If you feel drivers in your municipality are not as great as they used to be, you are not alone. For the first time since 2018, a sizeable majority of Canadians (56 per cent) tell us that the people who get behind the wheel in their city or town are worse now than five years ago, up 10 points since our previous survey in 2023.
The evident crankiness about the state of affairs on the nation’s roads is coming primarily from Canadians aged 55 and over. More than two-thirds of Canada’s oldest adults (68 per cent) say the situation has worsened. The proportions drop to 59 per cent among those aged 35-54, and to 41 per cent among those aged 18-34.
Not all regions feel the same way. Fewer than half of Quebecers (47 per cent) believe the drivers they interact with every day are inferior to the ones they encountered five years ago. The number climbs to 56 per cent in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, 57 per cent in British Columbia, 59 per cent in Alberta and Ontario, and 63 per cent in Atlantic Canada.
Only 15 per cent of Canadians (down three points) have not witnessed or experienced any of six different problems on the road over the past month. Two in five (40 per cent, up six points) went through a close call to avoid a collision, and a similar proportion (42 per cent, up seven points) saw a car turning right or left from an incorrect lane, what’s usually referred to as “lane tracking”.
Three other setbacks are more prevalent. Half of Canadians (50 per cent, unchanged) saw a car taking up two or more spaces in a parking lot, while more witnessed a driver not stopping at an intersection (53 per cent, up eight points) or a driver not signalling before a turn (64 per cent, up five points).
Every Canadian region has a specific issue where drivers are clearly failing. British Columbia is home to the largest proportion of “lane trackers” at 45 per cent. Failure to stop at an intersection reaches 61 per cent in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. More than three in five Albertans (63 per cent) recall a vehicle taking up two or more spaces in a parking lot. And a staggering three in four Atlantic Canadians (75 per cent) appear to suggest that signalling before a turn is optional.
More than three in five Canadians (62 per cent) are ready to point the finger at specific groups or people in their city or town who are worse drivers than others. Men are slightly more likely to offer a response to this open-ended question than women (64 per cent to 60 per cent). Those aged 18-34 are also more likely to speak their mind (67 per cent) than their counterparts aged 35-54 (60 per cent) and aged 55 and over (61 per cent).
We usually have respondents who do not want to share what, or who, is responsible for the decline of driving prowess. Still, as was the case in 2023, a third of respondents who volunteered a reply (33 per cent, unchanged) complain about those who are “young.” Those who are “elderly” are now in third place with 16 per cent (down five points).
The big change is the increase in respondents who blame “immigrants” for bad driving behaviour, going from 12 per cent in 2023 to 22 per cent in 2025. This is higher than “Asian” (14 per cent, down two points), “distracted” (four per cent, up two points), “women” (four per cent, unchanged) or “men” (three per cent, unchanged).
The survey provides two opportunities for reflection. The open-ended question continues to show Canadians focusing primarily on age and ethnicity when they feel wronged by a driver on the road. Few Canadians blame gender, and even fewer single out a type of vehicle, a brand, or a line of work. Our reactions are decidedly visceral: it’s the fault of “those people.”
It is also important to note that, since 2018, only twice have we seen large proportions of Canadians saying that drivers were “the same” as before: 2020 and 2021—the years in which the COVID-19 pandemic saw us commute to school or work less often than in previous or subsequent years. The more we move away from home, the less confidence we express on the drivers around us.
Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.
Results are based on an online survey conducted from Feb.16-18, 2025, among 1,002 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
