It’s a well-known fact that people who are not from your own state/province/country can’t drive worth a shit and are complete morons. Jeesh.
Here’s something from the City of Toronto Transportation Services:
Also, here’s a list of camera locations: Streets, Parking & Transportation – City of Toronto
I stand corrected. I was sure I’d read something about Toronto having them and then removing them. Oh well…
What?! Canadian cars’ speedometers have both miles and km per hour. If you have specific knowledge of any that don’t, please provide link.
Canadians have a great idea of how fast 65 mph since the typical highway speed limit is 100km/h (approx 62 mph) but most will travel at around 120 km/h (approx. 75 mph)
Furthermore, you should be looking down at your speedometer often whether you’re driving in a foreign country or not.
Wow! Overgeneralize much?
Although it does remind me of the reason I couldn’t drive a BMW… I’d have to start driving like a prick. 
Ditto!
You might be thinking of when they had the photo-radar thing on the 401 that was causing all sorts of chaos a while back. I know there are red light cameras because there’s one near my office and one where the Gardiner ends just past the DVP.
Yup. I don’t know of any car that doesn’t have both. Canadian ones usually look like this with the big numbers as the KMH and the smaller inner numbers MPH, and U.S. speedometers are the other way around with the MPH as the big outer numbers and the KMH as the small inside numbers. That way you don’t have to do the math when you cross the border.
Also for #9 demerit points start at 15 kmh above the speed limites. So if you’re doing 90 in an 80 zone, you’ll get a ticket, but if you’re doing 100 in an 80 zone you’ll get a ticket and demerit points on your licence.
BMW and Volkswagen sell cars in Canada with kph only.
Check out page 8 of the pdf at VW Passat
and zoom in nice and close on page 22 of the BMW 5 Series online brochure.
Ah, another tip for the OP–one of the city’s most notorious radar traps.
Assuming things have not changed (and I see no reason why they would have), watch out when you’re driving northbound on Bayview Avenue, just north of Lawrence. Bayview and Lawrence are city streets, but their intersection is built like a freeway interchange. The “freeway interchange” impression leads many northbound drivers to speed on Bayview.
Problem is, that the speed limit on Bayview is 50 km/h; and the police like to sit in the driveway of the Crescent School, about a half-kilometer north of Lawrence, and pick off speeders.
Note that you may see both blue background or fluorescent yellow background school signs in Ontario. Last time I checked, only the blue background ones were shown in the driver’s manual and the online MoT sites, but an e-mail query to the MoT got a reply to the effect that the yellow background was a new standard recommended by an inter-provincial organization which dealt with standardizing traffic laws and signage across the provinces. Not provincially official, but individual jurisdictions were free to make the change through appropriate bylaws.
My municipality has adopted the recommended change and you can see both types of signs as the older blue ones are gradually replaced by the new yellow ones.
Okay, I stand corrected. Apparently, VW has changed theirs for the new 2010 models (they used both up to 2009) and BMW uses only km/h for everywhere outside the US.
Of course, this is a small proportion of all cars in Canada and is still insignificant when explaining why Canadians drive faster or slower while in the US.
We get Ontario plates in Michigan all the time. I’ve assumed that they know the speed limit conversions; it’s not rocket science. I’m always under the impression that the disparity in speed is due to being overly cautious on the low end (because, “oh my, we’re in a foreign country, and we best be careful!”) and actually knowing that the state police won’t pull you over unless you’re being really outrageous on the high end of the speeds. The nice thing about the Ontario drivers is that they typically get the hell out of the left lane when you come up behind them, whereas the ass-wipes from Ohio will happily stay in the left lane at 5 mph below the speed limit.
