Is it me or road signs in Ontario bad?? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Is it me or road signs in Ontario bad??

sburns

sburns

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I've been perplexed by this for a while now, finally have 2 examples to share.

I did a ride to Northey's Bay rd this Sunday. At some point I was a little lost because I ended up someplace and there were no signs suggesting how far the next town etc was. Anyone else find the lack of signage frustrating?

1 - Exiting Northey's Bay rd at the East end. You have a right or left option. No sign at the intersection to suggest which way either might take you.
I went right (south) because my gas was getting low and should start back. This was now HWY 6, again on HWY 6 no signs suggesting what towns might be ahead. I pitstopped to GPS stuff.

2 - On my way to Northey's Bay I stopped in Buckhorn to then hop over to Burleigh Falls. At the intersection of HWY 37 & 36 there is no sign for Burleigh Falls only Bancroft, which I find is just dumb.

Am I the only one?
 
Hey, is that you? LOL Google Maps

Northey's Bay road is a little regional road that goes from one middle-of-nowhere to some other middle-of-nowhere. Regional Road 6 is little different. Most junctions of little regional roads don't give any indication of where they go. You're not supposed to use these little regional roads to actually get anywhere! LOL

Burleigh Falls isn't exactly a booming metropolis. 36 ends at Burleigh Falls (at 28). From the viewpoint of 36 in Buckhorn, if you're using 36 to get to 28 south, you're going the wrong way. If you're using 36 to get to 28 north to Bancroft ... that's the next booming metropolis in that general direction that it makes some sense (to people who are actually "going somewhere").

It's impossible to put every little hamlet's name on every sign of every road that goes towards it ...

Could be worse. Could be Europe. Nothing, not even motorways, have a "north" "south" "east" or "west". They give only the name of the next little town and, maybe, the next big city. You're supposed to know the name of the cities/towns that you're going towards. All well and good if you live there and know roughly where you are. Not so much if you're a stranger. Come to think of it, I think Australia was like that, too.
 
1. North goes to a mine by the looks of it. South goes nowhere really, but ends up behind you at Lakefield.

2. Everyone going north from Peterborough is going to Bancroft, no one is going to Burleigh Falls, unless they know where it is.
 
Brian P said:
Hey, is that you? LOL Google Maps

Could be worse. Could be Europe. Nothing, not even motorways, have a "north" "south" "east" or "west". They give only the name of the next little town and, maybe, the next big city. You're supposed to know the name of the cities/towns that you're going towards. All well and good if you live there and know roughly where you are. Not so much if you're a stranger. Come to think of it, I think Australia was like that, too.
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Lol, no that isn't me on Google Maps, but I am actually on GMaps someplace else...(in front of my house)

Oh dam, ya Europe.. I forgot how bad signs are there, I drove around for hours in Seville looking for a friend of mine. Combination of no visible road signs (sides of buildings don't count), narrow 1 way streets, and crazy roundabouts, and my friend's bad description of where they were.
 
I see what some of you are saying. I wouldn't expect all towns to be indicated, but something more, because in reality there are not that many roads around northern Ontario 🤷‍♂️
 
It may surprise you that not all street signs are put up by the town/city. At my work, I sometimes switch or change street signs which are totally unnecessary or are useless. If you find some that are wrongly placed, or missing you can report it to the councillor or someone who may oversee the placement of signage in that specific area.
 
CHRIS63 said:
It may surprise you that not all street signs are put up by the town/city. At my work, I sometimes switch or change street signs which are totally unnecessary or are useless. For example, we removed a few signs today in Regent Park. If you find some that are wrongly placed, or missing you can report it to the councillor or someone who may oversee the placement of signage in that specific area.
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Road signs are for paratroopers and spies. Everyone knows you navigate based on pubs.

In all seriousness though, with most of our roads being North-South or East-West, you don't really need too much signage.

If it's just a joy ride, a basic sense of direction and knowing the relative location of primary roads and highways will never get you lost.
 
I would say the amount of helpful signage on Ontario roads has slowly increased over the last 40 years.
 
sburns said:
I see what some of you are saying. I wouldn't expect all towns to be indicated, but something more, because in reality there are not that many roads around northern Ontario 🤷‍♂️
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I find eastern and sw Ontario to be lacking. Northern Ontario an NW Ontario are good, pretty much every intersection that goes somewhere tells you.
 
sburns said:
1 - Exiting Northey's Bay rd at the East end. You have a right or left option. No sign at the intersection to suggest which way either might take you.
I went right (south) because my gas was getting low and should start back. This was now HWY 6, again on HWY 6 no signs suggesting what towns might be ahead.
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You must be geographically challenged. You were about 100 miles from Hwy. 6.
 
I actually feel the signage is pretty good. I agree with what Brian P said about small roads and little towns. Same as when you exit the 401 they have the bigger name town in the direction stated and not every little town (or even the first one you come to).
BTW a old colleague lives on Northey's and has seen cars hit every animal including bears on that small road. It's curvy, but it's also wild-Canada with all the animals not to mention the idiot cottagers hauling trailers/boats crossing the center line not paying attention on those curves.
 
matthew said:
What irks me are the occasional "No Passing" signs but there is never a sign to indicate when passing is permitted after that.
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Oh, there's plenty wrong with Ontario road signage. We don't use proper international-convention road signs (we use some of them, but not all of them). The Germans (and Austrians and Swiss) are extremely diligent about denoting not only the beginning of each restriction but also the end of it. There's a "yield" sign in the direction that has to yield, but also a "priority" sign in the direction that doesn't. The beginning of built-up-area restrictions is denoted at the actual edge of the built-up area (not hundreds of metres before) and ends at the actual other end of the built-up area (not hundreds of metres after). An area that has sufficient visibility to permit overtaking is always marked as permitting overtaking - no endless no-overtaking zones for no apparent reason.

Just don't try navigating in Europe if you don't have rough knowledge of where the towns and cities are, and where you are ...
 
Some challenges when i first came here were . 1. Having to figure out where NSEW was all the time. 2. Learning at what point streets became East vs West, Dundas in Mississauga being a classic example. 3. Highway signs for on ramps that only mention the final destination - for example at Green lane and the 404 the sign just says " 404 South Toronto" - it doesnt say Aurora,Markham,etc
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