A warning to the road users of Toronto.....
Some people out there, I'm thinking in particular Laura and Elisa here, seem to think that my tales of driving have been hilarious. Not there's much laughing when they are passengers and i'm driving, its got to be said. Laura broke into a cold sweat when i tried to park her brand new MR2, and hey, squeaking steering wheels were the least of your worries when travelling in my P309.. Maybe if i work hard, earn lots of money or commit a decent sized accounting fraud between now and new year, my next car will have air bags! You'll be safer then..
Which may be more than can be said for the users of highway 401. But at least i am comforted in knowing that this particular road is allegedly (thats my way of saying i read it on a web page, but cant provided 'audited' proof - see. obsessed with job too!) the busiest in N America, with 400,000 vehicles using it a day. Add 1. Me. I'm now legal. God help them.
It was a good chance to see bureaucracy here and compare it with home. You see, the good people of Canada look at a UK driving licence, see you've had it 2 years, and decide they'd love to give you one of their licences. I'm not sure who decided that particular policy, but you get the impression it wasn't Joe Public. When i told one of the girls in the office on Friday i'd got my Canadian drivers licence (note intentional change of wording for local licence) she said 'congratulations. how did you find the test having to go on the wrong side of the road?' "Err, i didnt. They just gave me it." "and are you planning on driving soon?"... She wont be on the road to Oshawa next Monday. Clever girl.
Queueing up for the licence was pretty much like queueing at home. Except, instead of the 'one size fits all' butchers counter ticket approach that is used everywhere from GNER P'boro railway station to blood test centres to the passport office, they have come up with a 'fair' queueing system - not based on consecutive service, but on what you need doing. After all, if 90 of you only need to be there 30 seconds, fair to have them going through one system, rather than being held up by that awkward customer.. we've all been there. Particularly at New Street I find. Or maybe thats just me?
So basically you tell them why you're there, and you get categorised into one of 6 queues, ranging from A to F. Potentially the only flaw in the system? They dont tell you who is currently being served (or which of the 11 counters is serving them) in each of the A to F categories. So i stood there for about 45 mins like a prize muppet, seeing C12 become C38, safely assuming that at some point it would become D1! (I think i was D2). Then it all got f*cked up when a row of C's was interrupted by A8. You see, i only found out about this ingenious system once i had worked it out!!! Other boards were servicing the other letters! Oh well. I know for next time!
The 'test' part involved explaining why i had 3 different commencement dates on my UK licence. (i'd never noticed!). And an eye test. She told me to look into what look liked the kind of tourist binoculars you see at the seaside. 'Read that back to me." "err S? 3, 2, 9, 8, 7" "What was the first one?" "Er S? 5?" OK. now i'll put another one up. what does this say? '5,3,2,9...er wait a minute?' 'And what about the last numbers?"
I got three more views of the same set of numbers! Oh well. I can see fairly well. And lets face it, it could easily be the UK test, where they ask you to look at a number plate in the road. 'Can i read that number plate? Yeah its XXX YYY.' 'And where is the car you will be using for your test sir?' "Ummm. its XXX YYY over here." Anyone else see the flaw in that?!
So then i had a picture taken. Not sure what it looks like, they dont let you turn up with your own. But it cant look any worse than my passport photo, or Mr Not Anonymous's for that matter. In 3 weeks i'll have a 'real' licence, for now they've given me some scrap of paper. I assume its legal, but it wouldnt surprise me if when i go to hire (sorry, RENT) a car this weekend, they look at me and laugh. There is always that gullible streak there...
So licence exchanged in 45 mins queueing and 20 mins activity time. Painless. Quite impressed. And all v simple.
Then again, maybe we shouldn't accept or expect such easy exchanges. When i was explaining to the girl that i hadnt taken a test, i was telling her the other side was weird, 'but not quite as weird as turning right through red lights..'
'Dont you do that at home?' No. Anyone got any idea how many North Americans are currently driving round Europe?.. Dont have nightmares!
Actually, although the Canadians give UK drivers a licence, the UK doesnt return the favour. Except for an automatic one. Which isnt a great deal of use for most of our cars. So getting a licence may well not quite be so easy the other way. But there's plenty of time to worry about that. For the meantime, i've got enough worries just driving around here... not to mention the locals worries about bumping into me on the roads... Hmmm, an unfortunate phrase to finish on!