As for driving in Ontario and the GTA, well, I lived in Mississauga for a year, worked in Oakville, spent some weekends driving back and forth to Michigan, and other weekends doing stuff downtown. (I’m an American driver.) Here are some things that I learned when driving in the GTA all the time:
[ul]
[li]GPS isn’t for feeble-minded old people. Granted, GPS wasn’t as ubiquitous then as it is now, and at first I thought that good, old maps that had served me my entire life were good enough. My loaner car had built-in GPS, and I needed it the first day to navigate the stupid 401 to prevent from being forced to an exit or an express lane.[/li][li]I don’t know if this is the law or just common courtesy, but at heavy intersections without a protected left turn (“advance green” they call it), it’s okay to turn left, even if the opposing traffic is turning right into the same road. Of course you already know that when making any turn, you’re supposed to turn into the closest lane, so this works out just swell.[/li][li]The 401 between London and Mississauga has no speed limit. Well, it’s posted, but no one really pays it much attention, including the OPP.[/li][li]But between London and Detroit, the fines are outrageous and there are a lot of patrols.[/li][li]OPP doesn’t mean the same thing as in the “Naughty by Nature” song.[/li][li]The 407 is excellent, and it’s only really expensive if you don’t have a tag (“video monitoring fee” or something to that effect, something outrageous like $5 every time you pass a camera).[/li][/ul]
Other observations: And in general, the big, tall apartment buildings aren’t welfare apartments. They’re actually extremely expensive flats that cost just as a much as a real house. And I don’t mean just in downtown Toronto where you expect that people are forced to live in apartments, but out in the suburbs where there’s lots and lots of land. And there aren’t a lot of real houses any more; they’re all semi-detached duplexes or multi-plexes, and cost a fortune. There’s also no good Mexican or Tex-Mex food. Fish and chips are generally outstanding everywhere, and the waitperson doesn’t have a confused look when you ask for malt vinegar (indeed, it’s usually brought by default).
There are signs (overhead and on the side) that tell you about upcoming exits and changes from collector to express lanes, and lane markings that indicate the transition. Not clear to me why you need GPS for this particular aspect of navigating the 401. Also, it’s rare to be forced to exit if you are in the right lane. Usually, there are two exit lanes but only one forces you off, and this lane doesn’t exist until shortly before the exit. If you are driving in the right lane, you won’t have to exit unless you move to this new lane.
And, here’s a good rule: When in doubt, stay in the collector lanes. These lanes will take you everywhere that the express lanes go, and they are often faster. Yes, there are times when the express lanes are faster, but don’t use them as the default. Use them if you have a good reason to do so, eg. you know about particular traffic patterns, or you know that there’s an accident in the collector lanes or that there’s construction
I supposed I failed to mention that (a) I’m always in the left lane (unless I’m not passing, which I usually am), and that (b) the 401 is a parking lot from about 7 am until 10 am or so. Without adequate planning, it’s rough to convince people to let you change lanes at 1 km/h.
Yeah, I found that out over the weekend. BMWs mainly. But our Volkswagen has both kmh and mph. I would assume some other fancy European imports have only kmh, but most cars here have both.
Well, first, I’ll say that it seems like I’m saying that there’s no reason to use GPS if there are road signs, which, of course, is silly.
But, now I’m a bit confused. If you are “always in the left lane”, how are you being “forced to exit”? And, if the traffic is moving at 1 km/h, isn’t it relatively easy to change lanes to avoid exiting? You’ll have several minutes to do so, compared to a few seconds when you are traveling at 100 km/h. I’ve never had to had to wait for more than three cars before being able to change lanes in stop-and-slow traffic, and usually it’s immediate: I signal and the car in the other lane gives me room to change lanes.
Also, if the 401 is “a parking lot”, then which cars are you passing in the left lane?
I’m sure that you’ve driven in a variety of traffic conditions so I’m not saying that you are being contradictory – perhaps just incomplete in your description of what you’ve encountered.
I checked out a new BMW this weekend, and with the digital instrument cluster option you can switch the speedometer between mph and km/h at the touch of a button.
They haven’t kicked me out yet. 
About GPSs – if you have one, turn off “Allow Toll Roads”. If I don’t, my GPS keeps trying to put me on the 407, which isn’t cheap.
One more tip: if you have to drive on the Don Valley Parkway during rush hour, you’ll be slowed down to a crawl most of the time.
That’s probably it. Typically, I’m in the left lane, passing. The 401 often suddenly becomes a parking lot just east of Mississauga. So, one second in the left lane, the next second completely stopped. The GPS was helpful, because it was inside of my cockpit, and not hidden behind a huge 18-wheeler. Does one need GPS? Absolutely not. I was merely indicating that for the first time, I came to appreciate why people liked GPS, because I’d always been a map snob.
If you’re driving into Toronto from Mississauga, you might want to look at taking the 427 to the 409 which takes you to the 401 near Islington. The route is longer but you can avoid a portion of the “parking lot”. Sometimes, though, the 409 can be backed up as you approach the 401. Also, when you get back on the 401, it’s usually better to stay in the collector lanes until just before Keele St, and switch to the express lanes at the “basket weave”.