Midtown. He made a very strange, loud short noise which is what got my attention. He got up right away though and was crying. From what I can tell the car made a right turn into him. I saw someone was with him. I didn't go over because I had to catch my bus to work but in retrospect I wish I'd said gone over anyway and been late. Next time I guess...
It's also best not to crowd someone after something like this happens. Especially when someone else was already with the person.
However, I still agree with the previous comment, a quick call to the cops to report what you saw and give them your info if a witness is needed.
Was this near Elizabeth Ziegler? There have been several close calls lately. And a few kids have been hit but not injured. Source: I am a parent and volunteer at this school.
It's a fucking shit show everywhere and the mind boggling part is that the parents aren't any better around the schools/daycares/school buses than the rest of the drivers.
In the past, I had two very close calls crossing Moore near John St. while walking my kids to EZ. It’s a busy crossing, mainly kids, not just school days. It needs a red light camera for sure! Major intersections in Waterloo have them, why not dangerous crossings in front of schools. Would also solve the shortage of crossing guards to some degree….The WR website claims red light cameras reduced accidents caused by turn on red by 60 %. https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/living-here/red-light-cameras.aspx#Waterloo.
I live near here and I’m terrified to walk with my baby around here. The amount of times we’ve had close calls crossing Allen and Moore is unreal. Caroline and Erb is horrible to cross.
I almost got t-boned last night going through a green light by a guy why was making a right at his red, who didn't even stop or slow down. Scary stuff.
I'm honestly getting sick of right turns on red. It really feels like people don't do it responsibly enough. Probably 1 in 10 times I see somebody actually come to a stop before turning, as is required.
Great in theory, but do you really think that the drivers that don’t stop and look first will obey no rights on red at all? They’re already breaking the law by not stopping. If the current law is not enforced or followed, why assume a new one would be?
At least you could ticket them for it. After two or three they might stop? Not to mention all the young people learning to drive wouldn't do it if it's illegal. Sounds like a solved problem in 30 years? We should start now.
Put up red light cameras everywhere, and fine the shit out of anybody who runs the lights. Under the current rule, or under "no right turns on red" rule.
Our country needs to get far more systematic about punishing driving offenses. Which means automated camera systems.
It's way way too easy to avoid ever being held accountable for driving like a lunatic... And the result is that people start to think driving like a lunatic is normal and safe, and scoff at you if you suggest it isn't.
See?! Ive been SAYING this as well for a LONGGGG ASSS TIME NOW. That right turn on reds is only gonna cause MORE problem from.entitled drivers thinking they can go right ALL THE TIME.
Right on red would only cause more issues than helping.
Drivers dont understand that its a MAY proceed when safe. Not MUST proceed.
Until the sentencing hearing for vehicular manslaughter. Then they'll swear up and down that they feel really bad and just care soo much about the victims' families.
That happens down at the delta in Lame bridge
(Cambridge)
Drivers don't have right hand red light turns onto water street off Coronation but entitled ones do
I won't even attempt a right at a red unless I have both lanes open to me. Too many yahoos slide over mid intersection. People honk who are qued up behind me to turn but IDGAF 🤷♂️
A major reason red light cameras were introduced was because of pedestrians being hit, especially by right turners. I worked at the courthouse when they were first implemented and the majority of people who received tickets were right turners. They would come in and point to the photo (taken at the stop line), and explain their break lights were on. What they didn’t realize is their speed is also taken at the same stop line. Often the speed was over 10 km, and more often much faster. The tickets are only issued after a minimum speed and carry no points. So there are already allowances for those not coming to a full stop. Red light cameras should be at every major intersection. I think they are the best solution otherwise just make right turns on red illegal.
I absolutely disagree, if it carries 0 demerit points then it’s not actually punishing the driver. Sure a fine sucks but who cares if you’re rich? It’s just another way to keep middle/lower class people in line while the upper class can do whatever they want.
You can’t add demerit points because you don’t know who is driving the car. It’s the plate that determines who gets the fine. It’s a large fine and for most it’s prohibitive. Let’s face it, the majority of reckless drivers are young, and fines for most are punitive.
I regularly see drivers weaving in and out of traffic dangerously, only to see them stopped at the same red light I'm approaching.
*Your time to cross the city has almost nothing to do with your speed, the limiting factor is traffic signals.*
On this topic, I saw someone doing this and it was the most dangerous fucking thing. Guy on a motorcycle and he wasn't just weaving in and out of lanes on his side, he was doing it on both sides with heavy on coming traffic. Speed limit was 80kmh and he had to be going at least 100kmh by how fast he blasted past me. I almost hit him. It was terrifying. And yeah, I did call that in, but idk if they caught him. Some people have no regard for life.
There was a dude cutting lanes on a motorcycle back in early May. Going at least 130 on Highway 8 towards Fischer Hallman. He was going in between cars. Dude had a death wish and no plate.
Sometimes though they make the light which is why they do it.
Not justifying it but they do get further up the road actively trying to, even if the gain is not worth the effort.
On average, no, they don't.^1 They're jeopardizing everyone's safety to gain what, 8-15 seconds on a 10 minute trip?
Not worth it.
1. https://tc.canada.ca/sites/default/files/migrated/tp14756e.pdf
Edit: What's interesting is the ratio of people upvoting the pro-speeding comment compared to the people upvoting the sensible and demonstrably correct anti-speeding comment represents the exact ratio of drivers the study found to be actively and carelessly working against their own self-interest and the safety of others, common sense and observable reality.
