Driving in Toronto is Difficult

One-way changes direction

Downtown Toronto can be difficult to navigate while driving.  Here are a few things to be aware of.  First, Toronto is full of one-way streets and while this isn't novel for a big city, I've never seen a city full of so many one-way streets that change direction every block or so.  As soon as you get to an intersection in our neighborhood, you have to turn right or left because the street you are driving on changes to a one-way in the opposite direction - see the picture to the right.  I guess they do this so people can't overload the side streets with traffic.  Luckily, Google Maps is up-to-date with all of this information so your directions should be up-to-date.

Next, there are tons of places where left turns aren't allowed even though the street is a two-way street.  These are typically your larger, main-artery streets such as Yonge, Bloor, Bathurst, Dufferin, Eglinton, etc.  But, the confusing part is that the days and times when you're not allowed to turn are different for each intersection.  Some are just during the morning and/or afternoon rush hour while others are weekdays only (until 6 or 6:30 or 7 or 10pm), some include Saturdays, and some never allow lefts.  I struggle with this because the signs are very small so I can't read which times are affected until I get right up on the sign, and then I'm blocking traffic.  Unfortunately Google Maps isn't as up-to-date on these rules I guess since they change depending on the day and time?

Walmer Road to the left, Robert to the right

Also, streets often change names at an intersection.  This gets really confusing especially when you don't know where you're going and you're looking for a certain street.  You may have to be looking on a certain side of the car to see the sign with the appropriate name like in the picture to the left. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind that will make your driving life a bit easier:  (1) Weekdays between 7am and 7pm are pretty tricky especially with parking and left turns though mid day say 10-2 traffic is generally lighter.  (2) I find driving in or out of the city particularly tricky on Saturdays as it seems that many people are trying to do the same.  (3) Sunday mornings are by far the best time to drive in the city if you must as there aren't that many people out and parking is free until 1pm.