Which may be more than can be said for the users of highway 401. But at least i am comforted in knowing that this particular road is allegedly (thats my way of saying i read it on a web page, but cant provided 'audited' proof - see. obsessed with job too!) the busiest in N America, with 400,000 vehicles using it a day. Add 1. Me. I'm now legal. God help them.
It was a good chance to see bureaucracy here and compare it with home. You see, the good people of Canada look at a UK driving licence, see you've had it 2 years, and decide they'd love to give you one of their licences. I'm not sure who decided that particular policy, but you get the impression it wasn't Joe Public. When i told one of the girls in the office on Friday i'd got my Canadian drivers licence (note intentional change of wording for local licence) she said 'congratulations. how did you find the test having to go on the wrong side of the road?' "Err, i didnt. They just gave me it." "and are you planning on driving soon?"... She wont be on the road to Oshawa next Monday. Clever girl.
Queueing up for the licence was pretty much like queueing at home. Except, instead of the 'one size fits all' butchers counter ticket approach that is used everywhere from GNER P'boro railway station to blood test centres to the passport office, they have come up with a 'fair' queueing system - not based on consecutive service, but on what you need doing. After all, if 90 of you only need to be there 30 seconds, fair to have them going through one system, rather than being held up by that awkward customer.. we've all been there. Particularly at New Street I find. Or maybe thats just me?
So basically you tell them why you're there, and you get categorised into one of 6 queues, ranging from A to F. Potentially the only flaw in the system? They dont tell you who is currently being served (or which of the 11 counters is serving them) in each of the A to F categories. So i stood there for about 45 mins like a prize muppet, seeing C12 become C38, safely assuming that at some point it would become D1! (I think i was D2). Then it all got f*cked up when a row of C's was interrupted by A8. You see, i only found out about this ingenious system once i had worked it out!!! Other boards were servicing the other letters! Oh well. I know for next time!
The 'test' part involved explaining why i had 3 different commencement dates on my UK licence. (i'd never noticed!). And an eye test. She told me to look into what look liked the kind of tourist binoculars you see at the seaside. 'Read that back to me." "err S? 3, 2, 9, 8, 7" "What was the first one?" "Er S? 5?" OK. now i'll put another one up. what does this say? '5,3,2,9...er wait a minute?' 'And what about the last numbers?"
I got three more views of the same set of numbers! Oh well. I can see fairly well. And lets face it, it could easily be the UK test, where they ask you to look at a number plate in the road. 'Can i read that number plate? Yeah its XXX YYY.' 'And where is the car you will be using for your test sir?' "Ummm. its XXX YYY over here." Anyone else see the flaw in that?!
So then i had a picture taken. Not sure what it looks like, they dont let you turn up with your own. But it cant look any worse than my passport photo, or Mr Not Anonymous's for that matter. In 3 weeks i'll have a 'real' licence, for now they've given me some scrap of paper. I assume its legal, but it wouldnt surprise me if when i go to hire (sorry, RENT) a car this weekend, they look at me and laugh. There is always that gullible streak there...
So licence exchanged in 45 mins queueing and 20 mins activity time. Painless. Quite impressed. And all v simple.
Then again, maybe we shouldn't accept or expect such easy exchanges. When i was explaining to the girl that i hadnt taken a test, i was telling her the other side was weird, 'but not quite as weird as turning right through red lights..'
'Dont you do that at home?' No. Anyone got any idea how many North Americans are currently driving round Europe?.. Dont have nightmares!
Actually, although the Canadians give UK drivers a licence, the UK doesnt return the favour. Except for an automatic one. Which isnt a great deal of use for most of our cars. So getting a licence may well not quite be so easy the other way. But there's plenty of time to worry about that. For the meantime, i've got enough worries just driving around here... not to mention the locals worries about bumping into me on the roads... Hmmm, an unfortunate phrase to finish on!
posted by CBC at 8:21 pm
3 Comments:
Ha ha ha...
Next time on the 401 I'll be watching for you.
I'll be the one all over the place, whilst cars scream past on all sides at 120+, trying to work out how to cross 6 lanes of traffic to get from the left of the express to the right of the collector in 1km.... just keep as far left as you can!
whoa - driving through red lights - cool!
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