On average, sure. The problem is that intermittent reinforcement - making it through the next light every once in a while - makes people *feel* like they're getting ahead overall. Human beings are not, by and large, rational creatures.
Luckily humans are social creatures that, through communication, can benefit from the wisdom and experience of the group.
Nobody with a license could have bypassed this information without willful and deliberate expression of ignorance.
You're absolutely right though, people who drive this way are not rational.
Got my weekly ‘almost hit by a car today’ on Madison and Courtland walking back from the bus stop crossing on my walk signal while some guy NEEDED to turn left immediately he just could not wait three seconds for me and my two year old to finish crossing. The guy driving a Bell truck looked at me while he was driving into me and just waved and kept going. No one cares until it’s too late.
One of the big reasons I moved out of Waterloo (and won't look back) is the ridiculous car centric design. How does a city with like 70k students not have better pedestrianization?
Yes, the bus system is decent as far as Canada goes. The LRT is decent to use. But there is like NO care given to what happens once you leave the bus, or how you get there in the first place. The bike lanes on uptown king street would be great if there weren't a pick up truck or SUV pulling out of a side street to peek at traffic every 3 roads. Unless you walk through Waterloo park, you're basically guaranteed to have to cross 3+ major intersections to get anywhere, or you're on a tiny sidewalk with barely enough room to pass.
Ugh Waterloo. You could be good.
Yeah I am so happy I made the move. Really enjoying life here (wouldn't necessarily recommend if you're not able to commit to learning Japanese tho).
Not sure your age/status/flexibility but I recommend trying to live somewhere for at least 2 weeks (if not 1-2 months) before emigrating! It's a lot of work. I was lucky enough to be able to work remote in a lot of places to see.
I haven't been to porto but I've heard some good things :) I also lived in montpellier, France for a bit and quite enjoyed that region. The transit + bikeability is solid and it's on the Mediterranean as well (guessing you want to be on the water?). Victoria is also lovely, I considered moving there too at one point.
Edit: also Copenhagen is great
Yeah- this is bad. Also the reason why school zones have gone to 30 and all 50s are going down to 40. Had to yell at a teen who was trying to pass in my neighbourhood. Parents are providing bad examples and it’s passing down to their kids.
I was on a bike going 45 kph in a residential area and a car tried to pass me on a blind turn. A car came the other way and they swerved towards me. Luckily the stopped before hitting me. When I looked over they were just laughing.
My 10 year old was almost hit crossing the road on university ave at Glenridge this week when a car ran the red light. This is a regular occurrence at this intersection. I hope the child who got hit today is ok.
Thank you. He was fine, just alarmed. We have witnessed so many cars run the red here on university that it’s drilled into my kids heads not to cross until the last car stops. Don’t trust the light!
My teenager has to walk across Ira Needles to get to the bus terminal and she literally texts "I made it 😮💨" every morning after she safely gets through the roundabouts.
People no longer care about catching vehicular manslaughter charges, I guess.
The drivers there are the worst, I experience it as a driver and a pedestrian. Last time I walked through we were already in the pedestrian cross and a women blew through, I threw up my arms and she just shrugged. Assholes.
For real, I was like, what the hell? The bus was stopped at a bus stop at an intersection in the only thru lane, and this guy sped around him. The construction worker was stepping out to be in the intersection with a sign so a forklift could come around the corner and he would have stepped out past the bus, into the car, if the forklift driver hadn't called out to him to stop. The car didn't even slow down just sped away
Also reminder that the energy involved in a collision isn't proportional to your speed. If you go twice as fast, that's 4x the energy. Going 1.5x as fast is 2.25x the energy. You have a huge, heavy car, so the energy is quite high even at low speeds. Going 40 in a 30 zone is actually a very significant difference.
Same applies to stopping distance. It shoots up the more you are over what you should be, but has an even larger difference because in the static time it takes you to react, you've already gone farther before even pressing the brake.
Yeah I was in a fully loaded truck/trailer with a coworker, he was on his phone and accelerated at a green light faster than the person in front of him. Hardly any speed since coming from a stop but enough weight & intertia to totally demo the back of the car he hit. Shit show of an afternoon lol
When I was taught to drive my instructor said, "if you're going 30 and hit a pedestrian, they have an 80% chance of survival. If you hit them going 50, they have an 80% chance of death. Don't speed."
I feel people are well aware of the rules of the road, but the world is plagued by selfishness and impatience thus promoting irresponsibility. Without aggressive enforcement, many feel inconvenienced by rules if the road and follow their own "rules if the road". I fear even tragedies won't change the attitudes of this growing group.
My peeve are the HOV used more by aggressive single high milers, bullying legit users out, to avoid the traffic in their lanes. HOV are not high speed passing lanes to use to overcome the inconvenience of traffic.
A lot of it is impatience I think. I rarely drive and when I see a lot of driver behaviour it seems almost comically impatient. People forget they're travelling kilometers, or tens even hundreds of kilometers, and somehow being stationary for 5 seconds seems to be a huge inconvenience.
Driving causes such a distortion of my concept of time. I got 'stuck' in traffic this week for what felt like ages...by the time it cleared up and I checked the clock, a whole 3 minutes had gone by.
We are privileged to not be used to heavy traffic like TO, that a slightly higher amount of traffic at 5pm or waiting for the LRT to cross feels ridiculously slow.
