Other than taxi drivers and emergency workers (and I’d bet on being out there more than a good number of even these drivers) I would qualify as one of the more frequent "Road Warriors" running the Toronto streets.

With greater than seventy five (75%) of my clients being international, I possibly get a more global perspective on our city than many of our paid analysts, politicians, so-called tourism specialists and members of the press and convention and visitors bureau who are all supposed to keep us abreast of trends and significant social changes.

The title of this article is not a dramatization. A startling number of my clients frequently express their observations of a noticeable and somewhat chilling "Hostility" permeating our streets of our city. So frequent are these comments that I felt it worthy of taking the time to document this feedback to the residents of Toronto and/or GTA. I have a couple of other articles that I’m working on, one titled "You Aren’t Speaking For me Mr. Cretien" addressing our prime minister’s decidedly in bad taste statements of late enlightening the world to Canada’s alleged position that the 911 disaster is somewhat explainable due to America’s "greed". For the record, this is not the position of Canadian’s at all, simply the uncontrollable dribble of someone who obviously lacks the sensitivity and/or intellectual capacity to be qualified to attached such slanderous allegation to us as a people! The other is yet another of these unthinkable Canadian ramblings in which we publish poll results that show 65% of us affirm these inaccurate and unenlightened perspectives of our Prime Minister!

In this article I attempt to address the reality of ROAD RAGE (not limited to cars in Toronto) is an outright phenomena which, if left unchecked, will continue to escalate in coming years as it has over the past decades. Let’s face it, traffic is a problem in every major cosmopolitan city but here in Toronto so much of it is directly attributable to poor design, planning and implementation within the existing infrastructure. Couple this with an unconscious arrogance that calls forth the most flagrant abuses of common and conventional social practices like driving a car, walking down the street, riding a bicycle, or rollerblading and you have a real problem.

And if the present day traffic fiasco experienced daily on Toronto streets is not bad enough, consider the tremendous number of high density residential buildings popping up around the city (Waterclub, Rivierra, One King, Hudson, 18 Yorkville, One City Hall, King’s Court, MoZo, Space, Pantages Tower, Cityplace, to name only a few and literally hundreds with new ones being announced almost weekly) and resulting traffic (pedestrian, car, bicycle, skateboard, rollerblade, etc.)! Traffic congestion, already a bad dream will develop into a full fledged nightmare that this city is about to wake up from only to find it is too late!

The total lack of a physical infrastructure to address this challenge leaves me somewhat speechless as thousands of new homes are presently under construction but no new roads, highways, byways or whatever. Even more scary is the fact that no-one is even talking about it!

Leaving the physical infrastructure shortfall, I’d like to focus on the intellectual shortfall underlying this "War Zone" mentality of Torontonians. It starts with a visible superiority complex, apparently unconsciously adapted by residents of this fine city that convinces each of us that we are entitled to be first at absolutely everything.

To sample this on the most meager level, the pedestrian to pedestrian connection sets a path and pace that forms a scenario where bumping into another becomes a very real possibility within the masses moving at cross hair intersections forming a grandiosse game of "Chicken" that exists there.

Some Torontonians are literally just "out of it", stumbling through society without ever recognizing the significance and/or importance of being aware of their surroundings. As we approach mass population we should take some lessons from Asian destinations like Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai for example where millions on millions of people co-inhabit without incidents of road rage. You don’t see the masses bumping into each other as their massive swarms flow through intersection after intersection like a mighty title wave navigating it’s way around shorelines as it flows to and fro with its tides. For this elite group there is very little that can be said. They have always been around and will always be around, like deadwood adrift that can cause trouble to your motor boat, these people know of and acknowledge no code of the road. One moves left, one does not move at all and others move right while the majority just stumble around with no plan whatsoever. If anything, a simple request for adherence to common sense and the conventional rule of logic which supports that if the norm is "keep to the right" within your community . . . "keep to the right".

I know that this seems a little obvious but have you tried walking the streets of Toronto and literally having to play hop scotch with pedestrians who move left, right and/or stand firm in their lane when approaching. Without some kind of universal understanding, and confidence that we can all adhere to some basic rule of order chaos rules. Please Torontonians, commit to the most basic form of civil respect and simply adhere to one uniform code of "KEEP TO THE RIGHT", when walking, when driving, when riding escalators, when riding your bike or skateboard or rollerblades. One simple universally understood rule would certainly introduce a level of sanity and/or maturity that is lacking right now.

