Ontario Driving Test Blues

I spend quite a lot of time getting involved in Ontario Drivers tests. So far I have not done any myself, but I have a wife, three sons, and a mother. My wife already had a driver's licence, but still needed three more tests to get a motorcycle endorsement. Then my mother needs a test every other year now that she's over 80. My sons needed three tests each for their driver's licence, and another three for the motorcycle endorsement. Plus there was one failed final test that resulted in having to retake all three tests again, plus one test where the appointment time was misunderstood, and needed to book again. A total of 28 tests.

You would think with all this testing, the Ontario drivers would be the best in the world. Or at least that they would be able to handle a simple roundabout or traffic light.

One problem is the in the tests themselves. Some of the questions are so ambiguous that nobody could ever say for sure what the right answer is. A few years ago, senior citizens were being asked questions on their renewal test that had nothing to do with driving safety. Example, what blood alcohol level is permitted for a driver who accompanies a driver on their learning permit? Nobody knows the answer to that, not even the accompanying driver, even if they've been drinking. Which is a really bad idea anyway. That chapter of the test has fortunately been removed for the senior citizens test, I guess some important people complained.

Another problem is the enforcement. Traffic cameras are not good enforcement, they are revenue generators that have almost no influence in improving drivers habits. Alcohol is regulated, but not cell phone talking. Speed limits are enforced, but they are useless when they are most needed: In parking lots, in ice and snow, and in fog.

I'll give one compliment here, electronic speed limiters on trucks has actually made it easier to drive on the 400 highways, but only if the car drivers cooperate and keep up with the truck speed. For some reason, there are still a few people who cannot figure out why they are being passed by lines of trucks on the 401, when a mere 3 kph more would put them into a nice steady line of traffic. It must be counter intuitive to think that speeding up to 3 kph faster is actually a safer speed.

There is another problem with the design of the roads. We have many poorly designed merge ramps, where it is not clear how far you can move ahead before you run out of space. Sometimes there is no room, sometimes there is an entire merge lane. There may actually be a clue in the signage, but so far I have not figured it out. Often these "ramps" are found at traffic lights in the city, and their only usefulness is to make it a little easier for the driver to steer their car around the corner. Hey doesn't everybody have power steering now? The merge lanes are also puzzling for pedestrians trying to cross the street at the traffic light, and many of those pedestrians are little kids or have some other problems getting across the streets.

Older ramps onto the freeways have design flaws. Although they have a constant radius curve right up to the point where you need to accelerate, just then there is a hook where the curve tightens up, and if you go wide, you end up suddenly in a traffic lane. Again, the newer ramps have a smooth design, but you do have to always watch out for an old one.