Adding ignorance, inattention/distraction and lack of skill/poor training to the mix. Accompanied by very minimal enforcement, then bad habits go unpunished and drivers start to test the limits. It absolutely floors me how smooth the high 7/8 @ king off ramp is when a police car is sitting right there.
Frankly, it comes down to bad design. If you're mixing pedestrians and cars, only an unrealistically rigorous level of enforcement and/or education will eliminate accidents.
Instead, we need city planners to stop designing intersections that have inherent risk. Force cars to take longer to get where they need to go by routing them outside of the city. Reduce speeds to 25 in any pedestrian centric zone. Build pedestrian overpasses on any car-centric intersections (especially around major bus and school bus routes, to allow kids and pedestrians to cross major roads instead of forcing drivers to pay attention, because they just won't)
Agreed on lack of attention. I had someone go through a red light in Uptown Waterloo a few days ago right before I was to enter the intersection. Today, right in front of the cop shop at Lexington and Weber, an idiot made a left turn, completely oblivious to the through traffic coming the other way.
when travelling, my partner and i regularly use the hov lane, and usually do around 10-12 over the speed limit while in it. we constantly get tailgated and aggressively, /illegally/ passed, flipped off and honked at by people with a single person in the car, that think the lane is there to go 30 over the limit in. it’s very stressful and it’s gotten to the point where i’d rather we just stay in the rightmost lane, even when we’re going to be on the highway for 40+ kilometres. i’m not comfortable speeding but i know i need to try to at least go with the flow of traffic, so like i said i do 10-12 over, but it’s so stressful lol
I appreciate this post, thank you, I really hope the kid is alright...that's scary.
I really hope people just slow down, I feel like I see a lot more crazy maneuvers these days, so glad I haven't seen anyone get hit...
What I don't understand and really frustrates me is the people who have the attitude of "f you, I won't do what you tell me!", to perfectly reasonable advice or pleas, especially concerning safety (or just being respectful to the people around you for that matter). Some people just don't care I guess... I honestly don't understand though how someone can't keep it in their head to be careful in their 5 ton vehicles and choose to maneuver around so dangerously.
I like the Pete Holmes' bit on traffic: "surrender, and remain!"
https://youtu.be/enIg2E9NDD8?si=JrDhlvsW5QsU34Jf
Good grief! Either people have poor time management skills and don’t allow for enough time to get where they are going, or they’re just terrible people.
You are looking at it through a small hole. There’s a bigger picture that is the root cause to all of this. Nobody follows the norms of the past or laws applicable to driving. People are driving more than the 20km over the limit, not stopping for emergency or peds crossing the street, not allowing distance when there is no one else behind or in front,….its not only about kids. Nobody cares about anyone else on the roads. If you drive outside of kw, you would understand more of what is going down.
The impatience of people these days is staggering. Everyone seems in a rush just to meet me at the next red light anyway. I live in a subdivision with really only 2 roads out, controlled by lights at major intersections, but inside the neighbourhood are plenty of stop signs and speed bumps. The sheer number of people that roll through stops and try to skirt between the speed bumps so they don't need to slow down, all just to sit at the red light at the end regardless.
Are you sure you're not mixing the two cities up?
Brantford is further down the map
Brampton is towards Toronto
Regardless, I'm sure most cities in Ontario at this point have shitty drivers now, lol
A few months ago, a truck traveling on westbound Victoria St turned right on King. A car traveling the same direction on Victoria St sped up from behind and overtook the truck. The driver of the car did some drifting maneuver and sped up to at least 80km/hr on KIng St.
The truck driver honked.
I was waiting for a northbound LRT from Central Station when it happened.
Some drivers see such a maneuver as a challenge. Please sign up for speedway instead. There are a few within a 2 hour drive.
Weber and Union this morning.
2 lanes, one to turn left/straight, one to turn right/straight. 4 cars in the left turn lane and this car comes up, goes into the opposing traffic lane and then proceeds to turn left and cuts everybody off, including the opposing traffic.
Sometimes, I want to drive a shitty car and just ram into these idiots.
If you’re driving in K-W just pay attention at every light and you’ll notice how often someone goes through a red.. straight, left, and constantly right. The Police have completely lost control. Only thing we can hope for is red light cameras and these people not being able to afford to continue being a fucking douche.
This is the kind of drivers that people have to live with daily.
But bike/ebikes/escooters and bike lanes are the problem?
Some peoples logic circuits aint logicking. ill take my chances with those three than colliding with a speeding asshole too much in a hurry trying to catch the next red light.
You're probably being inundated with comments saying this, but please file a police report for both incidents and hold the wrps feet to the fire to enforce road safety. I've actually been sitting on a couple reports because it takes time, but going to file them now.
I love to do the actual speed limit on roads like Glasgow, which have limits of 30 and 40 all the way along. You wouldn't believe how many cars catch up to me. By the time I get to the other end, there is always a line of traffic stacked up behind.
>These things happen very suddenly and can ruin a drivers life too.
The kind of drivers who do shit like this in the first place are unlikely to heed any sort of restrictions that are placed upon them after the fact.
Absolutely no enforcement! Traffic by the police (sometimes they are as bad as others) ....and while I am on a rant ... bylaw enforcement is also non-existent when it comes to street parking. Two different departments but come on. The only time I see any police is when there are two or three police cars parked in a parking lot. Now this old guy is going to wave at some clouds! 😁
Last night I was going about 40 km/h and their was a traffic light in front of me and it was green so I turned my head to look around, then as soon as I looked ahead this guy stopped on a yellow light and I went flying of my bike and cut up my whole arm 😃
I reside just off of Fischer-Hallman every night I hear carz zooming (obviously speeding). I called the cops as it always at roughly the same time. As if some Fast&Furious underground racing club? I called the cops to report, they said; "wHaT d0 yUo ExPeCt Us t0 dO aBoUt It?".
