Traffic Signs

[S500K]

Just wondering....

Caution signs on a highway, 70km/h with a yellow background, is this just a suggestion or can a cop pull you over if your still doing 100km/h (usually around curves)

Stop signs on school campuses, malls, corner plazas - are these just suggestions too? A cop can't write you a ticket on private property?

[dru9]

Have to check to be sure, but back in the day you were able to go 10 kms over.

Edit: A quick Google search informed me that yellow signs are advisory i.e. on an onramp to a highway a posted yellow sign of 50 is advisory, where the actual limit would be 80 unless otherwise posted by a white sign.

[shanekingsley]

yes yellow is cautionary for your 1st question.
not sure about the answer to the 2nd question, but my my guess is that a cop can enforce a stop sign on private property like a school or mall.

[geoff-9]

no they cannot give you a private property ticket unless it involves the criminal code. e.g if you blow a mall stop sign ticket and you hit an old granny you might get dangerous driving. in the wording for most hta offences it says on the highway so just includes the roadway and the sidewalk.

if your exiting private property and there is a stop sign on the private property but your entering the highway you can get an unsafe turn from private driveway ticket.

[Charles Darwin]

I'm not sure what kind of malls you're visiting lately, but every one that I've visited in the GTA: I stop at every sign and take a good look around. Mall parking lots are like shark tanks.

[Salos Dafee]

I'm not sure what kind of malls you're visiting lately, but every one that I've visited in the GTA: I stop at every sign and take a good look around. Mall parking lots are like shark tanks.

Your actions may be sober and wise, but please do not count on others to obey signs in a mall.

In the first place, signs on private property do not have the force of law. Not if the owner wants them to, and not even if the owner hires police to hassle those who disobey them. Yes the cops can hassle, but they cannot lay a charge under the HTA on private property, because it is the HIGHWAY Traffic Act, not the Everywhere Traffic Act.

In the second place, people who know the above, and especially people who hardly know anything at all, willingly disobey signs in malls for reasons which we cannot guess.

So watch yourself.

Want to see a REALLY peculiar sign? Go east on Lawrence Avenue East from Bridle Path toward Leslie Street. You go down and up a hill, and there is a YELLOW sign advising against a left turn onto Brian Cliff Drive. It is not on a white background, so it does not state the law. I suspect a genuine NO LEFT TURN sign was put there and residents of Brian Cliff Drive objected, "I LIVE there! Don't make me go around the dang block, making THREE other left turns, to go home!" but I am just guessing.

[Baggsy]

Here's another weird one:

Lakeshore Blvd Westbound before Gardiner on ramp - 60 kph

Gardiner Expressway Westbound on ramp - 60 kph advised


Gardiner Expressway Westbound just before merge with DVP - 90 kph begins

Does that mean that they can sit on the hashed area or follow you and pull you over if you are going 90 up the ramp?

[Charles Darwin]

Your actions may be sober and wise, but please do not count on others to obey signs in a mall.

That's why I sit and watch and wait. I've watched (while in a cage, and on my bike) multiple cars breeze right through mall "intersections" without so much as a brake tap or a look around. I am a patient man - I'll wait until it's safe and clear to move.

[shanekingsley]

Does that mean that they can sit on the hashed area or follow you and pull you over if you are going 90 up the ramp?

Me thinks yes, because the first formal increase to 90 doesn't occur until that DVP merge sign. So technically, the whole length of that on-ramp you need to stay at 60. I can kind of see why in that case, because as you make your way up that ramp, just at the top of the ramp there is a somewhat sudden 'S' bend (before the 90 sign) that could create problems for people not following the path of the lanes and crossing over the lines. On a bike it's no problem, but many times, I have people reach that S bend and fully come into my lane because they are not paying attention.

[Griffin]

I'm more than a bit surprised that an Ontario licensed driver would ask, but, the answer is that speeds posted on the amber signs are cautionary suggestions. Speeds posted on white signs are mandatory. However, if you are ignoring the suggested sign's speed a cop can always charge you with careless, but then, they can charge you with careless for scratching your butt too.

[djltoronto]

Want to see a REALLY peculiar sign? Go east on Lawrence Avenue East from Bridle Path toward Leslie Street. You go down and up a hill, and there is a YELLOW sign advising against a left turn onto Brian Cliff Drive. It is not on a white background, so it does not state the law. I suspect a genuine NO LEFT TURN sign was put there and residents of Brian Cliff Drive objected, "I LIVE there! Don't make me go around the dang block, making THREE other left turns, to go home!" but I am just guessing.

Very interesting sign indeed...

http://g.co/maps/f7jj4

[PLau]

Very interesting sign indeed...

http://g.co/maps/f7jj4

Maybe they ran out of white signs? lol

[mindactivated]

white = mandatory sign
yellow = suggested sign
orange = construction sign aka points/cost doubles when breaking the law of this sign.

I think that's how the orange one works. Just thought I would throw that in there so people aren't disobeying construction signs.

[Salos Dafee]

white = mandatory sign
yellow = suggested sign
orange = construction sign aka points/cost doubles when breaking the law of this sign.

I think that's how the orange one works. Just thought I would throw that in there so people aren't disobeying construction signs.

OK, then here is another idea for you. In Saskatchewan, which is still a tad beyond the edge of Greater Toronto, the maximum speed anywhere in a construction zone is 60 KPH or the normal speed limit, whichever is less, unless a specific sign states a limit which is even lower.

[TwistedKestrel]

Also keep in mind that in certain states, the yellow signs actually ARE mandatory speed limits.

[elton_t]

here is GTA, yellow sign means nothing. just ride within the white sign limit

[JZ67]

here is GTA, yellow sign means nothing. just ride within the white sign limit

Pegassus is that you???

No, earlier posters have this correct. Yellow signs DO mean something. It means that you are advised to use the speed limit posted as a cautionary method. Although you do not have to use the speed advised you have otherwise been advised.

Eg. Southbound 427 ramp onto the 407 east suggests you do 30 kph. Although taking that ramp at 100 kph is more fun I would bet a few would eat the wall if they tried so it is suggested that you slow down so you don't eat the wall.