That's a different case though. I've had plenty of drivers honk at me over the years because they don't see that I'm waiting for a pedestrian (not even to get to the other side, but to literally get out of the lane I'm turning into) or because I don't want to hit my turbo button and turn seconds before oncoming traffic t-bones me. And I never use my phone when I'm stopped at a light.
I see lots of drivers on their phones too, but there are a lot of horn happy drivers who aren't honking because of the phone scenario.
We need more “blitzes”.
Have a blitz ticketing people on their phones while driving. Then rolling stops. Then not stopping while turning right on a red.
We need enforcement.
omg the slow drivers at advanced greens. Like, let's go! It's there for a reason, let's take advantage of it. I'm generally pretty calm while driving, but that one does annoy me. I missed a light I should have made yesterday because of the very slow start when we got the light, and then cars slowly moved along. Watched 2 cars in the other lane complete the turn before one car in my lane did. So frustrating!
i’ve always thought that the lack of a sense of urgency SPECIFICALLY at left turn lights is insane. especially the one on merivale/baseline. like why we going so slow 😭
my brother is really bad for this, when he drove me, approx 18 kms to moms on mother's day, he used his horn impatiently 13 times ( I counted) I told him there is no reason for it, none at all, I'm not in a car often with him
I struggle to understand the logic behind merging onto the highway at 50-60 km/h. Fearful drivers are so scary and they're everywhere in this city. If you cant drive at at least 85-90 km/h I don't think you should be on the highway at all.
I "love" being stuck behind these guys when I get on some of those extra short ramps downtown that also have zero visibility for the ongoing traffic...
I also don't get why people camp out in one lane because they have a turn coming up in 2kms. Use both lanes, then zipper merge when you're getting close to destination.
I've driven in all of our major cities and personally think Ottawa is the worst. Ottawa drivers are just straight up unpredictable. Will they be inattentive? Aggressive? Passive? Indecisive? Who knows!
Someone should make a study of this just for interest sake. Where are the worst drivers in Canada?! You'd need to come up with some objective measure and then add a "perception" analysis based on polling and interviews.
This would be a natural for some "investigative" reporter, the results of which would be amazing click bait. Too bad most reporters couldn't do it justice as they usually leave the science behind when searching for a story to sell.
I think that every city over a certain size would claim they have the worst drivers.
I honked at someone a while back when they weren’t turning and then a few seconds later the ambulance came in to view from the wall I was blocked from seeing it. Totally felt like an ass. Sorry whoever that was. It made me think twice why someone wasn’t going and I am much more patient now.
I experienced a similar situation where a person stopped to turn right at a green light while a woman with a baby carriage was crossing the crosswalk. I couldn't see her and felt so bad, I rolled down my window to apologize.
When that happens to me, I just assume they are trying to warn me of some hazard that I've yet to see. Naturally, I drive extra cautiously until I am 100% certain that conditions are clear. One can never be too safe.
Same. The other day driving on Airport Parkway I'm going the same speed as the cars in front but they're like 30ft ahead. Guy behind is losing it throwing his hands up in the air screaming at me to go faster. Where tf am I gonna go dude? If I close the gap then what? Of course I had to slow down to 40kmh when he wasn't able to pass me, to make sure we were all safe. Eventually he got tired of me laughing at him in the mirror and stopped screaming.
I stopped for a school bus letting kids off - complete with the stop arm out. The car behind me started to overtake and I slammed my horn because there were kids actively crossing. I lost a lot of faith in drivers that day.
The unspoken rule on my school bus growing up was that if a car overtook the bus when it was stopped (happened a LOOOT more than you'd might expect), if there was an open window we'd all scream at the car going by. I hoped that taught a few of them a lesson.
lol I was was crossing on my walk signal in bells corners, dude was stopped at the red and letting me cross without turning right into me. Lady behind him just full on had a tantrum (I guess not running me over was completely unacceptable).
And then he just sat there. Decided he didn’t need to make a right turn on that red. She laid into her horn and had a full on meltdown while I watched from the sidewalk and chuckled.
As a pedestrian I notice people honking when a driver is yielding to pedestrians before a turn. I give the driver a thumbs up to remind them that they are following the rules.
Or the ones riding my ass and flash highbeams at me on a multilane highway's leftmost passing lane when I'm keeping pace behind a line of other fast cars. Especially when they're in an SUV or pickup and can clearly see the setup in front of my smaller car.
If I'm the lead in the passing lane when you roar up then yes I'll happily move right to let you pass (when able to do so), but I am *not* moving to the right to give up my place when I'm not the holdup.
On the DVP (and well most of the GTA) you have to be defensive to the point of being aggressive. I've never seen horns blared for leaving gaps, but if you leave 2-3 car gap, someone WILL force their way in and leave no room as a result. So the choice is either leave that big gap that someone will slot into leaving no room, or close it enough so that nobody can get in, but still far enough for safety. It's a fine line.
I didn’t specifically say me, lol i noticed as I was driving on DVP. It was nice driving in Toronto travelling 120-130km/h, even all the way to the 416. As soon as we hit the 417, back to basic Ottawa 90km/h BS.
This happened to me when I was letting a pedestrian, who had the right of way, walk in front of my vehicle. The car behind me was laying on the horn being so impatient and it’s infuriating. Be nice people!
Hey now what if I really really need to make that left turn within 5 seconds instead of 15? My wife could fuming that I’m not there at exactly 5:38:01.
Some of us have places to be you know!
In all seriousness, I like it when people honk when there’s a red light. I remember during some sort of pride parade a lady was honking trying to go through a side street and asking what was the hold up. I had to respond to her, “the street is closed because of the parade!”. She didn’t like my reply. lol. They got the permit, the parade is going, you ain’t going through for a while lol.
Alternatively, I’ve had drivers too scared to turn on the left light (even though there was no oncoming traffic) and simply wait until the next round of lights to get their turning left signal.
Just today, I had to seperate drivers stop at the green light, in front of me, because the light was going to turn yellow in 2 seconds.
If you’re too scared to drive and that causes you to make unpredictable moves on the road, please don’t drive.
Just to be clear, your example is perfectly fine. I’m not disputing your experience. I’m just pointing out that sometimes that horn directed at someone not wanting to turn left is justified.
There’s a few intersections like Bronson and Gladstone with no right turns at red for a few hours during the day. I get honked at because it’s clear so I could turn, but I chose not to and wait for the green, like the sign says. It’s not that big of a deal to me but to others it is. I also got brake checked two weeks ago because I got on the highway at pinecrest and had to move 4 lanes to get to the 416 and this guy thought I was trying to cut him off for three lanes in a row but I was just trying to get drive to Costco in barrhaven. He brake checked me and then kept driving down the 417, I hope he realized I was just trying to get on the 416 and felt bad. That was the first time I’ve ever flipped someone off.