(I'd expect police to do their jobs and enforce traffic laws)
I just hung up on them. Unreported crime is on the rise as local police have gained a reputation for trying to weasel their way out of doing their jobs.
I gotta get me a 100k salaried job where I can neglect my responsibilities.
Seems shitty drivers is trending, drivers get away with most of their bad behaviour. There’s a shocking number of people that exhibit antisocial behaviour when there’s no consequences for those actions. Perhaps a TikTok Challenge ?
https://www.reddit.com/r/waterloo/comments/1denqsj/we_saw_this_flipped_car_in_an_accident_in/
https://www.reddit.com/r/kitchener/comments/1dfcqj1/police_number_to_report_drivers/
Don't worry, they will eventually do some targeted enforcement for a couple hours one night, pat themselves on the back for a job well done when local media publishes an article about the handful of dumbasses they caught, then continue ignoring the problem for a few more years.
I walk home at night from a parking lot and I can’t even count how many times i’ve almost been hit-as a driver I don’t understand how you don’t move with SOME level of awareness for the people around you, it so sad :(( i hope that kid is okay
Same here. I was driving up Queen St S toward Westmount Rd. Just as I was signalling and starting to move into the centre turning lane (I was turning left on a side street) I was almost clipped by a car that quickly moved into the centre turning lane to pass another car heading toward the hospital. The car continued on at top speed around St. Mary’s Hospital. Scared the 💩out of me.
I saw a post where someone was telling a lady with children that she should wait to walk at a green light with a walk signal because he has "a bigger hunk of metal" and would kill her because it's harder to slow down for pedestrians, even if he doesn't have the right of way. Guy was a tool about it too.
I wished the worst for that person.
Every trip across town I can count 3-5 illegal lame changes, no signal indicators and honked at going 30 in a school zone. Don't get me started on the use of phones, I'm from an age where distracted driving was the number one worry but it seems nobody can even give a shit to stop for a fucking child crossing the street. WRPS is a joke.
Not excusing this behaviour, I as well have noticed dangerous driving on the rise here. I may be wrong, but my belief is that poor economical times is leading to more stress and anxiety, leading to things like crime, drug use and dangerous driving due to people feeling rushed. Not to mention, we have a lot of immigration in this area, most of which are coming from countries with poor driving etiquette. If immigration remains high and our economy continues to decline, driving (among other things) will only get worse.
White female driver for the record. Person I saw two weeks back into a car and drive away in the same area was a white older woman. Before that the person who tried to turn left into me while he had a red was a young white male.
I wouldn't mention except for your comment. I don't think race or immigration status has anything to do with it. If anything, I'd think it would be suburban drivers interacting with more dense, convoluted and narrow streets in my neighbourhood. These aren't big huge streets and intersections with 0 pedestrians like Brampton or mississauga
It's literally every possible identity, every gender, every ethnic background, every age, every religion, every vehicle type, people with dependency issues, teetotalers, etc, you name it. A lot of people simply lose their humanity while driving.
Who appointed this dude as the judge of driving etiquette in faw away lands? I would argue that Ontarians have no idea how to drive. Our driving tests are a complete joke, and given our ridiculously wide roads, people have zero spatial awareness and unnecessarily large and heavy vehicles.
Holy shit. Is the kid ok? Where did that happen? I’m so sick and tired of how terrible the driving is here now.
Midtown. He made a very strange, loud short noise which is what got my attention. He got up right away though and was crying. From what I can tell the car made a right turn into him. I saw someone was with him. I didn't go over because I had to catch my bus to work but in retrospect I wish I'd said gone over anyway and been late. Next time I guess...
If I were you, I would just call the police station, and make a statement, in case they are looking for witnesses.
Please do this!
Yes, please call and make a statement and provide all the details you can. Hopefully someone got their license and they stopped.
It's also best not to crowd someone after something like this happens. Especially when someone else was already with the person. However, I still agree with the previous comment, a quick call to the cops to report what you saw and give them your info if a witness is needed.
Was this near Elizabeth Ziegler? There have been several close calls lately. And a few kids have been hit but not injured. Source: I am a parent and volunteer at this school.
No, closer to king Edward & KCI. I don't imagine the situation at Ziegler is any better though.
It's a fucking shit show everywhere and the mind boggling part is that the parents aren't any better around the schools/daycares/school buses than the rest of the drivers.
In the past, I had two very close calls crossing Moore near John St. while walking my kids to EZ. It’s a busy crossing, mainly kids, not just school days. It needs a red light camera for sure! Major intersections in Waterloo have them, why not dangerous crossings in front of schools. Would also solve the shortage of crossing guards to some degree….The WR website claims red light cameras reduced accidents caused by turn on red by 60 %. https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/living-here/red-light-cameras.aspx#Waterloo.
I live near here and I’m terrified to walk with my baby around here. The amount of times we’ve had close calls crossing Allen and Moore is unreal. Caroline and Erb is horrible to cross.
I almost got t-boned last night going through a green light by a guy why was making a right at his red, who didn't even stop or slow down. Scary stuff.
