Jim Kenzie's The Driver's Seat

But Baby, It's Cold Outside

It was a cold, clear, crisp day in the GTA yesterday.

But why do some people drive around even in the coldest weather with their windows open?

Regular readers may recall me wondering about people driving around on the hottest days of summer in cars which clearly had air conditioning - brand new Bentley GT, e.g. - with their windows open too.

I figured then, maybe some people just love the heat.

But does anybody really love the cold?

Maybe the driver insisted on having ventilation because someone in the car was smoking?

Not that I could notice.

Then I spotted one dude walking down Trafalgar Road (OK, he was on the sidewalk) chatting on his cell phone - wearing pants and a Tee shirt.

Maybe it wasn't as cold as I thought...

 

Slippery When Wet!

Every year around this time, I try to remember to remind people about this:

Wet leaves on asphalt is about the slipperiest thing in the world except for Hush Puppy shoes on a wet terrazzo tile floor.

And that always makes Hallowe'en - this Wednesday, in case you haven't been paying attention - particularly dicey when the weather is crappy, as it has been all this week.

OK, so it hasn't been the 'Storm of the Century' which our weather fearcasters have been predicting.

Yeah, it's raining.

Yeah, it's windy.

Big deal.

If the subway isn't flooded, it's not that bad.

But if you're driving on residential streets Wednesday evening, take special care to watch for the little witches, goblins, Spiderboys, Batgirls, etc.

Because if one of them does step out in front of your car, it's going to take you longer than usual to stop.

Happy Trick or Treating!

 

Bike Lanes and Jarvis Street redux

Looks like Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will get rid of the Jarvis Street bike lanes after all.

Although the bikeys promise not to give up without a fight, Council voted Wednesday evening to rip them out by the end of the year and put the reversible middle lane back in.

While it would break my heart if I was a Toronto taxpayer to see $300,000 wasted reversing this plan (which should never have been implemented by the former administration of David Miller in the first place) it is the right thing to do.

It is right for vehicular traffic, which needs all the resources we can give it.

And it is right for cyclists, because anything that discourages cyclists from braving downtown Toronto traffic is bound to save some of their lives.

(Why am I more concerned about their safety than they are themselves?)

One councillor who opposed the removal of the bike lanes said the cyclists are going to stay there anyway, bike lanes or no.

Does that mean the cyclists were there before and will remain?

Well, city officials say their numbers have tripled since the lanes were installed.

Which is it?

Those city officials didn't give specific numbers, just that 'three times' ratio.

But when the bike lanes were first introduced last summer the numbers were minuscule.

So three times nothing is nothing.

And as I alwasy say, let's count again in February.

Remove the emotion, and the facts are clear - as I said in the Pottery Road piece a few days ago, bikes and cars cannot mix safely.

Sure, it is the car driver who is (almost always) at fault in a collision (although that bicycle courier I saw die against a concrete pole on Yonge Street some years ago did that all on his own).

But - like that bicycle courier - it is the cyclist who is virtually always dead or seriously injured.

Recreational bike paths are a different issue. Like soccer fields, baseball diamonds, any public facility, it is a matter of priorities and budgets.

But as a means of commuting?

Toronto isn't Copenhagen; it isn't even Montreal.

Never gonna happen.

If City Council can find the budget to build dedicated, segregated bike commuter lanes for the tiny handful of people fortunate/wealthy enough to live in downtown Toronto within biking distance of their jobs (I assume these people have the facilities and time to shower when they DO get to their jobs), then be my guest.

It is a collosal misallocation of tax dollars, to the benefit of a minute fraction of the population.

But at least it won't be MY tax dollars.

Other than the fact that my Ontario and Federal taxes might somehow get mixed up in this scheme.

Damn; why did I have to think of that?...

Targa Newfoundland - Three-Fifths Done

Hard to believe we're over half-done here at Targa Newfoundland 2012.

Hard to believe because our start times are so early, I have to get to bed so early that I have hardly had any time to even try to blog about it!

Our Kia Optima Turbo is dead-stock apart from safety equipment, and the allowable springs, dampers, wheels and tires. It looks huge in this field that seems to be mostly Porsches and Subarus, and we're dead-certain it's the only car in the field with a back-up camera.

You see, visibility to the rear of any race/rally car is poor because of the spider's web of roll cage components. Not a problem because normally, you don't do a lot of backing up in a race/rally car

But everybody who watches me back into tight spots in the hockey and curling rinks where we park the cars overnight thinks I'm a magician - and here I am, revealing the secret of my trick.

The car also has Air-Con, Sirius satellite radio, cruise control - what every full-bodied rally car ought to have.

Yeah yeah, the purists do scoff - but on those long transits, everyone wishes they were in my car.

It's also very quick, once the Turbo gets the 276 horses all galloping along.

We would like more ground clearnace - the Eibach springs are some 50 percent stiffer than stock, but are about 30 mm shorter, so we are bottoming out on some of the larger bumps. A skid plate under the engine means we're doing no damage - as far as we know.