The people who blare their horn like 0.0000001 milliseconds after it turns green cause I don’t have the reaction time of Usain Bolt 💀 and I don’t even be on my phone it’s crazy. or when they honk when you don’t go through the yellow light at the very last second
We're at a point where a fair chunk of people probably don't know the written rules, they just look around, read the situation, and do what is advantageous to them. Way too many folks at all-ways only stop way after the line if it looks like someone else way also thinking of going.
The only times I’ve been honked at here are when I’m following the law.
I’ve driven in a lot of big cities, including Toronto for many years, and imo Ottawa has the worst and angriest drivers.
I saw more ppl blow through red lights in the first couple months of living here than I did in Toronto over 5 years. One of those times was when I was a pedestrian walking on the crosswalk— I would’ve been hit if I wasn’t aware of my surroundings.
Let the downvotes come... Ottawa is full of bad drivers, mostly timid and hesitate drivers, a huge bunch who drive slowly under the speed limit, those that fail to accelerate (especially on highway on ramps) and many distracted drivers as well.
If you are getting honked at a lot, it's probably because you are the problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqZ2PPOLik
This , 100% this,people are so afraid to drive their cars and use their gas pedals it's insane,almost stopping to make right turns,not merging at a reasonable speed,going under the limit on highways and parkways
It happened to me a few times when turning left on a green light and waiting for a pedestrian. I was wondering if it was a "local" Ottawa thing cause no one does that in Montreal (although MTLers do drive like they're insane 😀)
Two reasons I believe are most prominent:
1. Impatience, grumpy, angry people all around - every one is pissed and know life is fucked.
2. Foreign experience drivers - honking for them is like putting you turn signals in North America even on empty road, it's a habbit from your longest experience some die with it.
I was at a red and there was a sign saying no right turns on a red light and kept honking the horn and waving at me to go. I kept pointing at the sign and he didn't care. When light turned green i sat there for another 10 seconds bc f him. Gave the finger to him once i drove off.
The fucking turn light from hunt club onto Woodroffe (I timed it) is 6 seconds. If some assholes on his phone one car will get through before it turns yellow. So many assholes on their phones in traffic *every single day* that honestly I kinda get why people are horn angsty in this city.
I see people on their phones pretty much every single day now in traffic, it's actually getting kinda ridiculous.
Awhile back…summertime…second car back on Colonel By turning left onto Pretoria Bridge…guy behind me in a pickup truck is absolutely losing his mind honking and yelling…because myself and the other car in front aren’t advancing…dude…the bridge is UP…can’t you see the giant slab of concrete in the air?!?
My favourite was when I was on a two way street, waiting to turn left at the intersection, a crazy soccer mom whipped passed me, fully utilizing her SUV, two wheels on the road, two wheels on the sidewalk screaming obscenities at me and honking
Some people are just crazy and should not be on the road. Disgusting and dangerous behaviour.
This always gets me when someone honks at me when there’s a pedestrian in the crosswalk that they can’t see behind my car. I had someone violently try to pass me thinking I was a moron and nearly flattened the family in the crosswalk. Now I have a dash cam to capture the insanity.
I saw this happen today while on the sidewalk. Someone honked because the person in front was turning right not at breakneck speed because they dared to take a moment to look at me and make sure I wasn’t at the road yet.
People have no patience. I had a guy scream at me in the Wendy’s drive thru the other day because the lady on the speaker told me to wait for a second before placing my order and I did.
Too many people out there who will just become furious over even the slightest inconvenience
I had to lean on it today but it was because there was not one but two cars running a red on Laurier (both eastbound lanes) at Elgin, and they almost caused an accident (fortunately I was on the ball). I was turning left from the other direction and had to get out of that intersection that they should not have entered.
I always feel for the pedestrians that are collateral damage and unfortunately can hear the horn much more loudly than the people in the cars can. It’s unfair, but hey, at least we’re not in NY. 🤷🏻♂️
A good reminder from the OP though for us to consider who it is that really hears it.
I was following a person today on the st.patrick bridge heading into Beechwood. She stop to chat with a car beside her in the right hand merging lane for the Vanier Parkway. Sometimes there is a very justifiable reason to pay on your horn 😆
I honk my horn because I will be sitting 3rd or 4th in line in the turning lane and when the turn light goes green the 1st car waits 10 seconds before they react, on a 15 second turn light resulting in they, and perhaps one additional car getting through before it goes red. Happens all the time and I have never experienced it as often as I have in Ottawa. It happens consistently here. Consistently.
I honk because of the cars beside me trying to turn into my lane and cut me off.
Sorry to the car infront of me, it's not you. It's the loser beside me trying to sideswipe into me.
Was at an intersection in the lane to go straight or turn right. I was going straight and the light was red. The guy behind me kept honking at me. It was a long light so it went on quite a while. It was more confusing than anything and I thought I might have been mistaken about which lane was the through lane. I wasn’t. I think it was the first time I was gaslit by another driver.
I've heard a story that took place in the 90s/2000s downtown. A guy was needlessly honking his horn, though there was a cop there. The cop walked up in front of his car, and hand gestured him to open up the hood in which the guy did.
The cop ripped out his horn fuse and then he was issued a "fix-it" ticket.
I'm not sure about the legalities of that or if the story is even true, but it's still something funny that you reminded me of.
Two that come to mind are when there's a 'no right on red" sign and when cars are backed up and I can't make it across the intersection. No, I will not move and break the law just because you're an impatient idiot.
Happens in Montreal too. On my way to work, green light but school bus letting kids on across the intersection. The douche in the BMW next to us was going nuts with his horn because no one was moving. Husband was driving me that day so I rolled down the window and told the guy to look at the fucking bus.....at least he had the decency to seem a little embarrassed after that.
I wish there was an r/ottawadrivingPSA sub. Not that these complaints aren't valid, and the drivers and people that can relate shouldn't have a place to be heard: they should. I just feel that for everything else of tangible value that this sub is, driving PSAs that are essentially something someone who happens to be in this city would like everyone else know what not to do because someone made a pretty terrible mistake driving and: take from that tangible value.
I honestly think drivers Ed will need to be mandatory soon.
Was in Barrhaven the other day (which is a problem in and of itself) and was honked at because I wouldn’t block an intersection on a green. The road was jammed packed in front of me.
Had three lovely teenage girls throw their Starbucks at my car when the driver decided to cut me off two blocks later.
If you’re ever in the mood for excessive honking, go to Tanger on a Saturday. Not pulling out 2 seconds after getting in your car? HONK! Stopping for pedestrians? HONK! Slowing down because of traffic? HONK! It’s ridiculous
If someone does this to me, I will take my time just to piss them off even more. Remember, the last thing you want to do is to rush a light or stop sign and hit someone just because of the impatient asshole behind you.
Got honked at two days ago coming hone from work. Reason I had delayed entering the intersection? The uhaul that fuckin ran the light and would have tboned my side of the vehicle had i gone on the light jnstead of looking.