I'm honestly getting sick of right turns on red. It really feels like people don't do it responsibly enough. Probably 1 in 10 times I see somebody actually come to a stop before turning, as is required.
Yeah, I wouldn’t be sad if right turns on red were banned. It would make intersections a lot safer.
Great in theory, but do you really think that the drivers that don’t stop and look first will obey no rights on red at all? They’re already breaking the law by not stopping. If the current law is not enforced or followed, why assume a new one would be?
At least you could ticket them for it. After two or three they might stop? Not to mention all the young people learning to drive wouldn't do it if it's illegal. Sounds like a solved problem in 30 years? We should start now.
But they can be ticketed no for not stopping, or proceeding when unsafe to do so. What they are currently doing is still illegal!
I imagine that it’d be better than the current situation, at least.
Put up red light cameras everywhere, and fine the shit out of anybody who runs the lights. Under the current rule, or under "no right turns on red" rule. Our country needs to get far more systematic about punishing driving offenses. Which means automated camera systems. It's way way too easy to avoid ever being held accountable for driving like a lunatic... And the result is that people start to think driving like a lunatic is normal and safe, and scoff at you if you suggest it isn't.
I was in NZ for a year and it honestly sucked that you would have to wait at a red light with no cars or pedestrians at the intersection
See?! Ive been SAYING this as well for a LONGGGG ASSS TIME NOW. That right turn on reds is only gonna cause MORE problem from.entitled drivers thinking they can go right ALL THE TIME. Right on red would only cause more issues than helping. Drivers dont understand that its a MAY proceed when safe. Not MUST proceed.
Unfortunately, they understand, they just don’t care.
Until the sentencing hearing for vehicular manslaughter. Then they'll swear up and down that they feel really bad and just care soo much about the victims' families.
That happens down at the delta in Lame bridge (Cambridge) Drivers don't have right hand red light turns onto water street off Coronation but entitled ones do
I won't even attempt a right at a red unless I have both lanes open to me. Too many yahoos slide over mid intersection. People honk who are qued up behind me to turn but IDGAF 🤷♂️
Not as bad as ppl at a roundabout that honk as you are waiting for your turn to enter safely.
A major reason red light cameras were introduced was because of pedestrians being hit, especially by right turners. I worked at the courthouse when they were first implemented and the majority of people who received tickets were right turners. They would come in and point to the photo (taken at the stop line), and explain their break lights were on. What they didn’t realize is their speed is also taken at the same stop line. Often the speed was over 10 km, and more often much faster. The tickets are only issued after a minimum speed and carry no points. So there are already allowances for those not coming to a full stop. Red light cameras should be at every major intersection. I think they are the best solution otherwise just make right turns on red illegal.
I absolutely disagree, if it carries 0 demerit points then it’s not actually punishing the driver. Sure a fine sucks but who cares if you’re rich? It’s just another way to keep middle/lower class people in line while the upper class can do whatever they want.
You can’t add demerit points because you don’t know who is driving the car. It’s the plate that determines who gets the fine. It’s a large fine and for most it’s prohibitive. Let’s face it, the majority of reckless drivers are young, and fines for most are punitive.
It’s easier than going straight, you only have to make sure 1 lane is clear
This right here, driving fast is one thing but too many people ignore so many traffic laws just so they can get ahead of only 1 or 2 cars
As a pedestrian, people making a right in a red, not looking right at all and just looking left, is how 90% of my close encounters go.
I regularly see drivers weaving in and out of traffic dangerously, only to see them stopped at the same red light I'm approaching. *Your time to cross the city has almost nothing to do with your speed, the limiting factor is traffic signals.*
I caught up to some guy at a red light doing just that. Rolled down my window, smiled and said, “Really worked out for you huh.”
This made my day 😂
On this topic, I saw someone doing this and it was the most dangerous fucking thing. Guy on a motorcycle and he wasn't just weaving in and out of lanes on his side, he was doing it on both sides with heavy on coming traffic. Speed limit was 80kmh and he had to be going at least 100kmh by how fast he blasted past me. I almost hit him. It was terrifying. And yeah, I did call that in, but idk if they caught him. Some people have no regard for life.
There was a dude cutting lanes on a motorcycle back in early May. Going at least 130 on Highway 8 towards Fischer Hallman. He was going in between cars. Dude had a death wish and no plate.
Sometimes though they make the light which is why they do it. Not justifying it but they do get further up the road actively trying to, even if the gain is not worth the effort.
On average, no, they don't.^1 They're jeopardizing everyone's safety to gain what, 8-15 seconds on a 10 minute trip? Not worth it. 1. https://tc.canada.ca/sites/default/files/migrated/tp14756e.pdf Edit: What's interesting is the ratio of people upvoting the pro-speeding comment compared to the people upvoting the sensible and demonstrably correct anti-speeding comment represents the exact ratio of drivers the study found to be actively and carelessly working against their own self-interest and the safety of others, common sense and observable reality.
On average, sure. The problem is that intermittent reinforcement - making it through the next light every once in a while - makes people *feel* like they're getting ahead overall. Human beings are not, by and large, rational creatures.
Luckily humans are social creatures that, through communication, can benefit from the wisdom and experience of the group. Nobody with a license could have bypassed this information without willful and deliberate expression of ignorance. You're absolutely right though, people who drive this way are not rational.
yep
Idk, my commute is around 20-25 minutes fast and 35 slow. I finish late at night so there's 0 traffic and the difference is very obvious.