The main drawback of the Optima Turbo as a rally car is that it only comes with a six-speed automatic transmission. It does have a 'Sport' mode with paddle shifters on the steering column, but these seem to have a mind of their own, not always grabbing the gear I want.

So sometimes, it's a struggle pulling away from slower corners.

My navigator Brian Bourbonniere from Halifax and I have an arrangement - he tells me nothing about our results. I don't know what position we're in, whether we make our base times, or even our 'trophy' times.

The theory here is that I can only drive so fast no matter what, and if I knew for example that I was maybe just a bit ahead or just a bit behind somebody, I might try to drive harder, and we all know how that ends...

You of course can find out where we and everybody else stand if you like at www.targanewfoundland.com.

Please, just don't tell me!

There's also a daily video blog at www.targanewfoundlandnews.com. You might recognize the guy doing the voice-over...

You'd have trouble convincing anyone from Florida or Louisiana that Hurricane Leslie blew through here yesterday - not a house trailer sitting in a low-hanging tree to be seen. It was gorgeous - sunny, warm, with just a few fluffy clouds.

And the heavy rains washed a lot of the gravel and dirt off the roads, so that was a plus.

It's Marystown and the Burin Peninsula Thursday, then back to St. John's Friday.

 

Hawaii Highway Sign

You Facebook fans could have a field day with the name of this highway, just outside Honolulu:

Driving in Hawaii

I know, I know - even coming to Hawaii in July generates no sympathy from anybody.

Hardly 'in-season', but in fact, it turns out I came here to get away from the heat - it's much cooler here than in Toronto, and raining most of the time too.

At least the rain showers don't last long.

In fact, there's one way this place is like Scotland - if you don't like the weather, look behind you.

Here driving the new Subaru XV Crosstrek, which is essentially an Impreza four-door hatchback on steroids, turning it into a compact Crossover.

Works better than that description might suggest.

Here's a pictorial hint; more details in this weekend's Wheels.

We're on the island that sounds like a party - Oahu!!!

Hawaii isn't exactly paradise for a car guy.

On virtually all the islands, in the morning you drive the one road, in the afternoon, you drive the other road.

What do you do for the rest of your life? How many Don Ho tribute shows can you go see?

Geez; the next step might be golf. Better get out while you can.

The official state car appears to be the red Ford Mustang convertible - they must dedicate an entire month's production to supply this state's rental fleet.

There are actually a couple of 'Interstate' highways here, but that seems a bit of a misnomer...

The speed limit on most other roads is 45 miles per hour, and for the most part, everyone seems to abide by it.

Maybe that's because the cops often drive their own personal cars.

After following that rusty old Toyota pick up with the shabby cap on the back, you finally find a spot to wail past him.

Then he slaps the Kojak rotating red light on his roof and you're busted.

No sign of a mustachioed dude in a red Ferrari 308 GTS so far...

 

Hans Monderman, Welcome to Toronto

Did you get caught in that black-out in downtown Toronto last night?

I was just coming out of the third annual 'Old Fart Racer Reunion' on Queen's Quay, and - no street lights! No traffic lights!

Apparently, a small fire in a Hydro sub-station took out most of the downtown core, from Carlton down to the lake, between the DVP on the east and - according to Toronto Hydro - Jarvis on the west.

But the traffic lights were out much further west than that.

The fire started around 8:15 p.m., was out by 10, and power was restored by 4 a.m. this morning.

What I found interesting is how well motorists reacted to the situation.

The law says that 'uncontrolled intersections' should be treated like four-way stops.

I.e., everybody stops, and whoever is 'on the right' has the right-of-way.

Then, you try to go in an orderly fashion, one at a time.

I had taken a fellow-OFR to Union Station to catch his GO Train back home, then onto the Gardiner, having to negotiate several of those intersections along the way.

Most of them were uncontrolled - there were a few of Metro's finest directing traffic under the Gardiner, who, incidentally, were very hard to see; where are those big flashlights that police have on TV shows?

But it all seemed to work remarkably well.

So, who is Hans Monderman?

He was (he passed away a couple of years ago) a Netherlands traffic engineer who decided that our roads have far too many signs, lane markings, traffic lights, etc.

He thought, let's try taking ALL regulations away and let the common people - motorists, cyclists, pedestrians - figure it out for themselves.

Yes, I have written about this before...

It seemed to work!

Not only were collisions reduced, but traffic throughput actually increased.

I understand this approach has even been effective in a few North American jurisdictions, although not - as far as I know - in a major conurbation like Toronto.

COULD a city the size of Toronto get along without any traffic control measures at all?

This episode was but a snapshot, a very small piece of anecdotal evidence, that suggests it might.

Hard to imagine any city council having the courage to give it a try, let alone the one we have now which can't even seem to agree on the time of day.

On the other hand, speaking of things I have written about before, if all those intersections were 'uncontrolled' all the time - i.e. roundabouts - we wouldn't ever need traffic lights...

 

Is This an Urban Planner's Finest Hour?

This streetscape is in the 'politician' section of Milton Ontario. The streets are largely named after politicos of varying stripe - Louis Saint Laurent Avenue, Trudeau Drive, Clark Boulevard, Bennett Boulevard, James Snow Parkway, Kennedy Circle.

