Oh....Canada

[JennyB]

It's called a turn signal. Use it. Maybe it's just a Vancouver thing. Stanley Park is beautiful, by the way.

[Schnix]

Gotta tell you then, driving in Montreal is fun, in a sadomasochistic sort of way.

[Dr. Medulla]

Nothing worse than Boston. The most frustrating driving experience I've ever had. I've never felt so betrayed by a map.

edit: Okay, maybe nothing beats this for bad driving experiences …

[revbob]

Nothing worse than Boston. The most frustrating driving experience I've ever had. I've never felt so betrayed by a map.

edit: Okay, maybe nothing beats this for bad driving experiences …

Agreed. I hate driving in Boston.

[101Walterton]

Nothing worse than Boston. The most frustrating driving experience I've ever had. I've never felt so betrayed by a map.

Wheres your Tomtom man ?????

[Schnix]

Never had the pleasure of driving in Boston. Figuring out the subway system was as I far as I got.

[Flex]

I've driven in Boston occasionally and didn't have too bad a time. But I still prefer the MTA.

As for signals, my experience is that in most places that's the case. In the last year I can probably count with one hand the number of times I've actually seen anyone use a signal out here in Colorado. I'm used to it in Massachusetts because all the other driving behaviors are appropriately aggressive and fast, but in Colorado it's like... some dumdumb just cruisin' around the speed limit and then BAM, lane change. It throws you off.

I guess maybe they use signals more in the Midwest. Freaks.

P.S. I always use my signal.

[Wolter]

I actually heard (from someone from Boston, of all places), that the reason no one in Charleston, SC ever puts on a turn signal is that if you let anyone in the town know your plans they'll try to thwart them.

[arsebundren77]

Haven't been to Vancouver since I was three years old, but I took a trip to Montreal last summer and, yeah, it's a pretty good city to drive in... aside from Quebec's whole no-turning-right-on-a-red insanity. Only been in Boston on foot, but the layout reminded me of a much larger version of my hometown (Saint John, NB), which incidentally is the most hated driving city of non-SJer New Brunswickers. Lots of one-way streets and irregular traffic patterns.

[Dr. Medulla]

The last time we were in Boston—flying in, so no driving on our part—our cabbie complained about the city having all these geniuses at Harvard and MIT, yet they can't design a street that's a straight line for even half a block. It's the only North American city I've been in where having a good internal sense of direction still doesn't really help you get where you want.

[Rat Patrol]

The last time we were in Boston—flying in, so no driving on our part—our cabbie complained about the city having all these geniuses at Harvard and MIT, yet they can't design a street that's a straight line for even half a block. It's the only North American city I've been in where having a good internal sense of direction still doesn't really help you get where you want.

What do you expect? The street grid is 300 years old in some parts, built on hastily-laid 200-year-old landfill on top of ocean tidepool in other parts, and built by the Big Dig ( )in other parts. There's not a whole lot they can do about the one-ways, crooked streets, or even duplicate street names in various neighborhoods (since Boston is made up of formerly separate cities absorbed, torn back off, and reabsorbed into Boston proper). And the locals WALK and take public transit, so why expect accurate directions?

Horrible, horrible signage...yes, that is a modern clusterfuck Boston deserves every bit of blame coming its way. And this city has some of the worst, most ineptly-regulated cabbies in the country. But try driving in most ancient European cities...they ain't designed for vehicular traffic either, they often have terrible signage, and the people who live there get around just fine. I don't know why there's this expectation that all cities have to be designed and rearranged for the maximum convenience of visitors and tourists. Quite frankly, I would rather pry tourists off the grill of my car so there's fewer of them...and I ain't even a Boston native and would otherwise react violently to being called one, so that's not even local 'tude. If you want to visit, learn to WALK and take public transit like the people who live and commute there do every day of their lives. I've maybe driven to downtown 3 or 4 times in the last year...and only when I've had to haul something. Otherwise the car sits rotting in my driveway and I'm on the T or on-foot.

Get around the way the city was designed to get around. There are places in this world that aren't fitted to the round peg of car culture.

[threecoffins]

...
Get around the way the city was designed to get around. There are places in this world that aren't fitted to the round peg of car culture.

Nicely said. It's funny, because Toronto is one of the easiest cities to navigate (every damn thing is gridded to perfection, in a N/S orientation), but it leaves a lot to be desired in the character department.

[Dr. Medulla]

Get around the way the city was designed to get around. There are places in this world that aren't fitted to the round peg of car culture.

Which is what we did that second time around. Apart from the cab ride from the airport to our hotel, and then the hotel to the Amtrak station, we hoofed it everywhere, from Cambridge to the harbour to Brookline. As we do whenever we're on vacation. But the first time, when we were driving across the northern states, we still had to get in and out of the city, and it was a bastard experience—that's all. Don't confuse me for a whiney tourist who expects my foreign travels to be just like home—I was only stating my opinion that car travel in Boston was rough to say the least and often counter-intuitive.

[Spiff]

It's called a turn signal. Use it.

Whatever you do ... don't ever go to Italy.

[JennyB]

OK...so here's my lasting impression of the Great White North:

Seriously, I didn't see one fucking Mountie.