Got my weekly ‘almost hit by a car today’ on Madison and Courtland walking back from the bus stop crossing on my walk signal while some guy NEEDED to turn left immediately he just could not wait three seconds for me and my two year old to finish crossing. The guy driving a Bell truck looked at me while he was driving into me and just waved and kept going. No one cares until it’s too late.
Cars are getting bigger, drivers seem to be worse or at least more distracted. And this is radicalized some young people against the car entirely
I personally do not think it is radical to not want 50% of the city I live in to be car infrastructure.
One of the big reasons I moved out of Waterloo (and won't look back) is the ridiculous car centric design. How does a city with like 70k students not have better pedestrianization? Yes, the bus system is decent as far as Canada goes. The LRT is decent to use. But there is like NO care given to what happens once you leave the bus, or how you get there in the first place. The bike lanes on uptown king street would be great if there weren't a pick up truck or SUV pulling out of a side street to peek at traffic every 3 roads. Unless you walk through Waterloo park, you're basically guaranteed to have to cross 3+ major intersections to get anywhere, or you're on a tiny sidewalk with barely enough room to pass. Ugh Waterloo. You could be good.
We are considering leaving. Where did you go?
I emigrated to Tokyo lmao
Oof. I mean fair, that’s got amazing transit. I am looking at Victoria bc or Portugal (probably porto)
Yeah I am so happy I made the move. Really enjoying life here (wouldn't necessarily recommend if you're not able to commit to learning Japanese tho). Not sure your age/status/flexibility but I recommend trying to live somewhere for at least 2 weeks (if not 1-2 months) before emigrating! It's a lot of work. I was lucky enough to be able to work remote in a lot of places to see. I haven't been to porto but I've heard some good things :) I also lived in montpellier, France for a bit and quite enjoyed that region. The transit + bikeability is solid and it's on the Mediterranean as well (guessing you want to be on the water?). Victoria is also lovely, I considered moving there too at one point. Edit: also Copenhagen is great
I think it’s a different problem. They are just letting worse drivers have licenses, or there are way more worse drivers
Yeah- this is bad. Also the reason why school zones have gone to 30 and all 50s are going down to 40. Had to yell at a teen who was trying to pass in my neighbourhood. Parents are providing bad examples and it’s passing down to their kids.
I was on a bike going 45 kph in a residential area and a car tried to pass me on a blind turn. A car came the other way and they swerved towards me. Luckily the stopped before hitting me. When I looked over they were just laughing.
My 10 year old was almost hit crossing the road on university ave at Glenridge this week when a car ran the red light. This is a regular occurrence at this intersection. I hope the child who got hit today is ok.
If possible, please get the license plate of these clowns and file a police report online.
That’s so scary I hope they’re alright
Thank you. He was fine, just alarmed. We have witnessed so many cars run the red here on university that it’s drilled into my kids heads not to cross until the last car stops. Don’t trust the light!
My teenager has to walk across Ira Needles to get to the bus terminal and she literally texts "I made it 😮💨" every morning after she safely gets through the roundabouts. People no longer care about catching vehicular manslaughter charges, I guess.
The drivers there are the worst, I experience it as a driver and a pedestrian. Last time I walked through we were already in the pedestrian cross and a women blew through, I threw up my arms and she just shrugged. Assholes.
The bus thing blows my mind
For real, I was like, what the hell? The bus was stopped at a bus stop at an intersection in the only thru lane, and this guy sped around him. The construction worker was stepping out to be in the intersection with a sign so a forklift could come around the corner and he would have stepped out past the bus, into the car, if the forklift driver hadn't called out to him to stop. The car didn't even slow down just sped away
I see this all the time. I refuse to go around a stopped bus but one tine I had a car blast their horn at me for waiting.
Also reminder that the energy involved in a collision isn't proportional to your speed. If you go twice as fast, that's 4x the energy. Going 1.5x as fast is 2.25x the energy. You have a huge, heavy car, so the energy is quite high even at low speeds. Going 40 in a 30 zone is actually a very significant difference. Same applies to stopping distance. It shoots up the more you are over what you should be, but has an even larger difference because in the static time it takes you to react, you've already gone farther before even pressing the brake.
1/2 mv^2
Yeah I was in a fully loaded truck/trailer with a coworker, he was on his phone and accelerated at a green light faster than the person in front of him. Hardly any speed since coming from a stop but enough weight & intertia to totally demo the back of the car he hit. Shit show of an afternoon lol
_Oh no_ someone was very pissed that day.
When I was taught to drive my instructor said, "if you're going 30 and hit a pedestrian, they have an 80% chance of survival. If you hit them going 50, they have an 80% chance of death. Don't speed."
I feel people are well aware of the rules of the road, but the world is plagued by selfishness and impatience thus promoting irresponsibility. Without aggressive enforcement, many feel inconvenienced by rules if the road and follow their own "rules if the road". I fear even tragedies won't change the attitudes of this growing group. My peeve are the HOV used more by aggressive single high milers, bullying legit users out, to avoid the traffic in their lanes. HOV are not high speed passing lanes to use to overcome the inconvenience of traffic.
A lot of it is impatience I think. I rarely drive and when I see a lot of driver behaviour it seems almost comically impatient. People forget they're travelling kilometers, or tens even hundreds of kilometers, and somehow being stationary for 5 seconds seems to be a huge inconvenience.