The traffic chaos jumps substantially when vehicles are introduced. Note the chaos, turmoil and hostility ever-present in rush hour traffic which is ever increasing and now starts at about 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and again at 4:00 p.m. to about 6:30 p.m.

I have found from observation that a great deal of the hostility emanates from ignorance on a number of levels. For convenience sake we’ll identify the levels from their source. The cars don’t like or respect the bicycles and both are consumed with this psychological superiority complex that tells them that they are entitled to proceed first in every instance. The bicycles don’t like or respect the cars and flagrantly abuse any semblance of law and/or order by weaving in and out of traffic, dodging between lanes and parked cars (open you door and hit one and see what ensues), going down one way streets the wrong way,
wanting to be respected as a vehicle one moment which breaching every rule of logic or law when convenient and being simultaneously considered a pedestrian at others (notice any bicycles roaring down sidewalks lately).

The pedestrians don’t like or respect the cars or the bicycles and the bicycles don’t respect or like the pedestrians. It is sad and disappointing to say that the sum total of our intellectual development has left us with choosing to degrade, berate and demonize others to achieve our self esteem. It is absolutely staggering to observe the amount of hostility constantly present in traffic today. Drivers go out of their way to make others look and/or feel stupid, many times while doing perfectly logical and explainable things.

The taxi’s are out to impress everyone with their ownership of the roadways as are the truckers on the highways who are happy crunching up onto your back bumper and blasting you with their air horn. I swear that the cabs take a Cabby Ignorance Class prior to being allowed to drive. You will see the most egregious and stupid things being done by cab drivers who unfortunately have somehow become brainwashed to believed that there is an obligation for them to learn and execute every stupid driving act imaginable. The epidime of "driving stupidity" I guess is to get a cab driver mad enough at your for you conduct to lead him/her to honk at you.

Let’s look at the root problem of all of this! Ignorance is indisputably number one. That’s right . . . fundamental ignorance. I’m sure that many of you are not the self centered tyrant described above and I know most of you "would never conduct yourself in such a way as to yell and scream while in control of your vehicle" (sarcasm noted). Unfortunately most of those who say this road rage phenomena does not include them are simply those who are not conscious of their conditioning sufficiently to allow them to admit that their conduct is outrageous. Whether you conduct includes driving, wheeling or walking around unaware of what is taking place immediately around you or foreseeable in your immediate future or so pre-emptively attuned to pointing out absolutely every shortcoming of every driver around you to the point of accelerating from traffic lights to give yourself the luxury of being able to honk and torment someone who just turned right from another street in front of you as the light changed.

One of the observable major causes for all of this hostility is the City of Toronto itself. Whoever designed the traffic light system for the city should be seriously looked at. Any major cosmopolitan city should know that putting traffic lights at intersections but not including an "advanced light" or "extended light" to enable cars to turn is inviting trudge. The simple introduction of this type of turning light holds the potential to take away massive numbers of confrontations between all projectiles (vehicular and human) in the streets. A west turn off of Bay Street onto Bloor for example can be a harrowing experience.

I touched on our inability to sense (know or understand) what is going on around us. It seems that we have tunnel vision when transporting ourselves around. Now add cell phones, interaction with friends and family in the car, taking care of the dog etc. into the process of driving and . . . welcome to the City of Toronto. Yes, distraction is a major cause of difficulty for us in the streets today but a definite number 2 when paralleled against the inability to turn left without fighting your way through cars who speed up to get the thrill of honking at you and casting obscenities at you.

It is like we have some social malfunction that delivers some sort of personal gratification from catching others at something that we can say is stupid of them. This fixation of transferable stupidity is something that I have given considerable thought to as many Canadians appear to gain self gratification by demeaning others in a kind of "if I can show you doing something wrong I am somehow seen as smarter". Torontonians actually go out of their way to make it appear as if you are doing something wrong while driving and absolutely everyone seems to get quite a thrill out of catching you (either leaving you hung out in an intersection or whatever).

When you take this general mental persuasion and build it into all of the variable projectiles (moveable objects within the fluid realm of traffic) you can start to see the frivolity known as the Toronto traffic congestion.

Apart from the physical limitation introduced by a rather disappointing traffic light system design and the apparent pre-occupation of the "me first generation" (which seems to cover from about 16 to 99 years of age) another significant social downfall presents itself . . . a genuine ignorance of the laws of the street.

