Dear Nova Scotia, you have the worst drivers on the planet. Here are some basic tips to help you stop sucking so bad at driving:
1.) When traffic is backed-up up at rush hour…pay attention! Do not block the intersection with your car, preventing any flow of traffic. If you can’t pay attention when driving, hire a chauffer.
2.) Right lane = slow. Left lane = pass/fast. Do not ride in the left lane unless you’re going fast, or passing people (and passing does not constitute crawling past another vehicle at 3km over the speed limit).
3.) When passing a highway merge on the right…move over! Do not continue in the right lane, with no-one else around you, blocking vehicles from merging into traffic.
4.) Stop at crosswalks, stop signs, and lights…not in the middle of the road! I know you think you’re being nice by letting that pedestrian, cyclist, etc cross the street but you’re really being dangerous. Eventually you’ll cause an accident that may damage a vehicle or kill someone.
5.) When you see that your lane is ending ahead (because of construction or whatever)…change lanes now! Do not wait until the last possible moment, when you’re squished between the traffic in the open lane and the pylons, to force your way into traffic.
and while I’m at it…
Dear Nova Scotia, you have the worst traffic system on the planet. Here are some basic tips to stop your traffic system from sucking so bad:
1.) Stop trying to make two lanes into three (or three into four). Adding more lines on the street does not physically increase the size of the street itself.
2.) Stop adding a second lane within the last 20 feet of an intersection that continues with one lane on the other side. This doesn’t help; it just creates confusion about who has the right-of-way once they cross that intersection.
3.) Stop with all the goddamn arrows! People should be smart enough to figure out which way to turn and which lane to be in for themselves. You have the worst drivers in the world, so obviously this arrow tactic isn’t working. Knock it off.
4.) Parking lanes and traffic lanes should not be combined…ever.
5.) At a 4-way intersection, designating the left lane as “left turn and straight only” and the right lane as “right turn only” is brainless. You’re forcing anyone travelling through the intersection to wait behind every…single…vehicle that’s turning left…against oncoming traffic.
Thanks.
—New Resident
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2009.
I love the tag!
seriously, though, I don’t think that NS drivers are any worse than any other city in Canada or the US that I’ve visited.
And seriously, no more arrows? idiot.
Dear New Resident
It must have been great where you use to livehow about you move back to where you came from. Problem solved for all of us.
3.) When passing a highway merge on the right…move over! Do not continue in the right lane, with no-one else around you, blocking vehicles from merging into traffic.
^This is a courtesy, you are in no way obligated to switch lanes because the people coming off a ramp don’t know how to properly yield. If you went to driving school you’d know this.
4.) Parking lanes and traffic lanes should not be combined…ever.
^Yeah so lets just bulldoze all the businesses on Quinpool to make it wide enough for you to be pleased.
2.) Stop adding a second lane within the last 20 feet of an intersection that continues with one lane on the other side. This doesn’t help; it just creates confusion about who has the right-of-way once they cross that intersection.
^If they didn’t do that people would be trying to merge/change lanes while moving through the intersection (illegal)
I’d keep going because almost everything you mention has a perfectly reasonable explanation, but I don’t feel like wasting anymore time no this shitty post.
Haha….no arrows? I wish we didn’t have them when you’re new ass came rolling into town, and we’d see how many accidents you got into :P. But yeah, show me this land where you come from where everyone drives amazing and automatically knows when a lane is a right or left turn only…
I personally think Moncton is much worse.
ok, we do suck at driving (well, not me but roughly about half the drivers I see every time I leave the driveway) but I don’t think it’s because of the lines, arrows, or designated lanes…. it’s because of texters, callers, influx of inexperienced drivers throughout the city twice a year… and people not knowing how to use their fucking turn signals or blatantly breaking the law because said law inconveniences them at that point in time.
I’m talking to you u-turners at connaught and jubilee….
Also, to the point of “Right lane = slow. Left lane = pass/fast”. This may be true on the 100 series highways, but it is not necessarily true on city streets with multiple lanes. If I am in the left lane to either make an eventual left turn or to take a certain exit, then suck it up Princess. I usually drive about 5-10 km/hr over the speed limit and if you’re self entitled ass can’t stomach that then I suggest you stay home.
As someone who has spent quite a bit of time driving in Los Angeles, I can say when I returned home to NS and got behind the wheel I felt like I was driving in go karts with a bunch of 9 year olds. Our traffic design and the skill level of our ( rapidly ageing…dont get me started! ) drivers needs a bit of polish. People here are not as aggressive but that certainly doesn’t facilitate traffic flow. If i see one more elderly driver merging his Buick onto a highway going 65km/h when the rest of the traffic flow is going 100km/h I am going to scream.
Whether you people want to hear it or not, it needed to be said.
Oh yea Scotians drive terribly – like coming onto the 100 series off ramps and instead of speeding up to merge traffic – the hammer the brakes and wait for a ten mile hole to get in . But ……… compared to scotian drivers – fucking calgary tops it – really really tops it – they don’t have accidents – they have four hundred car pile ups and worst haha. Not to sound racist – i’m not but theres so many newly immigrated people here that come from places where you drive by the seat of your pants and laws don’t exist – never mind rules – that they just drive however and whereever . I actually kinda know what to expect from my home peoples driving and am totally used to our fuck ups – around calgary – its anyones quess !!! Really noo lie – they have collisions with parked cards at a random rate on clear dry streets – imagine the deerfoot a 5 pm !!!!
Point 4 really resonates with me.
