Provincial Driving

On Saturday I drove in four different provinces. In that I noted there are some distinct differences depending on what license plate is on the back of your car. There were two very distinct behaviors I saw from neighboring provinces.

In New Brunswick drivers will not pass you on the right. If you are in the left lane they will come racing up to you in the right lane, match your speed, and wait for you to move to the right before going around you.

I have never seen this behavior before.

I haven't researched if this is the law in that province but I know in Ontario you can pass on the right of a multi-lane road and people do all the time. It may not be perfectly correct but to reduce the number of lane changes I often drive in the left lane. This is especially true if I'm driving a long distance. However, as I drove through the entire province, this happened numerous times.

Once I crossed into Quebec people would pass you on all sides, drive wherever they wanted, disregard the lines on the road, and never use their signals. All that being said, everyone knows Quebec drivers are a bit different than most of the rest of the country.

The big point is you need to know how people drive around you to drive safely. If you know what to expect you can watch for it and react early and safely.

There is definitely variations in how Canadians drive but maybe part of that diversity is a good thing.