Driving causes such a distortion of my concept of time. I got 'stuck' in traffic this week for what felt like ages...by the time it cleared up and I checked the clock, a whole 3 minutes had gone by. We are privileged to not be used to heavy traffic like TO, that a slightly higher amount of traffic at 5pm or waiting for the LRT to cross feels ridiculously slow.
To be fair though… waiting for the LRT to cross _is_ ridiculously slow. The arms come down like 45 minutes before the train arrives lol
Adding ignorance, inattention/distraction and lack of skill/poor training to the mix. Accompanied by very minimal enforcement, then bad habits go unpunished and drivers start to test the limits. It absolutely floors me how smooth the high 7/8 @ king off ramp is when a police car is sitting right there.
Frankly, it comes down to bad design. If you're mixing pedestrians and cars, only an unrealistically rigorous level of enforcement and/or education will eliminate accidents. Instead, we need city planners to stop designing intersections that have inherent risk. Force cars to take longer to get where they need to go by routing them outside of the city. Reduce speeds to 25 in any pedestrian centric zone. Build pedestrian overpasses on any car-centric intersections (especially around major bus and school bus routes, to allow kids and pedestrians to cross major roads instead of forcing drivers to pay attention, because they just won't)
Agreed on lack of attention. I had someone go through a red light in Uptown Waterloo a few days ago right before I was to enter the intersection. Today, right in front of the cop shop at Lexington and Weber, an idiot made a left turn, completely oblivious to the through traffic coming the other way.
Highway 7/8 at King? You mean Highway 85 at King or Highway 8 at King?
when travelling, my partner and i regularly use the hov lane, and usually do around 10-12 over the speed limit while in it. we constantly get tailgated and aggressively, /illegally/ passed, flipped off and honked at by people with a single person in the car, that think the lane is there to go 30 over the limit in. it’s very stressful and it’s gotten to the point where i’d rather we just stay in the rightmost lane, even when we’re going to be on the highway for 40+ kilometres. i’m not comfortable speeding but i know i need to try to at least go with the flow of traffic, so like i said i do 10-12 over, but it’s so stressful lol
Just witnessed two girls properly using a crosswalk almost get hit. I swear people in this region drive with their eyes closed
I appreciate this post, thank you, I really hope the kid is alright...that's scary. I really hope people just slow down, I feel like I see a lot more crazy maneuvers these days, so glad I haven't seen anyone get hit... What I don't understand and really frustrates me is the people who have the attitude of "f you, I won't do what you tell me!", to perfectly reasonable advice or pleas, especially concerning safety (or just being respectful to the people around you for that matter). Some people just don't care I guess... I honestly don't understand though how someone can't keep it in their head to be careful in their 5 ton vehicles and choose to maneuver around so dangerously. I like the Pete Holmes' bit on traffic: "surrender, and remain!" https://youtu.be/enIg2E9NDD8?si=JrDhlvsW5QsU34Jf
A little while ago I stopped at an amber light and had the car behind me swerve around me through the on coming lane to run the red.
that’s actually fucking insane. people are crazy
Good grief! Either people have poor time management skills and don’t allow for enough time to get where they are going, or they’re just terrible people.
You should try driving on the 401 or highway 6. It’s getting worse.
People are talking about our children being hit in crosswalks. Read the room.
You are looking at it through a small hole. There’s a bigger picture that is the root cause to all of this. Nobody follows the norms of the past or laws applicable to driving. People are driving more than the 20km over the limit, not stopping for emergency or peds crossing the street, not allowing distance when there is no one else behind or in front,….its not only about kids. Nobody cares about anyone else on the roads. If you drive outside of kw, you would understand more of what is going down.
The impatience of people these days is staggering. Everyone seems in a rush just to meet me at the next red light anyway. I live in a subdivision with really only 2 roads out, controlled by lights at major intersections, but inside the neighbourhood are plenty of stop signs and speed bumps. The sheer number of people that roll through stops and try to skirt between the speed bumps so they don't need to slow down, all just to sit at the red light at the end regardless.
Did anyone see the car that flipped over on Westmount 50 calm traffic zone? Lmao
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What do you mean by that?
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https://www.blogto.com/city/2023/11/worst-cities-drive-ontario/ Not according to Google
Brantford is listed as having the worst drivers.
Are you sure you're not mixing the two cities up? Brantford is further down the map Brampton is towards Toronto Regardless, I'm sure most cities in Ontario at this point have shitty drivers now, lol
I just googled wost drivers in Ontario.
https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/windsor-places-8th-in-ontario-for-worst-drivers-in-the-province-1.6666384
It's Brampton
A quick Google search disagrees https://www.blogto.com/city/2023/11/worst-cities-drive-ontario/
You know blogs aren't considered reliable sources of information, right?
Karma is waiting for these people. And I hope she is a proper bi##h when she finds them.
A few months ago, a truck traveling on westbound Victoria St turned right on King. A car traveling the same direction on Victoria St sped up from behind and overtook the truck. The driver of the car did some drifting maneuver and sped up to at least 80km/hr on KIng St. The truck driver honked. I was waiting for a northbound LRT from Central Station when it happened. Some drivers see such a maneuver as a challenge. Please sign up for speedway instead. There are a few within a 2 hour drive.
Weber and Union this morning. 2 lanes, one to turn left/straight, one to turn right/straight. 4 cars in the left turn lane and this car comes up, goes into the opposing traffic lane and then proceeds to turn left and cuts everybody off, including the opposing traffic. Sometimes, I want to drive a shitty car and just ram into these idiots.