Why is it that so many Haligonians feel the need to stop in the middle of the road and wave a pedestrian across? At a crosswalk, fine. But I’m talking about any old place. Half the time if I’m out walking if I even glance in the direction of the road I have all these numb-nuts slamming on their brakes trying to wave me across!
Pedestrians should cross at crosswalks and intersections only. Period. Stopping to let them across in any other place is dangerous for the driver (getting rear-ended by a following car)- but especially dangerous for the pedestrian as they risk getting mowed down by someone in the opposite lane who wouldn’t be expecting a pedestrian to be crossing there.
If I choose to Jaywalk I will bide my time and wait for a break in the traffic – please dont stop and try and wave me across when I’m standing on the curb, half the time I’m not even wanting to cross! Drivers; you worry about driving, I’ll get myself where I want to walk…
“Right lane = slow. Left lane = pass/fast”. This may be true, but the “fast” lane isn’t the “driving over the speed limit” lane. I speed but I realize that I’m in no way entitled to – if someone’s ahead of me and going the speed limit I have to admit that it’s totally reasonable of them and I should be doing the same. Get over yourself. If you’re in such a hurry maybe you should have left earlier!
NEW RESIDENT,
WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU FROM?
I JUST RETURNED FROM TORONTO AND THEY DRIVE FAR WORSE THERE.
YOU MUST BE ONE OF THOSE HIGH AND MIGHTY WESTNERS OR FROM SOME OTHER COUNTRY………………
IF YOUR NEW TO HALIFAX AND DON’T LIKE IT..GO BACK WHERE EVER THE FUCK YOU CAME FROM…ASSHOLE
I FUCKIN HATE PEOPLE THAT MOVE HERE AND FEEL THE NEED TO RUN EVERYTHING DOWN, AND EVERYONE THAT IS PROUD TO BE A NOVA SCOTIAN.
OH AND ANOTHER NOTE
WATCH CANADA’S WORST DRIVER ON T.V.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN A DRIVER FROM NOVA SCOTIA ON THERE, THEY’RE ALL FROM ONT. AND WEST.
Nice one slick !!! True to that !!
I spend all day every day driving around the HRM, and parts beyond, in one of those big white vans with ladders on top. There’s a big 1-800-RAT U OUT phone number on the side, so I pretty much have to follow all the rules, otherwise my boss will hear about it. I have to say my only problem with most of the drivers these days is that so many think the rules don’t apply to them. A woman came flying through a 3-way stop today (almost taking the front of my van off) and turns around to give ME dirty looks, like it was my fault or something, and as tempted as I was to give her the one-finger salute I knew she’d rat me out. Just because I’m driving a big white van does not automatically give everyone else the right-of-way. I know everyone hates the big white vans, and truckers in general, but we are a necessary evil, so deal with it. There is this concept called the ‘2 second rule’; when you watch the vehicle in front you pass some roadside object, you should be able to count 2 full seconds before you pass the same object, and this applies to all speeds (obviously faster speeds mean a greater distance between you and the car in front). This rule always gives you the required human reaction time and the distance to safely stop, unless the weather is shit, in which case you should be even further back. I don’t care how good of a driver you think you are – if you aren’t observing the 2-second rule, you’re tailgating. No exceptions. Now something specifically for the person who thinks all us Nova Scotians are shitty drivers . . . .
That upside-down red and white triangle means YIELD – not merge. Almost every highway on-ramp in this province is a YIELD. Merge signs are yellow, and the symbols on them are quite clear, so learn the fucking difference before you kill someone.
i have the worst road rage thanks to shitty Nova Scotian drivers……. fucking rage.
I just got home from India, and there are no rules there.
Want to drive in the wrong direction? Sure!
4 people on one scooter? Fill your boots!
I figured out the Indian car horn system, 1 short beep means:
I am passing you on the left/right,
slowing down,
speeding up,
swerving ,
merging,
turning,
stopping,
happy to see you,
mistaken the horn for my cel,
fallen asleep.
One long beep means you are about to die.
ah patient… you had to watch that shitty movie in the defensive driving course as well?
“one person driving the legal limit and not passing anyone…
one person driving the legal limit and passing in places only where it is legal to do so….
each drove for 1000 km and do you know what? the second person only arrived 5 minutes faster than the first person. obviously it doesn’t make much of a difference when travelling if you are in a rush to pass or not”
well that’s all fine and dandy in a perfect world, but what about the person who speeds up faster than the limit to pass? even if they only use passing lanes, they’re gonna be a fuck of a lot faster than the idiot who is following the granny for 100km because he can’t pass anywhere ‘completely legally’.
try driving on the autobahn then,asshole.
Try driving in Paris where there ARE rules but no one follows them and they are not enforced and everyone fucking drives wherever they want….
I hate people going in and out lanes on the MacDonald Bridge when the signs state clearly “Stay in Lane “
“”Do not ride in the left lane unless you’re going fast, or passing people “”
“”When passing a highway merge on the right…move over! Do not continue in the right lane, with no-one else around you, blocking vehicles from merging into traffic.
make up your mind…
To say that Halifax drivers are the worst drivers on the planet is to admit that you haven’t visited much of it…
Matthew…I saw an article in National Geographic about this new “golden quadralateral” highway in India, and the carnage was incredible…although apparently still an improvement over the old roads where swerving to miss a cow kills hundreds every year…
Very true Frosty. I just visited Orlando, and I swear over half the drivers there blindly change lanes every 30 seconds. The people who complain about Halifax traffic obviously haven’t been around much.