You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[kevman]

It's the phone issue. Uber drivers are distracted drivers. The app is constantly telling them what to do and where to go. They're literally being paid to be distracted drivers.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Some people have exceedingly high expectations for Uber/Taxi/Skip the dishes drivers and how well they drive. They are not professionally trained drivers like some people think they are. The vast majority of them are from exceedingly poor countries where the rules of the road are suspect at best, those skills carry over to life in Canada wither or not people think they should. These jobs often don't really pay any decent money all factored in and the nature of the job requires you to check out a screen every few seconds, hence why they never learn the city! Contrast this with professional bus drivers in any city where they actually know their route without staring at an iPhone every 5 seconds.

That's the problem. They are given a professional drivers license by the province with little diligence, and we end up with this. If you have a problem with Uber drivers, take it up with the government.


The nature of the job doesn't require them to look at the screen all the time, that's nonsense. A failure to learn the city and how to navigate isn't a requirement. That's choice.

Step 1:
Meet the Requirements

There are a few mandatory requirements before you can reclass your driver's licence.

• check You must be at least 18 years of age
• check Hold a valid Class 5 licence (non-GDL), at minimum
• check Pass a Class 4 knowledge test
• check Complete a medical examination form with a doctor

https://ama.ab.ca/registries/auto/dr...cences/class-4


No one even gets in a vehicle with them to see if their paper knowledge transfers to real world skill. This is a failure of governance, not a problem because they are immigrants. The only people to blame here are voters. But oh ya, you don't think that's fair.

[Table 5]

Agree that allowing poor driving is a governance issue, but blaming voters is a bit weird. Which party/politician should vote for that will want fix this? I don't really see any of them giving a crap.

[Fuzz]

The NDP moved testing back to a government system because the private system had a lot of issues. So they did care. As soon as the UCP got in the reversed it using the pause in driver testing during the pandemic to justify it, blaming the NDP for long wait times. It was a convenient gambit.


In 2022 the UCP decided road tests were no longer necessary for class 4 licensing, which you require to be an Uber driver. Without a road test there is no way to assess the actual skills of the driver. There is a direct line between UCP policies and the crap we have on the road now.


Sure, some issues won't be fixed by wither party, but I think this is pretty clear the UCP's ideological position to privatize and reduce costs has left us with more ####ty drivers on the road.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Some people have exceedingly high expectations for Uber/Taxi/Skip the dishes drivers and how well they drive. They are not professionally trained drivers like some people think they are. The vast majority of them are from exceedingly poor countries where the rules of the road are suspect at best, those skills carry over to life in Canada wither or not people think they should.

Exceedingly high? lol No, f-ck that noise. We all took the same road test they had to when we were teenagers. In my case, that was 24 years ago. I have the same expectations of all of you and everyone else on the road, quite frankly. If you're licensed to drive here, I expect you not to be sh-tty at it.

You're goddamned right I'm going to have high expectations of someone who I'm expected to pay and tip for driving me around that just wrote, drove, and passed not only their Class 5 but also their Class 4. I don't even have a Class 4, yet I don't seem to have this problem of being incapable of negotiating a turn at a speed higher than 3 KM/H, or following a pleasant, if slightly monotonous, voice telling me I'll be turning left in 800 metres without swerving across 4 lanes of rush hour traffic in the last 150 metres.

[DownInFlames]

Curves is right that a lot of Uber drivers are new immigrants from countries with different driving cultures. That wouldn't be a problem if they were trained in the rules of the road, and how to operate a vehicle without being an obstacle or danger to avoid.


These companies don't give a #### if their drivers are competent. As long as they get their passengers, or food orders, to their destination they'd let a trained monkey drive. The government should be forcing them to hire qualified professionals, or offer training.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The NDP moved testing back to a government system because the private system had a lot of issues. So they did care. As soon as the UCP got in the reversed it using the pause in driver testing during the pandemic to justify it, blaming the NDP for long wait times. It was a convenient gambit.

You're right about that, reversing it back to private was pretty dumb. It's clearly not working.

