For years, the city of Markham, in the north end of Toronto has been known as a scary place to drive. With it’s very high percentage of Asian Canadian drivers, it is a community of expensive import cars that all sport road rash of some sort or another. Of course over the years, this phenomenon has been the root of many bad driver jokes. Personally, I’ve always found it rather amusing, rather than frightening. It’s incredible to see a little old lady who can barely see over the dash crash into something at 20 kmh, in a 50 zone.
This weekend we’ve had the opportunity to spend a couple of days on the other site of Toronto in the whopping big city of Brampton. Known by locals as Bramladesh, this place is frightening. The Holiday Inn is adjacent to the Bramalea City Center shopping mall. This mall is the size of a small city, so when I went to pick up some poolside beverages from the store on the other side of the mall I drove. Without a word of a lie, it took me almost 20 minutes to navigate the parking lot, while avoiding all the impending collisions. Unlike the Markham crowd, the driver’s here are gunning it across the parking lot and fighting to see who can be first across the many intersections. I could have walked faster, but then I wouldn’t have a steel cocoon protecting me. This is almost as bad as driving in Jamaica!
