Behaviours – Courtesy and Sharing the Road

What the Law Says

Obeying the Highway Safety Code is essential to ensure safe, cooperative and responsible driving. Let's all show courtesy on the road to avoid conflicts and accidents.

Duty of Care

All road users have a duty, especially toward more vulnerable users, to be careful and considerate when travelling on a public road.

Drivers of road vehicles have a duty to show extra care toward more vulnerable users, such as people with reduced mobility, pedestrians and cyclists.

Vulnerable users, for their part, have a duty to adopt behaviours that enhance their own safety.

Obeying the Highway Safety Code and courtesy on the road

Sharing the road means obeying the Highway Safety Code and displaying courtesy on the road.

Basic rules

  • Obey traffic signs and signals, such as traffic lights, mandatory stops, speed limits and the obligation to yield the right of way
  • Respect other road users' right of way, for example at pedestrian crossings and intersections
  • Signal your intentions with your turn signal light, or with a hand signal if you are cycling
  • Do not tailgate other vehicles
  • When passing pedestrians and cyclists in a vehicle, be sure to leave enough space between you and them:
    • 1 m in zones of 50 km/h or less
    • 1.5 m in zones over 50 km/h

Penalties and fines

If you fail to obey the rules, you are liable to:

  • a fine, whose amount varies depending on the offence
  • demerit points, whose number varies depending on the offence