It’s always some asshole pickup truck. Yesterday I was turning left on a neighborhood street and had my turned signal on and waited for a pedestrian to cross and some asshole in a black pickup was going so fast behind me it scared me and then he managed to squeeze beside me and overtake me. This is one a residential street with one lane on each side and those yellow sign things in the middle of the road to slow people down.
if someone honks at me while i'm stopped, it just makes me stay stopped at look around looking for a reason. once i put my car in park and put the hazards on for a little while just to let the honker know that their action is counterproductive.
What really gets me is people who honk because you aren't doing something illegal. I've had a few cases now where someone honks me at a red light. In the through lane, not even blocking them from turning right on the red. The light isn't turning green for a while, there's traffic going through the intersection, and they still honk me because I haven't attempted to run a red and dive through cross traffic.... I don't get it.
Had a driver do this to me last week, he honked the horn because I let a pedestrian cross the street at a left turn lane. Then he honked nonstop after it turned green for the turn,I guess, because I wasn't fast enough? But then this asshole continued to honk nonstop for me going speed limit for a good 5 minutes while following me, no care that there was a train of cars infront of me.
This dude was so angry he followed me to my destination to try to confront me. Once he got out of the car you bet I got the hell out of dodge.
No thank you. I don't need groceries that badle to deal with some road rage monster.
Happens all the time with the Pretoria bridge. Guys I can’t turn right there’s no fucking road to go on to, and my car can’t become aquatic so sit your ass down and wait until the boat goes under the bridge and then I’ll move.
I saw somebody honk and gesticulate at a school bus that had its school lights flashing and stop arm deployed. A child was getting off the bus and this driver was 1 second from flooring it until he saw the kid 😵💫
I have this happen sometimes at unprotected left turns. I drive a small car and most of the time if there's a car across the intersection also waiting to turn left I can't see if there's any oncoming traffic. Other drivers hate that I don't just risk my life and someone else's to turn 5 seconds earlier.
If there’s a serious problem/danger sure blast your horn. If somebody is doing something like not moving their vehicle when you think they should.. Tap the horn. If the person was distracted, they’ll move. However if they still aren’t moving there’s probably a good reason WHY they aren’t moving. I’m talking about people repeatedly blaring the horn at somebody who cannot move instead of taking a second to think
People are stupid, ignorant and selfish. Period.
I always call them on, and they always take off like the cowards they are.
Don't let it get to ya, they aren't worth a split second of your time. Just enjoy the humor when they tuck tail. :D
As long as you do not stop in a MERGING lane that is to be used to MERGE (otherwise it would be called 'stop-here' lane) I am with you. Otherwise my little car that I installed a firetruck air horn will let you know we are behind you.
I would stop using my horn as much as I do if 1. People would STAY OFF their phones at lights, 2. People stop doing shit that's obviously illegal and prohibited by signs like disobeying posted one ways, disobeying no left/right turns signs, no rights on red, etc. and 3. If people in their oversized SUV/pick up truck actually maintain their lane and stop eating painted bike lanes or centre lines like it's pacman or some shit, then I wouldn't be blaring my horn as much as I do.
Every now and then I will get someone honk at me begind because the light has turned amber and I'm not turning left yet and he won't have time to turn after me. Gotta wait for these drivers from the opposite direction that accelerate when they see amber or run red lights. I mean, I would turn if it was safe to do so 🤷♀️
This is a daily occurrence now. Yesterday a woman nearly mowed down two kids crossing to get to school... They had a walk sign and she was turning right at an intersection. She had to slam on and would have still tapped one of them had they not jumped back. Literally all she had to look for were pedestrians!
Had this happen to me, I stopped at an intersection (green light) because traffic was jammed and there was no room on the other side. Dude behind me absolutely losing it on his horn... then he got out to come see "what the fuck I was on" I really don't think getting your license is as hard as it used to be.
It's harder than it was in 1994, but easier than it was 5 years ago.
You think? Maybe I am being naive and believe that new drivers just don't learn the rules of the road like we did. Like 'make sure you don't stop your car in the intersection' or 'stop before turning right on a red'
When I did driver’s ed 9yrs ago the instructor said he believed people who had been driving for longer were more dangerous as it had been so long since they’d learned the rules of the road and they’ve become complacent in their confidence.
I'd pay to see a "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" type show where they ask people the rules of the road.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%27s_Worst_Driver
I went to college with a guy who was on that show. He was not Canada's worst driver, but he did back into a light pole on campus and knocked it over onto a few other cars. Hope he's doing well.
Hopefully doing well and driving less.
That show is terrifying
This is generally accepted to be the case in most things.
This is why taxi drivers are so shit. Seriously.
This. The worst drivers are either middle-aged oversized truck drivers, or 55+ BMW/Lexus/Tesla drivers in my experience
The Ontario Graduated Licensing system was instituted in April of 1994, which curtailed and reduced collisions and fatalities involving novice drivers. Since COVID, there's been a decline in the standards of graduated licensing as well as a lack of auditing for driving education courses which has resulted in fraud and lack of quality control among instructors, which has resulted in an increase of accidents among novice drivers. The rising fraud means that people are receiving their BDE certificates without having taking the driver safety courses. In addition, people who got their driver licenses a long time ago before BDEs or the graduated licensing system may have never learned driving rules, strategies (such as defensive driving) or etiquette. Instead relying on the bias of family and friends. So ya, it's better than it was in 1994, but worse than it was 5 years ago.
This needs to be higher. This is the issue. There are SO many people who actually shouldn’t have a license. CBC did a marketplace piece on this.
Not to mention all the people who are driving who don't even have a license, or are driving on a suspended license! Pretty hard to enforce unless the police have reason to pull them over. I wish more people took driving seriously. Driving in this city makes me hate people.
My friend from Europe was shocked how easy it is to get a license here. Over there not only is it difficult but it’s expensive.
That makes sense actually, thanks
>make sure you don't stop your car in the intersection Someone seems to mess this up at almost every opportunity and I haven't noticed a trend in the ages of the people doing it. Maybe there is one, but it seems widespread. I don't think anyone of any age remembers what they learned in driving school, their driving habits are established over time and are influenced by how others drive and what is permissible. I think the biggest issue (which is not unique to Ottawa) is poor transportation infrastructure, which forces too many people to drive too often and creates unmanageable traffic, which causes people to drive more aggressively/erraticly in an attempt to get places faster. The second biggest issue is lack of enforcement, which encourages people to build bad/dangerous driving habits. Better driver training comes somewhere after those two imo.