[TorqueDog]

Curves might be right on that point, but that point is also irrelevant. The list of countries that have operator's license reciprocity with Canada is a short one and doesn't include any of the countries that would make sense in the context of either Curves' point or this conversation about rideshare drivers and the like. It's not a straight swap of driver license cards, they have to start from step 1.

Fuzz is right that this is a failure of our licensing body -- courtesy of guess who -- to appropriately judge suitability for operating a vehicle on our roads. If someone holds a Class 4 and gets paid to ferry people around, they should be able to drive without narrowly avoiding an impromptu demolition derby when merging, or treating a right-hand turn like a moon landing. Driving on our roads should mean you meet our driver licensing and operating standards, full-stop. If you can't do that confidently without panic-braking into every intersection, you should not be behind the wheel.

[kevman]

And here I thought thinking Uber drivers were terrible was bipartisan.

[Brupal]

Now hear me out, this will be controversial to some, but all over North America right now there are driverless cars that have been trained using millions of miles of real world data that are programmed to follow the rules of the road and are safer than humans. Would this solve some of these concerns?

[troutman]

I will throw Brupal a bone:

The Data on Self-Driving Cars Is Clear. We Have to Change Course.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/o...core-ios-share

This does not change the FACT that fElon is a pathological, immoral, corrupt, malignant narcissist.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by Brupal

Now hear me out, this will be controversial to some, but all over North America right now there are driverless cars that have been trained using millions of miles of real world data that are programmed to follow the rules of the road and are safer than humans. Would this solve some of these concerns?

How are they in snow?

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by btimbit

I think people's expectations of Uber drivers are actually really low. They just want them to be safe and obey traffic laws. That's just too much to ask

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Also, don't talk to me.

WTF did btimbit do to you?

[Brupal]

Originally Posted by Titan2

How are they in snow?

Excellent. See for yourself.

https://youtu.be/9A0OTjvtCqU?si=GFL8I4dyCl6uhw5l

Or be brave and come for a ride in person with me (if you dare)! You can report back to the group.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Titan2

WTF did btimbit do to you?

I like the cold

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by Brupal

Excellent. See for yourself.

https://youtu.be/9A0OTjvtCqU?si=GFL8I4dyCl6uhw5l

Or be brave and come for a ride in person with me (if you dare)! You can report back to the group.

Ok, well that is pretty impressive. Although to be fair, he had a police escort most of the time!

I don't get into cars with strangers. Unless, it is uber, a taxi or they have candy or puppies.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by btimbit

I like the cold

Or maybe you look better than him in a sundress?

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Curves might be right on that point, but that point is also irrelevant. The list of countries that have operator's license reciprocity with Canada is a short one and doesn't include any of the countries that would make sense in the context of either Curves' point or this conversation about rideshare drivers and the like. It's not a straight swap of driver license cards, they have to start from step 1.

Fuzz is right that this is a failure of our licensing body -- courtesy of guess who -- to appropriately judge suitability for operating a vehicle on our roads. If someone holds a Class 4 and gets paid to ferry people around, they should be able to drive without narrowly avoiding an impromptu demolition derby when merging, or treating a right-hand turn like a moon landing. Driving on our roads should mean you meet our driver licensing and operating standards, full-stop. If you can't do that confidently without panic-braking into every intersection, you should not be behind the wheel.

I like the moon landing analogy. I often compare them to a Captain docking a cargo ship. Poor spatial awareness combined with huge vehicles is a nightmare.


Uber drivers are the worst but there are tons of ordinary drivers who absolutely need some training. I often drive mid-day and a lot of the seniors out at that time are frightening to witness.

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by Titan2

Ok, well that is pretty impressive. Although to be fair, he had a police escort most of the time!

I don't get into cars with strangers. Unless, it is uber, a taxi or they have candy or puppies.

There was also decent visibility. What happens when the cameras get covered in slush, or when the snow is piled high enough it covers parked cars?

[Brupal]

The forward facing cameras see through the front windshield that is cleared with the wipers. They can see piles of snow, other cars, pylons, children, animals, everything.