Complaint About Drivers And Their Tires..

[birchy]

I don't want to generalize here.. but coming from Nova Scotia I have to say that I notice a huge difference in the mentality of people in Calgary when it comes to tires on their vehicles.

 

*begin rant*

 

I've never seen so many people driving around with BALD tires and/or summer tires in winter. Hell.. even All Season tires for that matter. People who say "oh.. there's no difference between all season tires and winter tires" have obviously never driven with winter tires! For those people who have their summers on right now.. please stay home today, you're an accident waiting to happen.

 

I took this with my cell this morning.. this is people trying to come up 33 Avenue west, and merging onto Crowchild Tr. North:

 

 

What you're seeing there is a bunch of jackholes with crappy tires blocking a bunch of traffic because they can't make it up 'the hill'.. and for those of you that know this spot.. it is just a hill. At first I thought.. "wow, it must be crazy icy there".. then I watched a bunch of 4x4's drive up with no problems and thought "okay.. well, it's icy enough that the 2 wheel drive vehicles can't make it up".. and then I watched a few 2 wheel drive vehicles drive around these guys and up and realized "OH.. so it's those idiots with either bald or summer tires!" Wife told me that a lady called into one of the radio stations this morning and said "I would like to mildly chastise Calgarians with their summer tires on today who are stuck and blocking traffic.. it's not summer yet people!"

 

Frick.. get a brain before you kill somebody!

 

*end of rant* (not sure if I feel any better)

[Brownstone]

have to agree..not just with the tire thing but the general "winter" driving habits of Albertans period..there are 10 turns and half a dozen "hills" between Calgary and Edmonton and i can guarentee if the weather was like that the whole way (but not even a flake in Didsbury today) there would be at least 20 cars in the ditch..I've been living in Alberta for 10+ years and driving approx 30-40K/year in all kinds of weather, haven;t hit the ditch once (knock on wood) .. I don;t understand either Birchy

[hydropsyche]

I don't get it either, considering most albertans weren't even born here (me included). When we say "Alberta Drivers", we really mean "those who chose to move to Alberta drivers.

 

My guess is its probably the same everywhere.....

 

ps. Winter tires on my front wheel drive are still on. Usually come of after may long weekend.

[Crogg]

How bout Nova Scoitan Oiler fans taken photos while driving? That's safe...

BTW my winter tires are on.

[Brownstone]

I don't get it either, considering most albertans weren't even born here (me included).

 

 

Good point - hhhmmmm that only raises more questions

 

My guess is its probably the same everywhere.....

 

I've lived from the east coast to here and a bunch of places in between, never have I seen so many preventable "accidents"

[birchy]

How bout Nova Scoitan Oiler fans taken photos while driving? That's safe...

BTW my winter tires are on.

 

Nice assumption. I was standing at the bus stop.

[Crogg]

Nice assumption. I was standing at the bus stop.

My bad, I forgot your car was stolen in this terrible city...

[Teck71]

Maybe also if they would let the plow drivers plow all the roads, and let them touch the ground with their blades, that might help.

 

 

Teck

[walker1]

One big difference is in N.S. the government makes you get a vehicle inspection every year or is it two? Out here it depends on what your insurance company requires. ie. Lots of junk with bald tires on road.

It keeps a lot of the misfits off the road and pumps some needed $$$$ into the local economy.

[Inconnu]

The wet snow you guys got down there (and may it stay down there) is tough to drive in anyway. I notice up here though people are the same, I was coming home from work after a snowfall a fe days ago and even though the slush was quite deep and difficult to drive in trucks and mini-vans were passing and there was no way you could see the lanes or stop if you had to. Bunch of vehicles had slid into the ditch between east and west bound highways. I was in a small front wheel drive, good tires and I stayed a couple of kms/hr below the maximum speed limit with no problems. Many people miss the fact that it is a maximum speed not a minimum speed, unless posted as such.

Probably glad you took the bus eh Birchy?

[birchy]

Maybe also if they would let the plow drivers plow all the roads, and let them touch the ground with their blades, that might help.

 

 

Teck

 

That's very true as well.

[birchy]

One big difference is in N.S. the government makes you get a vehicle inspection every year or is it two? Out here it depends on what your insurance company requires. ie. Lots of junk with bald tires on road.

It keeps a lot of the misfits off the road and pumps some needed $$ into the local economy.

 

Yes.. every year. Very good point that I had overlooked!

[mwalters]

Last winter the only reason I had to put sand bags in the back of my truck was because I had to drive my daughte into Calgary to spent weekends with her mom.

