Driving

Money Saving Tips for Hybrid and Non-Hybrid Owners

Whether you own a hybrid, are thinking of buying one, or don’t have any such plans, you can save some substantial coin (and help save the environment) by driving like a hybrid owner.

For a leisurely autumn drive, a morning commute, or a bread & butter trip from point A to point B, here are six ways you can use your hybrid – or lessons learned from hybrid driving styles – to your advantage:

5 Ways You Can Track the Fall Colour Change

Should we go or should we wait a few more days? Finding the perfect front-row seat for the majesty of the fall colour change is equal-parts location and timing. Finding the right location is largely a matter of preference (and sometimes a little word-of-mouth).

Finding the right time is now a simple matter of consulting the right web service. In Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources even has a fall colour change app that brings the latest updates on fall colour to your mobile device.

Roadside Stop-offs Between Eastern Ontario and BC

The trip from Upper Canada to the Pacific can be a five-day sprint or a multi-week odyssey. At the very least, something between these extremes is highly advisable. Along the way, hundreds of little-known roadside stop-offs await curious adventurers. Check out our province-by-province showcase of zany curiosities, quirky eats, and – always good for a picture (or a Tweet…or Facebook post) – big ol’ stuff on the side of the road:

The 11 WORST Driving Fouls We’ve Ever Seen

Foul or FAIL, below are hands-down the craziest, crassest, ill-advised, and just-plain worst driving sins we’ve seen in some time.

Take a look for entertainment, instruction, or just plain warning. Then be sure to vote for the one worst one!

Road Rage 1: Bullying on the highways of Taiwan

Watch the black delivery truck practically plow the motorcycle under starting at 0:35, honk at him for slowing down at 1:13, then (starting at 1:40) wave a stick and swear at the motorcyclists.

5 Tips for Kid-Friendly Road-Trips

Vacations with kids can be a roller coaster. And while the destination is often well-worth the journey, the journey itself can be a dream or a nightmare.

The thought that you can actually control (or at least moderate) things in the back seat on your next road trip may sound like the stuff of miracles, but it just might be possible, after mastering the following five aspects of life on the road.

12 Types of Idiot Drivers

If you’re cruising down the road and unlucky enough to face something like this - or if you’re really unlucky, that - and still live to tell the tale, then you’ve probably had a conversation soon after with your co-pilot (or yourself) about types of bad drivers.

While we don’t want to see any of these folks on the road, we also don’t want to become any of the following stereotypes:

Eastern Ontario’s Most Dangerous Roads (and What Makes Them So Dangerous)

Highway patrol officers are known for holding that there are more dangerous drivers than dangerous roads.

Want some cold-hard evidence to that effect? In 2009, a report from the Eastern Ontario Health unit revealed that 61% of car accidents in that region of the province happened on dry roads, 62% in broad daylight, 75% in clear weather and 98% on roads in perfectly good condition: http://www.eohu.ca/_files/reports/report58.pdf

While roads are certainly more dangerous to people when they are on those roads, certain roadways in Eastern and Northern Ontario see more people hurt and killed than others.

9 “To-Do’s” Before You Drive This Winter

You’re driving down a single-lane highway alone at night: On to your windshield and under your tires, snow is blowing and swirling over the ice-patched road. Just before every turn and bend, you wonder: Am I safe?

It makes sense to dust the white stuff off your roof and windows each drive in the winter, and get in early for a seasonal maintenance package. But beyond a simple check-up, there are many more things you should do for your car as the unforgiving cold approaches.

8 Mindsets to Stop Road Rage in its Tracks

According to TD, up to a third of driving fatalities in Canada happen as a result of aggressive driving, ranging from speeding to tailgating to disobeying traffic signs to failing to yield the right-of-way.

For the record, the top 5 types of aggressive driving in Canada, according to Meloche Monnex Insurance, are:

1. Tailgating (or flashing high-beams)
2. Passing on the shoulder (this one surprised us the most)

7 Lifesaving Techniques You Learn In Defensive Driving Courses

On winter’s chilly, perilous roads, it’s important to have more than just the basics of safe driving. Advanced or defensive driving techniques – rather than simply reactionary driving – empower you to avoid danger by anticipating it.

Taking an accredited defensive driving course can help keep you safe, in spite of others’ unpreparedness. In some cases, doing so can also decrease your insurance premiums (in Alberta, taking such a course can even eliminate demerit points off your licence…no such luck yet in Ontario though.)