Originally Posted by chromedome
On the many occasions I've visited/bike toured/trained in Canada, I've always had a feeling of it being a kinder, gentler place than the states. Are there as many psychos, pervos, beer-laden-good-old-boys-with-nothing-else-better-to-dos there?
Even in Alberta, home of the jacked up F250 pickup truck redneck, I had no problem with the Bubba factor.
Definitely not the same level of violence, if you look at the relative crime rates for ****, murder etc compared between two large cities. For example, Houston vs. Vancouver. There are parts of the USA where I would borrow a friend's Keltec P32 and ride with it in my jersey pocket. I can't think of anywhere in Canada I feel the need to be armed.
Certain cities do have a violence problem, but it's almost exclusively gang on gang violence related to the drug trade. Toronto police estimate 80% of their yearly murders are gang-vs-gang.