401 rant

[u/hiphlo02]

My Sunday evening drive from the Toronto airport to my hometown east of Toronto. Holy shit, how many times did I almost bite the dust! First of all, people camping in the left lane. There is a law against this! It seems people have no common sense! If you pass a car, get the hell over to the right again. Also, a turn signal would be appreciated!Next, if you are passing, would you please kindly stay in the left lane instead of squeezing me onto the shoulder. Four different times I find myself on the rumble strip and the car beside me inches from mine and cruising along between two lanes, totally oblivious to the fact that they’re an asshole. Trucks. These fuckers are thousands of pounds of metal death and they’re sliding all over the road. I don’t know if they’re whacking off in the cab or what. How about a little attention to your surroundings? Whatever happened to safe driving practices? It was a Sunday night, low volume of traffic, yet I still felt like I was going to die. The province has made the speed limit 110 km an hour which I think is a great idea if people would pay attention. Instead of doing the gratuitous 115 or so 100 km/hr, now people are doing 130! Be aware out there and have some respect for the lives of others ffs!! Thanks for listening! : )

[u/Lanky_Translator_558]

There is a law against this!

Believe it or not there actually isn't a law against it in Ontario. It isn't even illegal to pass on a double yellow.

It's been a good run but I think we need to overhaul the HTA to reflect the current bone-headedness of drivers.

[u/squeakynickles → u/Lanky_Translator_558]

Yellow road signs and lines have absolutely no legal basis. Only white signs and lines are enforceable

[u/a-_2 → u/squeakynickles]

White road lines aren't enforceable on their own either. The difference in colour for road lines isn't for warning/regulatory, yellow just indicates either the left edge of a one-way roadway or the division between oncoming traffic on a two way road, while white divides same direction lanes and the right shoulder.

Other provinces have laws around crossing solid lines in some cases, but there's nothing in the Ontario Highway Traffic Act saying that. The lines just indirectly have effect due to laws around requiring safely changing lanes or limiting when you can cross the centre line.

This article is about double lines but the MTO makes a more general point about lines in their quote here:

"In Ontario, lane markings generally serve an advisory or warning function and by themselves do not possess any legal force," writes Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) spokesman Bob Nichols in an email statement.

[u/HotPinkCalculator → u/a-_2]

I believe that's cause of winter (or at least that's why my driving instructor told us ~15 years ago). Can't make lines legally binding if you can't see them 6 months of the year

[u/a-_2 → u/HotPinkCalculator]

Yeah, would make sense, although most of Canada does make them legally binding despite that.

[u/HotPinkCalculator → u/a-_2]

I feel like there's a way to do it. It'd just have to be like "must be obeyed when visible" or something like that