I touched on the "keep to the right" philosophy that appears to elude most Torontonians. I said earlier that ignorance (there are varying degrees of same) is the primary cause. The ignorance of the "me first" mentality serves as a reasonably good foundation for the structure of ignorance that is built onto it. Intellectual ignorance is something that is very hard to effectively counter as it is normally unconscious. This layer of ignorance results from a flagrant disregard to published notices and many times is ingrained deeper as a result of the candidate being a single mode of transportation person. Many pedestrians, for example are absolutely convinced that as long as the street light is green that they are authorized exclusive dominion over the walking lane of the road.

Try that in Hong Kong and your stay will be limited to a hospital room as a result of being run over by traffic! In Hong Kong traffic has the right of way unlike the unwritten law here that allows pedestrians to saunter across intersections forcing bumper to bumper traffic to wait for them along with all their accompanying glares. Try to cut through them and you expose yourself to verbal and physical abuse handed out against you car. Where does this hostility come from?!?

A simple study conducted at any intersection in the downtown core will show the constructed lunacy that we all call traffic. I’ve mentioned the decided lack of advanced and extended turning lights which leads to vehicles jamming into the centre of the intersection to race through the changed light forcing unfair and unreasonable risk to them and to the pedestrians.

Add onto this a flagrant misunderstanding of the lights. The traffic lights extended over the road are there for the vehicular traffic! As simple as this sounds, pedestrians are absolutely oblivious to this. Most pedestrians realistically don’t understand that the "traffic light" is only for the cars and that the "hands" over the sidewalk areas are what speaks to them. Most see the yellow light and interpret it as the "run signal" as opposed to "don’t walk" just as they see the flashing hand as a "run signal" as opposed to "don’t walk". This single perspective on honest ignorance (in many but unfortunately not all cases) if put into check would elliviate a great deal of chaos, confusion and confrontation in our streets over night!

I don’t see what is difficult in pedestrians adhering to their signals. They don’t understand that the flashing hand is there to allow pedestrians already in the intersection to complete their crossing of the street in safety WHILE ALLOWING CARS TO TURN.

Pedestrians don’t realize that the cleared walkway during the flashing hand ("Don’t Walk") simultaneously is engaging turning vehicles to clear the intersection. The absence of an advanced or extended turning light means that they will be stranded in the intersection prohibiting cars from proceeding on their green light and the legitimate pedestrian traffic crossing on the green hand. It is amazing to me to watch these pedestrians unconsciously strand vehicles in the intersection and moreso amazing to me to watch the response to the pedestrians who then have the opportunity to catch the turning motorists.

Pedestrians and bicyclists are pounding on cars and trucks with everyone screaming obscenities loud enough to be heard over the honking car horns and frequent car alarms all of which compete with the constant sounds of emergency vehicles. About the only thing lacking is police and thus the idiots of the world come out in full glory each day to achieve the goals that they have set without thought or respect for the millions of others just like them setting out the do the same type of thing. At sun rise the contest starts and to the winner go the spoils.

Is all of this fixable. You bet but not without legal enforcement. We have lots of police and lots of parking ticket enforcement personnel and especially in light of the ticket givers I believe their employment proves extremely cost justifiable.

It appears to me that we have lots of police to traffic the serious vehicular traffic infractions realizing that rudeness, ignorance and aggression is very difficult to police. What we need are stupidity police who are dressed inconspicuously and who do not have brightly painted patrol cars, motorcycles, scooters or bicycles. I’m saying we must return to the foot patrolman whose job is to police "in the street" traffic. They should be equipped with a miniature camera to record the flagrant antics that have become so commonplace. The pictures/video would then construe all evidence necessary to support a conviction and a stiff fine would then be imposed. That heartbeat pause when it comes to risking money is about the only thing left to take some of the wind out of the sales of some of these offenders. If nothing is done then nothing will change and the conduct will continue to escalate. The behavior has reached such epic proportions that any/all costs to build this "traffic force" would easily be recouped with substantial profits in the early days until the die-hards succumb to conducting themselves respectably, maturely and in a socially acceptable manner.

Unfortunately, money is about the only thing that leads our society to change. It would be nice to think that everyone is going to just wake up some day and grasp the intellectual awareness of our universal dependency on being able to interact in a socially acceptable way. But I think we can all agree that this is a very remote possibility retained solely as some kind of self consolation. To achieve lofty and possibly more universally popular aspirations of world peace possibly we could aspire to be able to get along outside our front door. To be the cosmopolitan city that we aspire to be, fundamental intellectual discipline should become a conscious awareness program. Left on our own, the streets will remain the war zone that they have unfortunately become.

I’m Charles Laurie Hanes