A Los Angeles-based comedian who grew up in Toronto is calling out the gridlock along Highway 401, noting that its far worse than any traffic in California. Actor and comedian Steph Tolev took to Instagram over the weekend to share her hatred for the 401 after one particularly frustrating drive. “If I ever hear one more person ever complain that L.A. has the worst traffic you have never been to Toronto, you have never been to the 401,” she said. “Why am I in gridlock in Milton, Ontario, then at a standstill in Guelph?” The video has amassed more than one million views on Instagram with more than 64,000 people liking the post as of publication. In the video, Tolev - who stars in the Netflix show “Tires” - questions why there would be gridlock in Milton, Ont. at all, proclaiming that “cows live there.” She then takes another swipe at the town west of Toronto, as she continues to complain about her drive. “No one lives in Milton. Is Milton on the map? I hate Milton,” she said. Based on the census information available from Statistics Canada, 132,979 people live in Milton as of 2021. So far nearly 4,400 people have commented on the video, including numerous Milton residents. “Not me, living in Milton, watching this,” one commenter said. “Miltonian here – nobody actually lives IN Milton, we just live parked on the 401. I hope this was helpful,” said another. Others commented on the general driving experience of Highway 401. “It’s not that bad. You just can’t take it from 7am-9pm Monday through Sunday,” one Instagram user wrote. This is not the first time a celebrity has felt enraged by traffic in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. Though primarily focusing on downtown Toronto traffic, Tom Cruise, Niall Horan, and Will Ferrell are a few who couldn’t believe how clogged the streets were when they visited here. In 2023, Cruise reflected on his experience driving in the city when asked if you can keep a cool head when stuck in Toronto traffic. “What’s up with the traffic in Toronto? Have they figured this out?” Cruise questioned then. The following year, it appeared Toronto had not figured that out. Irish singer Niall Horan ditched his car to walk to Scotiabank Arena to perform his concert because the traffic was “too bad” in the city. “In all the years I’ve been playing shows, I don’t think I’ve ever walked into a venue,” he said at the time. Ferrell might want to have followed Horan’s footsteps when he arrived to Toronto a few months later. In September 2024, the comedian said the city’s traffic delayed his and co-star Harper Steele’s commute to the Toronto International Film Festival. “It took us 30 minutes to go a block,” Ferrell told Etalk. “It was rough,” Steele said. But, since they are both from Los Angeles, Ferrell said they were “used to it.” In 2025, TomTom reported that Toronto had the second-worst traffic in Canada and that drivers in the city lost 100 hours to rush hour traffic during the year. Across North America, Toronto came in ninth in the index of gridlocked cities, while Los Angeles placed third. However, drivers in L.A. don’t lose nearly as many hours per year to rush hour traffic as those in Toronto, according to TomTom. L.A. drivers lost 83 hours to heavy traffic, which is 17 hours less than Toronto drivers.
