Some new pixelboard sign messages on the 401 today, including one that gave my heart a wee flutter:
"SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT".
By definition, this means if someone - ANYONE - is going faster than you, pull over to the right and let them pass.
It is the law, after all, clearly stated in two separate sub-sections of the Highway Traffic Act.
The signs (and the laws) also make no reference whatsoever to WHAT speed you're going. "Slow-ER" is a relative, not an absolute, term.
Just because you're obeying one law (the speed limit) does not give you the right to break two others.
The wording is not quite as strong as "ALL TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT" would be, or, as they say in Australia, "KEEP LEFT EXCEPT WHEN OVERTAKING" (their 'left', of course, is our 'right').
But I'll take anything I can get.
The sad thing, as regular readers know all too well, is that the people who design our highways don't seem to know the people who prepare the pixelboard signs (or the Highway Traffic Act).
So they keep designing the lanes such that the driving lane keeps disappearing.
This is illogical, dangerous, confusing, and Beyond Stupid.
And it's one area where the Australians are no smarter than we are - their driving lane keeps disappearing too.
What's wrong with these people? Why do only England and Germany (and Newfoundland, bless their hearts) seem to get this right?
And why can't I flush some of these highway designers out so they can try to explain to me why they keep doing it wrong?
Or so maybe I can beat some sense into them...
The first time I drove in Newfoundland I was saying that I was glad someone in Canada got it right. Maybe it's because they are closer to England and Germany. I end up passing on the right way to often here.
Posted by: krazykar | February 13, 2011 at 06:41 PM