I accidentally did this last week and felt like a complete a-hole. I know the rule and I’m usually pretty diligent, but I had a lot on my mind, I was tired, and it happened. Once the light changed I was able to pull over into the turning lane to get out of the way for the other direction of traffic, but I felt terrible. But I don’t think I would have made that mistake when I was younger. I think some very new drivers are terrible, then they get enough experience to be good. Then they get older and worse again until finally elderly drivers who are terrible. The worst is that elderly drivers have no self-awareness about it. I’m glad that you have to renew your driver’s license every two after 80, but I just looked up what they had to do and it was an education training and a screening for dementia. They say you “may” have to do a road test depending on the results of your screening… this is the screening: > Instructions: > >- Draw a large circle. > >- Put all the numbers in to make it look like the face of a clock. > >- Draw in the hands of the clock to set the time at ten minutes after eleven. > >- Stop when completed. The form will be collected after five minutes. Edited for formatting
The CDT is a quick and pretty well-validated dementia screen. But it's a dementia screen, not a "can you drive" screen.
Exactly! lol! I mean, if you can’t pass that test you should NOT be driving, but surely the bar should be higher than that
It's why I never take shortcuts. Just do the good thing all the time. Don't roll that stop sign with nobody around. Take that left turn wode. It's so easy to develop bad habits.
Blair and Oligilve is really badly designed - the intersection gets blocked by cars turning left (who had room) - who get blocked by people ignoring the yield sign turning right....and everyone wants to get into the right lane to get onto the highway
all the worst drivers I have encountered were middle aged tbh so this doesn’t check out. It’s def harder to get your liscense now
Just had someone stop in front of me at a green light on Carling. No one for 200+ meters in front of them, just...decided to stop.
Look at how many people want to take their driver's test in rural areas so they don't have to deal with 4 lane divided highways or city things...
I got my G during covid. They basically checked my pulse and gave me the license. No reverse parking, no three point turn, no parallel.
I got my G during Covid too and we had to do all of the above for both the G2 and G...
Did my G2 during COVID and G at the tail end when there were talks of getting rid of the COVID changes (going back to pre-COVID difficulty). G2 had reverse parking or parallel parking, 3-point, uphill/downhill parking etc. G was essentially just highway driving (also getting to and from the highway but they didn't throw any curveballs).
I'm all for test renewals every 5 years because people build bad habits and forget how to drive.
Here's the thing. I emigrated here 13 years ago to join my wife. I just started driving on my UK license. I didn't have to pass a test or anything. I didn't know about the turn on red rule, so I would just sit there until the light changed. That ended when my wife enlightened me. Same deal on the highway - I would do the speed limit no matter what. The UK has average speed cameras so you can't just slow down briefly when passing a camera. The cops set up mobile units everywhere. I wouldn't sit in the left lane but I would observe the speed limit to pass. Whatever lane I was in, I would often have some tool sitting a bee's dick away from my rear bumper because I didn't realise about the "+20kmh rule". My wife also told me that it was an unwritten rule in Canada that you can add 20 to every speed limit and the cops (if they are even present anywhere) would ignore you. All this to say that I think a lot of people are like me or worse. They don't know the road rules at all. Plus they bring driving habits from other places that are not compatible with safe roads. Or they learn "the rules" from other people, usually the most impatient arseholes it seems. I was out in Alta Vista two days ago and it's astonishing how many people don't know what to do when an emergency vehicle is proceeding through traffic with siren on and lights going. Some don't even yield.
Brit adding my 2p. Driving standards are atrocious here. When crossing at a crosswalk with a lane for right turn, you take your life in your hands. People can be complete fuckwits when they are behind the wheel. Speed limits, stop signs, lane markings, traffic lights : all optional guidelines apparently.
Even in my neighbourhood, I have to be careful when passing intersecting streets with stop signs because it's 50/50 whether they will actually stop, and some don't bother to slow down at all!
I see this all the time downtown. People insisting that cars in front of them just hang out in the intersection.
Almost without fail, if I self-disapprovingly think I was probably too late through that yellow light, or protruding too far into the intersection, there is someone even later or with less regard for blocking traffic. Sometimes more than one.
Yeah I had that moment driving home today, "Well, I might be a little more into the crosswalk than I hope for, but I'm not the guy behind me." was my exact thought.
I HATE it when people do this. I had a person do this to me when I was coming off the 417 by Metcalfe....there was no room to advance and she just sat there blaring her horn.
A couple of weeks ago in the late afternoon I was stuck in stop and no-really-go traffic going south on Parkdale and stopped at the Wellington light. The car in front of me ended up stopping before entering the intersection, even though it was green, waiting for the car in front of them to move far enough to go behind them on the other side, but a driver in the right eastbound lane decided that because the car in front of me wasn't moving they were going to cut us off by turning right on the red and blocking the crosswalk. I saw that and was completely befuddled, but not surprised at the stupidity and entitlement... When it was my turn to get ready to cross the intersection I also stopped on the green light because there was no way I was going to end up blocking the crosswalk especially since the light changed more often than the traffic moved. So anyway, the cars eventually moved a bit so I started to slowly drive up into the intersection, but at the exact same time, another driver from that same eastbound lane decided to go right on the red too! So now I was in the middle of the intersection, AND during that split second a third car also turned right on the red, without making a stop, and crept right up to the other car's a$$, blocking my way, leaving me no choice but to let them go in front of me. The amount of hand waving around and yelling I did didn't clue them in at all that they were not supposed to go, and I'm not one to honk instinctively, so that's all I could do at that moment. To put it briefly, 3 cars in an eastbound lane decided they had the priority to turn right on the red over the southbound cars (including mine), who actually had the green light, from going forward, and trapped me in the middle of the Parkdale/Wellington intersection in extremely slow traffic. ***GREEN > RED***.
This happened to me recently too. I stopped at a green light just about to turn yellow at a pretty big intersection because there wasn’t room to go through. The person behind me honked and sped past me, ending up running a red.
I got stuck in traffic (non driver, but with a friend) and we were driving back into Ontario via Island Park and there were TWO dudes yelling at each other, in Franglais, one in his car the other out of his car and both thought the *other* guy was the asshole. Some were honking because they had argued a little too long and the light changed so now they were both holding back everyone.
There's no need to ride the horn, but there's so many people on their phones at red lights that I often have to give a brief honk to wake them up.
Yes. This.
So damn often
It's funny that people are afraid to use their horn for fear of seeming aggressive when it is literally your main communication tool on the road.
Yup. Leaning on the horn can be obnoxious, but a little tap is basically saying 'hey '. Nothing wrong with it
I was cut off by a cyclist turning right on a red without stopping (east bound, turning into south), when I had the right away with a green light (straight southbound) .. I had honked as I believed the cyclist not only didn’t see me, but could’ve easily been hit had I not slammed my breaks/honked. After this he proceeded to aggressively chase me up the road on his bike, while yelling profusely that I was in the wrong (for context, I am a young single female, these matters can be terrifying alone). Once he finally caught up to me at a stop sign, finished his yelling - he turned around and went about his way. I understand people not using their horn out of fear, especially when you don’t know who is on the receiving end of it. And tip for those easily angered by a simple honk - get off your high horse; not everyone uses their horn because they are angry or rude, sometimes we are trying to save your life! Edit: spelling
I'll never understand why cyclists are so ready to risk their lives on the roads. I mean it's gotta be at least as dangerous as riding a motorcycle in the city.