There's even a new High School just down the street named after Criag Kielburger. While not formally a politician, at least not yet, nor a Miltonite (he hails from Thornhill), he began campaigning to eliminate child slavery around the world when he was only 12 years old.

I guess that deserves getting something named after you.

But I'm not talking politics here.

I just thought when I saw this piece of urban environment that it encapsulated a lot of Good Things.

On the far left is a residential street, which cars can only get to in a very limited number of ways.

Hence, local traffic only.

Hence, a perfect place to play road hockey.

Next is a pedestrian sidewalk, then a bike path, then the major arterial road for through traffic.

So the varying types of traffic, vehicular and otherwise, are all separated. Everybody should be happy.

I guess not every neighbourhood has the space to make this happen. But this one, carved as it was out of a green field and green woods, offered the planners essentially Carte Blanche, you should pardon the expression, and they seem to have done a decent job of it.

Now if only the intersections nearby were controlled by roundabouts, they'd have really nailed it.

There are some nearby, but not here.

I can't help but wonder - why is that?

They came so close to getting it darn-near perfect...

 

Hello Ministry of Transportation - anybody out there?

The Wheels section of the Toronto Star is by far the most widely-read automotive publication in the country.

Last time I looked - well, last time anybody told me - wheels.ca is Canada's Number One automotive web portal.

So why amongst the hundreds (thousands?) of employees of Ontario's Ministry of Transportation, isn't a single one of them reading either the dead-tree or on-line editions?

What else am I supposed to conclude, after what I read on one of the MTO's pixelboard signs on the 401 this afternoon:

CHECK BLIND SPOT BEFORE CHANGING LANES

Geez, people: for the four hundred and ninety-seven million, three hundred and forty-two thousand, six hunded and twenty-seventh (estimated) time:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BLIND SPOT!!!

As I've been telling you for thirty-five years (and the Society of Automotive Engineers for at least fifteen; took them a while to catch on too...): in the vast majority of cars, if you adjust your side-view mirrors properly - much further out than Granddad probably taught you - the blind spots disappear.

Again, there is no need to see the side of your own car. You know where it is; right where it was when you pulled out of your parking spot earlier in the day at the start of your journey.

It's what's BESIDE the side of your own car that you need to know about.

So why doesn't that pixelboard sign read:

ADJUST SIDE-VIEW MIRRORS TO ELIMINATE BLIND SPOTS

Easy as pie to do.

But then the very next pixelboard sign did read:

SEE AND BE SEEN - USE YOUR LIGHTS

Hmm-mm - maybe somebody who is running these signs does have half a clue! Because you really should have ALL your lights on, ALL the time.

Maybe I have ONE reader at the MTO??

This message was particularly appropriate, given that at this particular point in time it was raining, and you really need to have your full lights on in poor weather so drivers approaching from behind can see you.

Because - as you should know but so many people appear not to know - in most cases, Daytime Running Lights do not illuminate the taillights.

However, at this particular point in time, I'd estimate that about 90 percent of the cars only had their DRL on.

Which means that not many people are reading the pixelboard signs anyway.

Or at least, not heeding the message.

Sigh...

But if the MTO is going to put messages up there, they might as well be the truth!

And if the MTO can't convince their federal counterparts at Transport Canada to mandate that DRL also include taillights, or at the very least make it illegal for DRL to also switch on the dashboard lights, because that's what fools most people into thinking they DO have their lights on, the province should at least follow the lead of several US states (New York being one of them) and maybe some provinces too (not sure...) and mandate that headlights must be on when the wipers are on.

A single stroke of the legislative pen and our roads would be safer, because it would give our police forces the opportunity to create 'learning moments' for our brain-dead drivers.

Hmm-mm - wonder if anybody at Transport Canada is reading?

Probably not...

Double-sigh...

 

Summer in the City

It first struck me when I saw a Bentley Flying Spur sedan tooling down the 400 highway yesterday - with all his windows open.

Hmm-mm - that car obviously has air conditioning; why isn't he using it?

Maybe he had baked beans for lunch?

Then I began to notice others cars with windows open. Maybe one in ten overall, but in one convoy,  I swear there were five or six cars in a row - windows down.

What's up?

After all, yesterday turned out to be the hottest May 25th in the annals of GTA weather history - 30.7 degrees C. at Pearson Airport, according to Environment Canada.

Why are so many people driving around with their windows open?

A sultry day like yesterday also tends to make air quality worse - why are these folks so taken with inhaling smoggy air?

Do they not have air conditioning? Most cars do these days.

Do they have it and it doesn't work? Possibly - A/C often fails, and it can be expensive to repair.

Do they think they're saving fuel?

Not sure it ever has been definitively proven one way or another, but a case can at least be argued that the extra aerodynamic drag caused by open windows burns more fuel than it takes to drive the air conditioning compressor, particularly on the highway.

Do they just like the feel of the warm wind in their hair?

I had a friend many years ago who always drove windows-down, for that very reason.

I dunno.

Anybody got any ideas?