To any and all of you who find it necessary to sit in a left lane with your left blinker on blocking those behind you, it is legal to make a left turn onto a one way street in the left direction! A good example is when on Hollis st. going South, you may turn Left at the red light on George St. going towards the water! This keeps the traffic flowing on a crowded busy street. So while we’re at it-if you’re NOT turning left, stay out of the left turning lane!! Stupid lane hogs make the congestion even worse!! I’m sick of sitting behind a car with it’s stupid blinker blinking, who just waits for the green light when he could already have turned! Naturally, once the light is green, pedestrians start walking and it slows things down even further. Pay attention and learn the rules of the road. If I’m behind you honking-this is why!
This article appears in May 15-21, 2008.
I didn’t believe you, EH. I didn’t believe it was ever legal to turn left on a red light under any circumstances. But you seemed pretty sure of yourself, so I checked it out. Turns out you are partly right. It is permissible to turn left from a one way onto another one way at a red light in all provinces EXCEPT Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Sorry.
Do it anyways, if people can run red lights going straight while there is a cop there and they simply shrugs their shoulders when you point it out (actually happened to me, could not believe it), then it seems that left on a one-way is no different, hell it should be safer than running a red. Also, how different is it than a right-on-red (where the proper etiquette is to come to a complete stop, look, and then go. Too many times people barely slow down, they assume that the traffic will slow down.)?
Uh, Miranda, try again. Right from the driver’s handbook;”It’s illegal to make a left turn on a red light, EXCEPT for left turns at a red light from a one-way street to another one-way street”. (really could use some italics)It’s on page 4 of chapter 2, avail here: http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/rmv/handbook/I've no idea where you got your info. Incidentally, in Quebec, you can’t make any turns on a red light. Anyway, there you go. Straight from the source, you sure can make a left from a one way onto another, which is fairly common sensical.
I stand corrected, Pete. I actually got my info directly from the Motor Vehicle Act, but the copy I have is a year old. This is a change that came into effect on Oct 1 2007. I wanted EH to be right, and I was disappointed when I thought he wasn’t.
Ah, I hadn’t even thought of looking there. I found with traveling a lot in Canada that the easiest spot to confirm stuff is right in the handbook, which seems to be a non-legalese version of the local rules of the road.No worries though, glad to dispel your disappointment.
Pete – Quebec changed the right turn on red laws last year. It is now permitted unless a sign indicates otherwise and is still prohibited on the Island of Montreal. Quebec City itself was still debating what intersections needed no-turn signage six months after the law was ammended. Anyone coming into Montreal will see highway signs stating the no-turn law, one sign in particular is just after the PetroCan when leaving Trudeau Airport so visitors know what to do.
Ah, no way, I moved away two year ago and haven’t been back since last summer. That’s sweet, didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Thanks for the info.