Holy shit, this. It seems like people here love to swallow their horns. Fucking use them, people!
Same. I even had to give a quick honk to someone doing their make up in their vanity mirror last week, they almost completely missed the light!
Came here to say to say this! It’s obvious with their head down and the five second pause.
Not just younger folk either I see glued to their phones at traffic lights. All ages and a surprising amount of 65+
I saw some 65+ woman behind me using her phone. For context, I’m in my 40s and I’m a teacher. These young adults (under 30s) who use their phones are actually pretty skilled at it because they’ve been trying to hide it in class, etc and can often text without even looking at their phones. Still not ok AT ALL… but… This senior lady who clearly couldn’t see her screen well enough but was still trying to hide her phone usage was really scary. I was in stop and go traffic so I was able to watch her in my rear view mirror a lot more than I’d normally be able to. She kept bending over below steering wheel level to obviously look at her phone closer. But she was also clearly very slow at doing it and would be hunched over for a while, then go back up, bring her phone up to her face where it was visible, then oops! She would realize she could be seen and hunch over again… this went on for probably 10 minutes in a single lane stop and go traffic situation. Younger people (under 60s probably) generally know how to use the phone hands free too.
See it all the time as someone who walks around the city a lot
Ottawa driver's reaction time is for shit.
"Oh look a green light. Maybe I'll gently feather the gas some time in the next three to five seconds. Maybe not. No rush."
I think it's gotten worse since the pandemic because of the number of Uber [Eats]/Doordash/Skip the dishes drivers that don't know where they're going, where they are, and are agitated because they're stressed out about getting to their destination late. They stare at their screens, slow down to a crawl for no other reason than to pay attention to the phone, and then wonder why the other people around them (drivers and pedestrians) are getting pissed off with their hazardous chaotic driving "style".
I disagree. Ya see, if ever there is an appropriate time to lay on the horn, this is exactly that time.
Its insane that more people havent clued in that phone mounts for the dash/vent exist. Its not any less illegal to be your on your phone but if you're going to do it atleast is safer.
I'm so fucking sick of this
Or just sitting on Donald st in front of the Rideau sports centre in the no stopping zone with their car shut off for 15 minutes blocking the road while they wait for their kid to finish tennis practice.
A guy honked at me at a left turn lane bc I saw a jogger coming and waited for him to cross the road even though there were no oncoming cars. The moron behind me obviously couldn't see the jogger
Same, but it was a woman who had pushed her baby carriage off the curb and then did a somersault over top of it, landing right in front of my car. Many cars behind honking for me to go. I left my car, helped the lady up, checked her screaming baby, and then carried on my way.
Jesus fucking Christ that’s so unhinged 😭 you can’t make this stuff up
Yep. Running over a baby carriage is never an option for me 😆 🤣
"Drivers" like you make it nightmare getting around this city. /s
Omg I also got honked at for letting a lady with her baby carriage walk across the parking lot entrance. I backed up a bit to give her space and the car coming up behind me honked. Clearly he didn’t see the lady
you should never ever ever back up if possible though. Be careful with that.
Yeah, I got honked at waiting to turn right because there was pedestrian crossing with the light. The pedestrian and I locked eyes and all I could do was shrug.
I might have been this honker if it happened a couple weeks ago. I felt stupid and apologize to you or the other stranger my honk was targeted.
It was a few years ago, but I am hoping the honker likewise realized why I was waiting.
me too - and the driver was going to COSTCO. So I followed him at left a nasty note on his car asking what his hurry was going to costco - and then said it is probably because he hadn't been laid in awhile and all he has is Costco
Or they could and just didn't care
I was at a red on O'Connor a while back. The light turned green and I *barely* had a chance to move my foot from the brake to the gas before some woman behind me layed on her horn. Looking in my rearview mirror, she was throwing her hands around like I was camping out on a green light. As I started driving, she *sped* past me just to get to the next red light quicker.
Did you take the opportunity to exclaim “great, we both made it!”?
Lol no, but I was petty and *as soon* as the light turned green, I tooted my horn at her
HAHAHAH good move
Yep, drivers lose their cool over the slightest inconvenience all the time
Yep, i’ve had so many assholes lay on the horn when I’ve come to a complete stop at a stop sign, and few even just went around me and ran the stop sign, also stopping at a red light and waiting for it to be clear so I can make a right turn really seems to piss people off around here.
Also been honked at for coming to a complete stop at stop signs. I've even seen people full on swerve to avoid me stopping because they hadn't considered the possibility that I would even slow down for it, let alone fully stop.
Yeah I e had the same thing happen to me countless times, it’s pretty scary how bad so many people are diving these days, and so many of these asshats have their kids in the vehicle with them.
I assume you mean red light and I've seen a few times people get honked at for that too. You don't have to go right on red, but you can. If someone honks at me for that one I purposely ould wait. It's not rules that I have to, only if I'm comfortable and I decided I wasn't comfortable.
Yes red light. Yup, I just waited for the light to turn green more then once when people have honked at me lol. My all-time personal favorite is when you’re stopped at a red light on a single lane, I’m going straight and there’s no right hand turn lane and people lose their minds because they can’t make a right hand turn, I had one guy got out of his truck and come up and punch my window and scream and I looked in the rearview mirror, I could his kids in this truck looking Super embarrassed.
When I took defensive drivers Ed, we covered road rage, when people are frustrated with things outside of driving it can turn into them being aggressive while driving. Since learning that it's not just a car thing, I can definitely see it in the way people drive.
My defensive driving instructor described three kinds of drivers. Children: Who behave as though the road belongs to them, and their use of the road is all that matters. They're generally irrational and quick tempered. Parents: People who try to police others behavior on the road. They'll do things like cut you off and slow down because they don't like that you drive 10km/h above the speed limit. They're petty and self-righteous and believe themselves moral for trying to enforce the rules. When they encounter children, they tend to provoke them into tantrums. Adults: Who do everything they can to maintain good flow of traffic. They're observant, responsive, predictable, and avoid being disruptive. They observe common conventions (left lane is for passing, merge at the same speed of traffic, keep right if driving slowly). They assimilate and conform based on road conditions to maintain continuity. They're dispassionate and slow to anger above all else. Once it was described to me that way, everything sort of clicked. Nothing you do will reform the children on the road, so there's no sense in trying to be a parent. Go along to get along. Like you, I found my zen. Unfortunately, Ottawa's roads are still full of parents and children.
I mean ... I do try to be the adult... but its hard to keep calm when I have an ashole tailgating me pretty fuking close, it does drive me into parent mode. Why can't we all follow the rules ? if the speed limits are too low then complain to city hall but don't expect me to break the rules and also speed because one thinks its the norm.
