06-09-2017, 11:38 AM
(06-09-2017, 11:10 AM)timc Wrote: Crosswalk markings at a place that isn't a crosswalk? What's up with that? Is some signage missing?
Also, I noticed that concrete base between the stop and look signs the other day; what is supposed to go there?
IANAL buuut here's my take anyway...crosswalk markings make a crosswalk:
“crosswalk” means,
(a) that part of a highway at an intersection that is included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the roadway, or
(b) any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs or by lines or other markings on the surface; (“passage protégé pour piétons”)
You might be confusing an "crosswalk" with a "controlled crosswalk" or a "PXO"....all different things, so far as I understand, I too have made this mistake.
Legally, I think Ontario's pedestrian laws are a mess.
Legally painting this crosswalk actually restricts what a pedestrian can do, and gives them no more right of way. Drivers are not required to yield to pedestrians at uncontrolled crosswalks like this (even though it seems that they are required to do so in most other places in Canada and the US).
In practice it probably makes drivers more aware of pedestrians. On the other hand, due to the aforementioned lack of pedestrian right of way, it may also create situations where some drivers yield improperly, while others do not, creating a potentially more unsafe situation.
I could rant all day about the this issue.