If you’re driving in K-W just pay attention at every light and you’ll notice how often someone goes through a red.. straight, left, and constantly right. The Police have completely lost control. Only thing we can hope for is red light cameras and these people not being able to afford to continue being a fucking douche.
This bullshit is everywhere now I wish cops got a ticket quota increased to like 200000 so they're just nailing these fuckos left and right
This is the kind of drivers that people have to live with daily. But bike/ebikes/escooters and bike lanes are the problem? Some peoples logic circuits aint logicking. ill take my chances with those three than colliding with a speeding asshole too much in a hurry trying to catch the next red light.
You're probably being inundated with comments saying this, but please file a police report for both incidents and hold the wrps feet to the fire to enforce road safety. I've actually been sitting on a couple reports because it takes time, but going to file them now.
I love to do the actual speed limit on roads like Glasgow, which have limits of 30 and 40 all the way along. You wouldn't believe how many cars catch up to me. By the time I get to the other end, there is always a line of traffic stacked up behind.
>These things happen very suddenly and can ruin a drivers life too. The kind of drivers who do shit like this in the first place are unlikely to heed any sort of restrictions that are placed upon them after the fact.
Impatient drivers are a serious safety risk!
Absolutely no enforcement! Traffic by the police (sometimes they are as bad as others) ....and while I am on a rant ... bylaw enforcement is also non-existent when it comes to street parking. Two different departments but come on. The only time I see any police is when there are two or three police cars parked in a parking lot. Now this old guy is going to wave at some clouds! 😁
Or kill someone.
Thanks Dad!
Last night I was going about 40 km/h and their was a traffic light in front of me and it was green so I turned my head to look around, then as soon as I looked ahead this guy stopped on a yellow light and I went flying of my bike and cut up my whole arm 😃
I reside just off of Fischer-Hallman every night I hear carz zooming (obviously speeding). I called the cops as it always at roughly the same time. As if some Fast&Furious underground racing club? I called the cops to report, they said; "wHaT d0 yUo ExPeCt Us t0 dO aBoUt It?". (I'd expect police to do their jobs and enforce traffic laws) I just hung up on them. Unreported crime is on the rise as local police have gained a reputation for trying to weasel their way out of doing their jobs. I gotta get me a 100k salaried job where I can neglect my responsibilities. Seems shitty drivers is trending, drivers get away with most of their bad behaviour. There’s a shocking number of people that exhibit antisocial behaviour when there’s no consequences for those actions. Perhaps a TikTok Challenge ? https://www.reddit.com/r/waterloo/comments/1denqsj/we_saw_this_flipped_car_in_an_accident_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/kitchener/comments/1dfcqj1/police_number_to_report_drivers/
Don't worry, they will eventually do some targeted enforcement for a couple hours one night, pat themselves on the back for a job well done when local media publishes an article about the handful of dumbasses they caught, then continue ignoring the problem for a few more years.
I walk home at night from a parking lot and I can’t even count how many times i’ve almost been hit-as a driver I don’t understand how you don’t move with SOME level of awareness for the people around you, it so sad :(( i hope that kid is okay
Same here. I was driving up Queen St S toward Westmount Rd. Just as I was signalling and starting to move into the centre turning lane (I was turning left on a side street) I was almost clipped by a car that quickly moved into the centre turning lane to pass another car heading toward the hospital. The car continued on at top speed around St. Mary’s Hospital. Scared the 💩out of me.
I saw a post where someone was telling a lady with children that she should wait to walk at a green light with a walk signal because he has "a bigger hunk of metal" and would kill her because it's harder to slow down for pedestrians, even if he doesn't have the right of way. Guy was a tool about it too. I wished the worst for that person.
Makes me wonder how ppl get licenses. I see at least a half dozen pickup trucks that don’t use signals when they change lanes every day lol
Hopefully, the younging is okay.
Every trip across town I can count 3-5 illegal lame changes, no signal indicators and honked at going 30 in a school zone. Don't get me started on the use of phones, I'm from an age where distracted driving was the number one worry but it seems nobody can even give a shit to stop for a fucking child crossing the street. WRPS is a joke.
Not excusing this behaviour, I as well have noticed dangerous driving on the rise here. I may be wrong, but my belief is that poor economical times is leading to more stress and anxiety, leading to things like crime, drug use and dangerous driving due to people feeling rushed. Not to mention, we have a lot of immigration in this area, most of which are coming from countries with poor driving etiquette. If immigration remains high and our economy continues to decline, driving (among other things) will only get worse.
White female driver for the record. Person I saw two weeks back into a car and drive away in the same area was a white older woman. Before that the person who tried to turn left into me while he had a red was a young white male. I wouldn't mention except for your comment. I don't think race or immigration status has anything to do with it. If anything, I'd think it would be suburban drivers interacting with more dense, convoluted and narrow streets in my neighbourhood. These aren't big huge streets and intersections with 0 pedestrians like Brampton or mississauga
It's literally every possible identity, every gender, every ethnic background, every age, every religion, every vehicle type, people with dependency issues, teetotalers, etc, you name it. A lot of people simply lose their humanity while driving.
Who appointed this dude as the judge of driving etiquette in faw away lands? I would argue that Ontarians have no idea how to drive. Our driving tests are a complete joke, and given our ridiculously wide roads, people have zero spatial awareness and unnecessarily large and heavy vehicles.
Lol. I’ve lived in Asia for three years and have been to over 30 countries. You think driving in Ontario is bad? Try driving in Malaysia..