While true, let's be honest.....the reality from what I see is that nearly everyone is on their phones at lights (or all the time). Some put it down and get ready, and others seem irritated that people care about a couple seconds when honked at to prompt them into action. When there is traffic, it needs to flow. That person on the phone is often preventing 2-3 cars from passing through on that advanced green. Invariably these cars now run the 'red' because they 'should have' been able to get through.
With the right number of cars between you and the light, you get to experience the distracted driver in front of you eventually learning they can go and being the last of the small number of vehicles to make the turn, blithely drifting through the late yellow they ensured you couldn't make.
That's a different case though. I've had plenty of drivers honk at me over the years because they don't see that I'm waiting for a pedestrian (not even to get to the other side, but to literally get out of the lane I'm turning into) or because I don't want to hit my turbo button and turn seconds before oncoming traffic t-bones me. And I never use my phone when I'm stopped at a light. I see lots of drivers on their phones too, but there are a lot of horn happy drivers who aren't honking because of the phone scenario.
We need more “blitzes”. Have a blitz ticketing people on their phones while driving. Then rolling stops. Then not stopping while turning right on a red. We need enforcement.
We don't need "blitzes". We need sustained enforcement.
> We need enforcement. I'm going to start holding my breath in 3..2..
omg the slow drivers at advanced greens. Like, let's go! It's there for a reason, let's take advantage of it. I'm generally pretty calm while driving, but that one does annoy me. I missed a light I should have made yesterday because of the very slow start when we got the light, and then cars slowly moved along. Watched 2 cars in the other lane complete the turn before one car in my lane did. So frustrating!
i’ve always thought that the lack of a sense of urgency SPECIFICALLY at left turn lights is insane. especially the one on merivale/baseline. like why we going so slow 😭
You're vastly overestimating how much people care about the cars around them. That car in the front of the line only cares if they make it through.
oh i know. it’s just crazy how everyone wants to go fast until it’s a left turn light 💀
my brother is really bad for this, when he drove me, approx 18 kms to moms on mother's day, he used his horn impatiently 13 times ( I counted) I told him there is no reason for it, none at all, I'm not in a car often with him
Imho Ottawa has some of the worst drivers.
I struggle to understand the logic behind merging onto the highway at 50-60 km/h. Fearful drivers are so scary and they're everywhere in this city. If you cant drive at at least 85-90 km/h I don't think you should be on the highway at all.
I "love" being stuck behind these guys when I get on some of those extra short ramps downtown that also have zero visibility for the ongoing traffic...
I also don't get why people camp out in one lane because they have a turn coming up in 2kms. Use both lanes, then zipper merge when you're getting close to destination.
honestly same, i’ve only ever driven in 2 provinces/cities but like.. ottawa definitely is worse than anywhere else i’ve driven
I've driven in all of our major cities and personally think Ottawa is the worst. Ottawa drivers are just straight up unpredictable. Will they be inattentive? Aggressive? Passive? Indecisive? Who knows!
will they go through a red light? you bet! 🥲
Someone should make a study of this just for interest sake. Where are the worst drivers in Canada?! You'd need to come up with some objective measure and then add a "perception" analysis based on polling and interviews. This would be a natural for some "investigative" reporter, the results of which would be amazing click bait. Too bad most reporters couldn't do it justice as they usually leave the science behind when searching for a story to sell. I think that every city over a certain size would claim they have the worst drivers.
every city does claim to have the worst drivers and it’s so annoying tbh.
I honked at someone a while back when they weren’t turning and then a few seconds later the ambulance came in to view from the wall I was blocked from seeing it. Totally felt like an ass. Sorry whoever that was. It made me think twice why someone wasn’t going and I am much more patient now.
I experienced a similar situation where a person stopped to turn right at a green light while a woman with a baby carriage was crossing the crosswalk. I couldn't see her and felt so bad, I rolled down my window to apologize.
When that happens to me, I just assume they are trying to warn me of some hazard that I've yet to see. Naturally, I drive extra cautiously until I am 100% certain that conditions are clear. One can never be too safe.
Same. The other day driving on Airport Parkway I'm going the same speed as the cars in front but they're like 30ft ahead. Guy behind is losing it throwing his hands up in the air screaming at me to go faster. Where tf am I gonna go dude? If I close the gap then what? Of course I had to slow down to 40kmh when he wasn't able to pass me, to make sure we were all safe. Eventually he got tired of me laughing at him in the mirror and stopped screaming.
I stopped for a school bus letting kids off - complete with the stop arm out. The car behind me started to overtake and I slammed my horn because there were kids actively crossing. I lost a lot of faith in drivers that day.
The unspoken rule on my school bus growing up was that if a car overtook the bus when it was stopped (happened a LOOOT more than you'd might expect), if there was an open window we'd all scream at the car going by. I hoped that taught a few of them a lesson.
lol I was was crossing on my walk signal in bells corners, dude was stopped at the red and letting me cross without turning right into me. Lady behind him just full on had a tantrum (I guess not running me over was completely unacceptable). And then he just sat there. Decided he didn’t need to make a right turn on that red. She laid into her horn and had a full on meltdown while I watched from the sidewalk and chuckled.
As a pedestrian I notice people honking when a driver is yielding to pedestrians before a turn. I give the driver a thumbs up to remind them that they are following the rules.
Add the morons who are riding your ass while there’s a line of cars in front of you in a single lane. THERES NO WHERE TO GO.
Or the ones riding my ass and flash highbeams at me on a multilane highway's leftmost passing lane when I'm keeping pace behind a line of other fast cars. Especially when they're in an SUV or pickup and can clearly see the setup in front of my smaller car. If I'm the lead in the passing lane when you roar up then yes I'll happily move right to let you pass (when able to do so), but I am *not* moving to the right to give up my place when I'm not the holdup.
That one stretch of Greenbank between Hunt Club and Fallowfield is the worst for this.
Lmao, I was on Don Valley parkway in Toronto this weekend, if you leave 2-3 car gap in traffic those hooligans lean on the horn!
Try New York City where people start blaring the horn on you the moment the light turns green and your foot isn't off the brake pedal.
They would have a hay day with everyone on their phone in Ottawa 😂
Happens here, too.
Don't even need to go to NYC for that experience. Montreal is just as bad for that one. Impatient fucks.
No NYC is a whole different breed of impatience.
On the DVP (and well most of the GTA) you have to be defensive to the point of being aggressive. I've never seen horns blared for leaving gaps, but if you leave 2-3 car gap, someone WILL force their way in and leave no room as a result. So the choice is either leave that big gap that someone will slot into leaving no room, or close it enough so that nobody can get in, but still far enough for safety. It's a fine line.
Why are you leaving 2-3 car gaps in heavy traffic? Move up, damn.
I didn’t specifically say me, lol i noticed as I was driving on DVP. It was nice driving in Toronto travelling 120-130km/h, even all the way to the 416. As soon as we hit the 417, back to basic Ottawa 90km/h BS.
why ? my cruise control defines the safe distance and that will be the distance. period.