 

We only got maybe an inch here in Canmore & it had melted off the roads by 10:30. Sorry but I had to rub it in.

 

Maybe the plow drivers didn't get out right away was because the were holding a "safe winter driving" seminar...

[ham]

Calgary airport reported 23cms at noon today. Thats a lot of snow in a few hours, stupid wet sticky messy snow

[reevesr1]

Wish they had gotten more at Sunshine today. Made it there with my all seasons, no problem. Mountain was great, no cars in the ditch (ok, two that spun out and crossed the freeway). Glad I was not in calgary all day!

[SanJuanWorm]

Birchy,

 

Next vehicle get one of these.

 

http://www.autonet.ca/donut/content/news/2...10/5248126.html

 

I have one secretly stashed on my motorcycle. If the unthinkable happens i'll bring my axe and my ball bat to the location.

 

 

Oh and anyone who doesnt have 4 wheel drive should just get outta the way.

[Nick0Danger]

I got out the old mazda today with the winter tires, and i went everywhere without problem. however i still want to beat the black dodge with the cali plates with my bat, passed a million people on the shoulder at 3:15 and sprayed everyone causeing an accident and almost took out a construction worker at the new bridge on glenmore.

[gustuphson]

Just my two cents....

 

Just a general question - for those who have never seen it this bad any where else, how big are the places you're comparing to?

 

...as far as government regulations being good for the economy are you serious?

[Brownstone]

Just my two cents....

 

Just a general question - for those who have never seen it this bad any where else, how big are the places you're comparing to?

 

I've lived in plenty of large cities and can honestly say Calgary is the worst I've ever seen for traffic problems in relation to its size (its only a few years ago they got rid of street lights on Deerfoot) ...and as for winter driving "mishaps" hwy # 2 is BRUTAL .. How do you hit the ditch when its flat and straight?

[Hawgstoppah]

Driven all over north america for years. While Calgary doesn't have the worst traffic problems of major cities, it DOES have some of the worst drivers. Put Calgary and edmonton drivers together and give them a freeway between the two cities and it's no wonder people can't stay on the road.

 

Been to Denver in a blizzard, been through 75 MILE an hour crosswinds and snow covered icy freewys in wyoming, been through ice storm in N dakota, and never have I ever seen as many people in the ditch as on highway 2 between calgary and edmonton.... EVERY single time it snows.

 

Brutal.

[Snowwolf]

I've lived in plenty of large cities and can honestly say Calgary is the worst I've ever seen for traffic problems in relation to its size (its only a few years ago they got rid of street lights on Deerfoot) ...and as for winter driving "mishaps" hwy # 2 is BRUTAL .. How do you hit the ditch when its flat and straight?

 

prob going to fast and changing lanes then you spin out.....happened to me last year in MO and I totaled a Jeep Grand...learned my lesson believe me. I stayed home today until it mostly all melted off the streets.

[Snowwolf]

just a curious question here but how well prepared at the snow crew truck around here....are there that many on the roads because I never see them. Unlike down in MO last year there was one every 10 min on the highway in bad storms. I was wondering if this has anything to do with the worker shortage here in town.

[reevesr1]

So why are the drivers worse here? Used to wide open roads, going as fast as you want? I lived in Idaho for awhile, and the weather was way worse, and I would say there were far fewer cars in the ditch. That said, there weren't 2.5 Million living in a 300 KM corridor either.

 

The general skills of the drivers here won't be any different than anywhere else. Some combination of driving conditions, attitude, training (or lack thereof), driver density (the QEII gets pretty high density, many going very fast), and many other factors will contribute to the perceived "poor" drivers here. My company instituted a driver trainer course for all it's employees several years ago which includes defensive driving at a track. Our accident rate plummeted. Why isn't driver training done in schools?

 

Funny thing about drivers, 90% of them think they are above average (that's an actual statistic. Can't remember where I read it, but if sure feels true), which makes at least 40% of them wrong (I would also bet some of the 10% that think they are below average are actually some of the ones above). Don't want to be the one to break it to you, but it is a virtual certainty that some of the people posting on this thread are in the lower 50% category (and I include myself as a possible poor driver).

[Hawgstoppah]

attitude

 

Bingo. Ya nailed it.

 

Nobody in alberta knows where to find the siginal light lever on a freeway. Nor can they read that thing on the dashboard called a speedometer, let alone the highway signs that refer to a max speed. It's the "who gives a sh*t about the other guy" alberta attitude that makes us the worst place to drive (I'm not kidding) that I have seen in N America.

[admin]

Driver are bad in Toronto as well. Last time it snowed 20+cm we had over 1600 accidents. What about Vancouver when it snows there?