My posts | First Driving Lessons

... or "How does driving in Canada differ from driving in The Netherlands".

• People. Drive. Slowly.
• Another term for that would be: people drive more relaxed.
• Keep spacing in Canadian terms, not in Dutch terms. The 2 second distance rule from the Netherlands is considered bumpering here.
• Drive to the left of any wide road. The right lane is used for exiting and entering that road.
• When approaching a crossing with multiple stop signs (a 4-way stop), you stop. It doesn't matter that there are no other cars, you just stop. The person that stopped first has the right to start going again. Oh and by the way: with stop they mean stop, not driving very slowly for a second.
• When approaching a crossing with stop signs, and you want to go to the left, do not enter the crossing if you have a green light when cars from the opposite direction want to go straight on. They have right of way (just as in the Netherlands) but in the Netherlands it is considered normal to enter the crossing anyway and stand still somewhere in the center slowly pushing your way through. This is not considered acceptable behaviour here.
• You keep to the speed limit. In The Netherlands we also try to do that but it's a lot more difficult there. ;-)
• A lot of other things which we are used to in the Netherlands is definitely considered rude and unacceptable. I now understand why Canadian people don't want to drive in The Netherlands. :)
• There is no need to remember all road signs - they are usually accompanied by another sign containing instructions written in plain English.
• Having a car which goes faster than 80km/h is almost meaningless. Having a car that can actually accelerate is also not required, nobody does that so you'd better not do it too.
• When an emergency vehicle approaches you stop. Preferably after going to the side of the road. You should also stop even when they approach from the other direction and have enough space to pass you.
• School busses seem to have almost the same rights as emergency vehicles. But then a little bit less. Still a little fuzzy about that one.
• Addition: Bicyclists have the same rights as cars, which means that at a 4-way stop they can have right of way before you do. Oh and they're somewhat holy, which means that thou should stop anyway, but that could also have to do with the fact that they can be completely unpredictable due to the level of knowledge of their vehicle which seems to somewhat resemble the level of knowledge an average MacBiker has. No scrap that: a MacBiker in Amsterdam is a professionalist in comparison. But I guess this seemingly strange behavior (cycling on whatever is hard: roads, pavement, sidewalks, cars, without giving indication where they might be next) has more to do with creative cycling (a.k.a. "advantageous misreadings of the traffic laws", which we also tend to do a lot in the Netherlands) than lack of knowledge. Oh, and they also all wear helmets.

When I find more examples of strange differences I'll put them here!

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