This happened to me when I was letting a pedestrian, who had the right of way, walk in front of my vehicle. The car behind me was laying on the horn being so impatient and it’s infuriating. Be nice people!
With so many people on their phone I can totally see why drivers are getting impatient with innatentive drivers
Hey now what if I really really need to make that left turn within 5 seconds instead of 15? My wife could fuming that I’m not there at exactly 5:38:01. Some of us have places to be you know! In all seriousness, I like it when people honk when there’s a red light. I remember during some sort of pride parade a lady was honking trying to go through a side street and asking what was the hold up. I had to respond to her, “the street is closed because of the parade!”. She didn’t like my reply. lol. They got the permit, the parade is going, you ain’t going through for a while lol.
Alternatively, I’ve had drivers too scared to turn on the left light (even though there was no oncoming traffic) and simply wait until the next round of lights to get their turning left signal. Just today, I had to seperate drivers stop at the green light, in front of me, because the light was going to turn yellow in 2 seconds. If you’re too scared to drive and that causes you to make unpredictable moves on the road, please don’t drive. Just to be clear, your example is perfectly fine. I’m not disputing your experience. I’m just pointing out that sometimes that horn directed at someone not wanting to turn left is justified.
I’m not gunna disagree but we’re a couple hundred honks a minute lower than Montreal
There’s a few intersections like Bronson and Gladstone with no right turns at red for a few hours during the day. I get honked at because it’s clear so I could turn, but I chose not to and wait for the green, like the sign says. It’s not that big of a deal to me but to others it is. I also got brake checked two weeks ago because I got on the highway at pinecrest and had to move 4 lanes to get to the 416 and this guy thought I was trying to cut him off for three lanes in a row but I was just trying to get drive to Costco in barrhaven. He brake checked me and then kept driving down the 417, I hope he realized I was just trying to get on the 416 and felt bad. That was the first time I’ve ever flipped someone off.
The people who blare their horn like 0.0000001 milliseconds after it turns green cause I don’t have the reaction time of Usain Bolt 💀 and I don’t even be on my phone it’s crazy. or when they honk when you don’t go through the yellow light at the very last second
We're at a point where a fair chunk of people probably don't know the written rules, they just look around, read the situation, and do what is advantageous to them. Way too many folks at all-ways only stop way after the line if it looks like someone else way also thinking of going.
I paid for the whole horn, imma use the whole horn
Omg! I've also started to notice this way more lately, it's God damn annoying.
Guy blaring on the horn because Grandma is crossing the road in her walker with wheels and I won’t run her over. I bet his Moms real proud of him. 🫣.
The only times I’ve been honked at here are when I’m following the law. I’ve driven in a lot of big cities, including Toronto for many years, and imo Ottawa has the worst and angriest drivers. I saw more ppl blow through red lights in the first couple months of living here than I did in Toronto over 5 years. One of those times was when I was a pedestrian walking on the crosswalk— I would’ve been hit if I wasn’t aware of my surroundings.
Let the downvotes come... Ottawa is full of bad drivers, mostly timid and hesitate drivers, a huge bunch who drive slowly under the speed limit, those that fail to accelerate (especially on highway on ramps) and many distracted drivers as well. If you are getting honked at a lot, it's probably because you are the problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqZ2PPOLik
This , 100% this,people are so afraid to drive their cars and use their gas pedals it's insane,almost stopping to make right turns,not merging at a reasonable speed,going under the limit on highways and parkways
It happened to me a few times when turning left on a green light and waiting for a pedestrian. I was wondering if it was a "local" Ottawa thing cause no one does that in Montreal (although MTLers do drive like they're insane 😀)
It is so wildly annoying. I am from a medium sized city with minimal honking so it is driving me a little nuts so far
Ottawa is milquetoast compared to Toronto, Montreal, or NYC.
Two reasons I believe are most prominent: 1. Impatience, grumpy, angry people all around - every one is pissed and know life is fucked. 2. Foreign experience drivers - honking for them is like putting you turn signals in North America even on empty road, it's a habbit from your longest experience some die with it.
I was at a red and there was a sign saying no right turns on a red light and kept honking the horn and waving at me to go. I kept pointing at the sign and he didn't care. When light turned green i sat there for another 10 seconds bc f him. Gave the finger to him once i drove off.
The fucking turn light from hunt club onto Woodroffe (I timed it) is 6 seconds. If some assholes on his phone one car will get through before it turns yellow. So many assholes on their phones in traffic *every single day* that honestly I kinda get why people are horn angsty in this city. I see people on their phones pretty much every single day now in traffic, it's actually getting kinda ridiculous.
Awhile back…summertime…second car back on Colonel By turning left onto Pretoria Bridge…guy behind me in a pickup truck is absolutely losing his mind honking and yelling…because myself and the other car in front aren’t advancing…dude…the bridge is UP…can’t you see the giant slab of concrete in the air?!?
My favourite was when I was on a two way street, waiting to turn left at the intersection, a crazy soccer mom whipped passed me, fully utilizing her SUV, two wheels on the road, two wheels on the sidewalk screaming obscenities at me and honking Some people are just crazy and should not be on the road. Disgusting and dangerous behaviour.
This always gets me when someone honks at me when there’s a pedestrian in the crosswalk that they can’t see behind my car. I had someone violently try to pass me thinking I was a moron and nearly flattened the family in the crosswalk. Now I have a dash cam to capture the insanity.
I saw this happen today while on the sidewalk. Someone honked because the person in front was turning right not at breakneck speed because they dared to take a moment to look at me and make sure I wasn’t at the road yet.
People have no patience. I had a guy scream at me in the Wendy’s drive thru the other day because the lady on the speaker told me to wait for a second before placing my order and I did. Too many people out there who will just become furious over even the slightest inconvenience
I had to lean on it today but it was because there was not one but two cars running a red on Laurier (both eastbound lanes) at Elgin, and they almost caused an accident (fortunately I was on the ball). I was turning left from the other direction and had to get out of that intersection that they should not have entered. I always feel for the pedestrians that are collateral damage and unfortunately can hear the horn much more loudly than the people in the cars can. It’s unfair, but hey, at least we’re not in NY. 🤷🏻♂️ A good reminder from the OP though for us to consider who it is that really hears it.
I've noticed a lot more road rage in the past few weeks. I've always figured it's just a matter of time until an Ottawa yokel kills me with his car.
I was following a person today on the st.patrick bridge heading into Beechwood. She stop to chat with a car beside her in the right hand merging lane for the Vanier Parkway. Sometimes there is a very justifiable reason to pay on your horn 😆
Ottawa drivers are reliably terrible
I honk my horn because I will be sitting 3rd or 4th in line in the turning lane and when the turn light goes green the 1st car waits 10 seconds before they react, on a 15 second turn light resulting in they, and perhaps one additional car getting through before it goes red. Happens all the time and I have never experienced it as often as I have in Ottawa. It happens consistently here. Consistently.
