Posts Tagged ‘car’
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
One of the many benefits of having kids is that you get to reexamine many aspects of life you easily take for granted. Because of the low level of driving skill and sometimes reckless attitude of local drivers, teaching my Little Weeds to safely cross the street terrified me. In our sleepy suburban neighbourhood in Scarborough, Ontario, it is not too bad, but when it comes to major intersections the concequences for a miscalculation are dire. No matter how well you teach your kids, they also rely on drivers to keep them safe. Here in Scarborough we have terrible drivers. Teaching my kids how to safely cross traffic intersections has been long in the making, Here is what I tell them.
This is a preview of
How to Cross a Traffic Intersection in Toronto, Canada
.
Read the full post (906 words, 2 images, estimated 3:37 mins reading time)
Tags: bad driver, Canada, car, children, cross, cyclist, intersection, Kids, pedestrian, rolling red, Scarborough, Toronto
Posted in Kids, Learn | No Comments »
Friday, August 5th, 2011
You need to get along with your neighbours, but sometimes you must simply say “No”. Such is the case of The Town of Markham and the Morningside Extension. Markham is Toronto’s neighbour to the north east, and has a ballooning population of single family homes. Unsurprisingly these families want to commute into Toronto, where they have jobs. Unfortunately the existing north-south roads from Markham, through Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, to Toronto’s Highway 401 are already at capacity and overflowing. The solution proposed by Markham is to build a new North-south road, through Scarborough, to Highway 401. Between Markham and Highway 401 lies the Rouge Valley, a large protected area of land soon destined to become a national park.
This is a preview of
Oppose the Morningside Extension Plan, Toronto, Canada
.
Read the full post (707 words, 3 images, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)
Tags: Canada, car, GTA, Markham, Morningside Extension, Morningside Road, Rouge River Valley, Scarborough, suburb, Toronto
Posted in Environment | No Comments »
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
This post is to remind myself that we actually have reasonable gas prices here in Toronto, Canada, even at $1.40CAD/litre. If we are to encourage people to drive smaller, more efficient cars, I think gas prices need to ride even more. If the tax from gas would only go towards improving public transit, people would not drive as much, resulting in less road traffic. All money converted to CAD where possible.
Tags: Asia, automobile, Canada, car, gas, gasoline, petrol, price, Retail, worldwide
Posted in Environment, Retail | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
How to avoid getting killed by a car, especially a left turning car at a signalized intersection, is a frequent topic of discussion on motorcycle forums and blogs. For a long time smart motorcyclists have been looking for the cause and solution to this deadly dilemma, in the hopes of reducing or eliminating the threat. First-hand documented accounts of crashes are dissected with a forensic zeal. Possible causes and contributing factors are suggested. Motorcyclists always leave the discussion with an uneasiness and queasiness in the gut: Often the cause of the crash, a car driver, is beyond the rider’s control. In this case an automotive writer riding his motorcycle gets into a head-on crash with a left-turning young lady, who says the typical cop-out excuse: “I did not see him”.
This is a preview of
Automotive Journalist on Motorcycle Hurt by Left Turning Car
.
Read the full post (1620 words, 0 images, estimated 6:29 mins reading time)
Tags: automotive, car, crash, distraction, driver, forums, Globe and Mail, hospital, journalist, motorcycle, rehab, Scarborough, Ted Laturnus, Toronto
Posted in hobby, motorcycle, Nonsense | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 10th, 2010

This girl is a sticker on the road, but if you inadvertently run over her you were not paying attention to your driving. Pay more attention to the road.
Tags: ball, BC, Canada, car, distraction, girl, image, inattentional blindness, Ontario, pedestrian, Preventable.ca, road, safety, school, school zone, speeding, Vancouver
Posted in Environment, Kids, Learn | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
So pathetic are the driving standards in China that there are a huge number of crashes. China is a world leader in vehicular crashes per capita. If only there were some rules that everyone followed. I propose simple ones such as drive/ride on the right side of the road and stop at traffic lights. It seems like total chaos if there are not enough police around to hand out and collect tickets. I find this video quite amusing, but should not, because people in the video get seriously hurt and cars and bikes get damaged. It is funny because sadly it does reflect what we saw on Chinese roads when we visited China.
Tags: accidents, bicycle, car, China, chinese, crashes, scooter, traffic, truck, video
Posted in bicycle, China, motorcycle, Nonsense | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
Without a doubt the “right turner” is the most dangerous situation a motorcyclist faces while riding. Statistics show that more motorcyclists get hurt and killed at intersections by a right turning driver than any other cause. Why do car drivers exclaim “I did not see him/her” when the weather was clear and there were no other cars in the intersection? It is not just motorcyclists in danger, as bicyclists, pedestrians and other vehicles also bear the pain of inattentive drivers. Is it true that these drivers are so lacking in skill, so blatant in their disregard for their fellow humans that they are grasping for any plausible explanation, or is it something else? There is a theory that humans filters out objects that are deemed not dangerous, which leads to the subject of “inattentional blindness”. Maybe these lame explanations from drivers point to a visual impairment that is innate with all human beings.
This is a preview of
The Dangerous “Right Turner”: Inattentional Blindness
.
Read the full post (1824 words, 0 images, estimated 7:18 mins reading time)
Tags: auto pilot, bicyclist, brain, car, change blindness, crash, driver, fatality, human physiology, inattention blindness, inattentional blindness, motion camouflage, motorcycle, pedestrian, perceptual blindness, right turner, stimulus, traffic, visual impairment
Posted in Environment, Learn, motorcycle, Nonsense | 2 Comments »
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Swagman 3 bike rack installs 11.5 inches from my bumper, not a good fit
I have been meaning to get a bike rack for quite a number of years. When the kids were small this was not an issue because they could not ride far anyway, but they are growing. We don’t have a large car, so a bike rack is now a necessity. The Swagman 3 bike hitch bike rack seemed to be the strongest and lightest but well made bike rack I could find. It works very well but the experience of installing it provided some interesting surprises.
Tags: 1.25", bicycle, bike, car, carrier, Class 1 hitch, hitch, MEC, non-foldable, rack, receiver, review, Swagman
Posted in bicycle, Nonsense, Retail | No Comments »
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Question: Hi Don, I was trying to find a contact us link on your blog, but I was unsuccessful.
Anyway, I was searching Google Images for a specific Hot Wheels car. I stumbled across your photo on your old blog and saw that you had it. I am really interested in trying to find the name of the car. I am looking to purchase it for a friend.
That’s the image, from the left it is 8th car down, 4th column over. Futuristic orange/red/chrome one. Any help would be greatly greatly appreciated! :-)
Justin
Tags: car, Hot Wheel, Larry Wood, mattel, Wild Thing
Posted in Kids | No Comments »
Monday, July 27th, 2009

A bicycle rack that uses a trailer hitch keeps the bikes off your car's paint
I have been wanting to add a bicycle carrier to my 1997 Nissan Altima car for the longest time. A bike carrier that goes into a trailer hitch receiver allows the bikes to not contact the car, reducing fears of scratched paint and dents. While shopping around for hitch receivers I found the U-Haul hitch receiver (#24999) for $130CAD, cheaper by $40-$50CAD than other brand names. U-Haul wanted an extra $40 for installation, which I could save if I did it myself. There would be unforeseen trade-offs which I will explain.
Tags: Altima, car, hitch, Nissan, trailer receiver, u-haul, uhaul
Posted in bicycle, Nonsense, Retail | 6 Comments »