Poll Shows Long Weekend Means a Long Drive for Many Canadians

These days everything has a price, and according to a new poll conducted for Goodyear Canada by Environics Research Group, for many Canadians the price of relaxation this long weekend will be a lot of driving. According to the Goodyear Long Weekend Monitor, Canadians planning to travel this weekend expect to spend an average of 16 hours relaxing and five hours driving – about 20 minutes behind the wheel for every waking hour of relaxation. 17% of Canadians expect to spend no time relaxing at all.
“Goodyear’s survey is telling us that for many Canadians, relaxation is a distant destination,” said David MacDonald, Vice President of Environics Group. “We’ve become a society that figuratively and literally drives itself hard, even on long weekends.”
Goodyear’s survey also showed that for many drivers, those five hours behind the wheel this long weekend will involve dodging potholes, bumps and other pavement hazards. Three in five Canadian drivers, or 62%, said they experience such hazards “often” or “very often”.
According to the Goodyear Long Weekend Monitor:
– Canadians planning to travel this long weekend expect to spend an average 16 hours relaxing and five hours driving – or 20 minutes behind the wheel for every waking hour that they relax;
– Ontarians expect to spend the most time relaxing (18 hours), British Columbians the least (13 hours);
– 17% of Canadians expect to spend no time relaxing at all this long weekend;
– British Columbians expect to spend the most time driving (six hours), and those in Manitoba and Saskatchewan the least (under four hours);
– Three in five (62%) Canadian drivers report encountering potholes, broken pavement or other road hazards “often” or “very often”;
– Coastal extremes: Eight in ten (79%) Atlantic Canadians report experiencing potholes and broken pavement “often” or “very often”; less than half (45%) say the same in British Columbia.