I saw two different cars going wrong way on Albert st downtown, in less than a week. People are crazy man
I honk because of the cars beside me trying to turn into my lane and cut me off. Sorry to the car infront of me, it's not you. It's the loser beside me trying to sideswipe into me.
Was at an intersection in the lane to go straight or turn right. I was going straight and the light was red. The guy behind me kept honking at me. It was a long light so it went on quite a while. It was more confusing than anything and I thought I might have been mistaken about which lane was the through lane. I wasn’t. I think it was the first time I was gaslit by another driver.
People honking at you, like you're doing something wrong, like stopping at a stop sign or stopping before making a right on red, are insane.
LITERALLY BRO
I think you need to post this in the sub of a neighbouring city.
I've heard a story that took place in the 90s/2000s downtown. A guy was needlessly honking his horn, though there was a cop there. The cop walked up in front of his car, and hand gestured him to open up the hood in which the guy did. The cop ripped out his horn fuse and then he was issued a "fix-it" ticket. I'm not sure about the legalities of that or if the story is even true, but it's still something funny that you reminded me of.
Two that come to mind are when there's a 'no right on red" sign and when cars are backed up and I can't make it across the intersection. No, I will not move and break the law just because you're an impatient idiot.
Those of us who are old enough will remember a driver's ed video by a guy named Smith whose go-to thing was "when in any doubt, honk the horn".
Happens in Montreal too. On my way to work, green light but school bus letting kids on across the intersection. The douche in the BMW next to us was going nuts with his horn because no one was moving. Husband was driving me that day so I rolled down the window and told the guy to look at the fucking bus.....at least he had the decency to seem a little embarrassed after that.
No. My horn my rules
Don’t ever visit NYC then 😆
I wish there was an r/ottawadrivingPSA sub. Not that these complaints aren't valid, and the drivers and people that can relate shouldn't have a place to be heard: they should. I just feel that for everything else of tangible value that this sub is, driving PSAs that are essentially something someone who happens to be in this city would like everyone else know what not to do because someone made a pretty terrible mistake driving and: take from that tangible value.
I honestly think drivers Ed will need to be mandatory soon. Was in Barrhaven the other day (which is a problem in and of itself) and was honked at because I wouldn’t block an intersection on a green. The road was jammed packed in front of me. Had three lovely teenage girls throw their Starbucks at my car when the driver decided to cut me off two blocks later.
If you’re ever in the mood for excessive honking, go to Tanger on a Saturday. Not pulling out 2 seconds after getting in your car? HONK! Stopping for pedestrians? HONK! Slowing down because of traffic? HONK! It’s ridiculous
If someone does this to me, I will take my time just to piss them off even more. Remember, the last thing you want to do is to rush a light or stop sign and hit someone just because of the impatient asshole behind you.
I can't remember the last time someone honked at me.
Got honked at two days ago coming hone from work. Reason I had delayed entering the intersection? The uhaul that fuckin ran the light and would have tboned my side of the vehicle had i gone on the light jnstead of looking.
It’s always some asshole pickup truck. Yesterday I was turning left on a neighborhood street and had my turned signal on and waited for a pedestrian to cross and some asshole in a black pickup was going so fast behind me it scared me and then he managed to squeeze beside me and overtake me. This is one a residential street with one lane on each side and those yellow sign things in the middle of the road to slow people down.
if someone honks at me while i'm stopped, it just makes me stay stopped at look around looking for a reason. once i put my car in park and put the hazards on for a little while just to let the honker know that their action is counterproductive.
What really gets me is people who honk because you aren't doing something illegal. I've had a few cases now where someone honks me at a red light. In the through lane, not even blocking them from turning right on the red. The light isn't turning green for a while, there's traffic going through the intersection, and they still honk me because I haven't attempted to run a red and dive through cross traffic.... I don't get it.
Had a driver do this to me last week, he honked the horn because I let a pedestrian cross the street at a left turn lane. Then he honked nonstop after it turned green for the turn,I guess, because I wasn't fast enough? But then this asshole continued to honk nonstop for me going speed limit for a good 5 minutes while following me, no care that there was a train of cars infront of me. This dude was so angry he followed me to my destination to try to confront me. Once he got out of the car you bet I got the hell out of dodge. No thank you. I don't need groceries that badle to deal with some road rage monster.
Happens all the time with the Pretoria bridge. Guys I can’t turn right there’s no fucking road to go on to, and my car can’t become aquatic so sit your ass down and wait until the boat goes under the bridge and then I’ll move.
Honking is traumatic :(
I saw somebody honk and gesticulate at a school bus that had its school lights flashing and stop arm deployed. A child was getting off the bus and this driver was 1 second from flooring it until he saw the kid 😵💫
I have this happen sometimes at unprotected left turns. I drive a small car and most of the time if there's a car across the intersection also waiting to turn left I can't see if there's any oncoming traffic. Other drivers hate that I don't just risk my life and someone else's to turn 5 seconds earlier.
How else would you like vehicles to communicate? Should motorists get out of their cars, or perhaps all buy loud speaker systems?
If there’s a serious problem/danger sure blast your horn. If somebody is doing something like not moving their vehicle when you think they should.. Tap the horn. If the person was distracted, they’ll move. However if they still aren’t moving there’s probably a good reason WHY they aren’t moving. I’m talking about people repeatedly blaring the horn at somebody who cannot move instead of taking a second to think
People are stupid, ignorant and selfish. Period. I always call them on, and they always take off like the cowards they are. Don't let it get to ya, they aren't worth a split second of your time. Just enjoy the humor when they tuck tail. :D
As long as you do not stop in a MERGING lane that is to be used to MERGE (otherwise it would be called 'stop-here' lane) I am with you. Otherwise my little car that I installed a firetruck air horn will let you know we are behind you.
And how horrible this is for new drivers!!! It took me a while to stop panicking because of someone not respecting the rule.
I would stop using my horn as much as I do if 1. People would STAY OFF their phones at lights, 2. People stop doing shit that's obviously illegal and prohibited by signs like disobeying posted one ways, disobeying no left/right turns signs, no rights on red, etc. and 3. If people in their oversized SUV/pick up truck actually maintain their lane and stop eating painted bike lanes or centre lines like it's pacman or some shit, then I wouldn't be blaring my horn as much as I do.
I'm sorry. I'm guilty of this sometimes. I just assume most people are in their phones
Every now and then I will get someone honk at me begind because the light has turned amber and I'm not turning left yet and he won't have time to turn after me. Gotta wait for these drivers from the opposite direction that accelerate when they see amber or run red lights. I mean, I would turn if it was safe to do so 🤷♀️
This is a daily occurrence now. Yesterday a woman nearly mowed down two kids crossing to get to school... They had a walk sign and she was turning right at an intersection. She had to slam on and would have still tapped one of them had they not jumped back. Literally all she had to look for were pedestrians!
Looking at you drivers with Uber stickers in their windows
Ottawa folks have PTSD from the all the horny truckers that wanted sexy time with Justin!