Does HTA 172 apply?
I was east bound, on a single lane road, stopped at a traffic light, signalled with intent to turn left. Opposite the red traffic light was the same as the west bound vehicle was also waiting for the green to turn left.
The light turned green, we both entered the intersection and traffic behind the west bound vehical passes on the right shoulder nearly wiping me and motorcycle out. As stressful as that was, I made another attempt at the left turn once there was a gap in the cagers illigal activities only to nearly get crushed by a pickup truck passing on the shoulder at yet a higher rate of speed. I gave the salute and the pickup driver stopped, looking for further confrontation.
It's perplexing to entertain the idea that he was angry with me and takes no responsibility with his self entitled ***.
I see this kind of stupidity happens almost every day now.
When it happens while I'm in my pickup truck then I get to blast them with a real horn. Oddly they seem to wonder why I'm upset and seem to have no clue about the danger they put themselves in and vehicles turning left.
If their going to make stupid and endless rules, perhaps they should enforce the existing ones first?
HTA 172 is so vague you could get towed for wearing the wrong coloured shirt but it's unlikely for this.
The base problem is that our money fixated political system only goes after the low hanging fruit, the stuff that is hard to beat in court because there is a radar blip or a red light camera photo for proof. Drivers do not even realize what other laws are out there. If you stay under the speed and DUI limits and don't run reds, you will likely never get a ticket.
I have always considered the shoulder, paved or not, as for emergency vehicles only but is that true?
It's also used by bicycles, Mennonite buggies, pedestrians as well as for breakdowns.
There is a patience Catch 22 issue. If OP was going east in very light traffic and there was only one westbound vehicle making a left the oncoming shoulder runners wouldn't be held up long to do things 100% correctly. If eastbound traffic is heavy and / or there were several westbound lefties the delay becomes measurable. I wouldn't be surprised if ten seconds was the acceptable maximum delay and that might be optimistic. What if you were in line on a bike and it started raining?
If I came to a stop behind ten cars waiting to turn left and due to traffic only one car got through every minute I would see ten minutes of my life being wasted and would look for alternates. Running the shoulder to get by one or two cars would be on my list of options but to right-pass ten would be a no-no. Sometimes the decision is bladder related. If I chose the pass on right option it would be at a cautious speed because another driver ahead of me might get the same idea.
I'm fortunate that my trips don't have serious time related money issues but others do. Commercial drivers are largely paid, one way or another, by the run. If they arrive a few minutes late and a facility is closed they could lose a significant portion of their needed income. Other drivers are just self centred A holes.
Bikes do it as well. It is purely speculation on my part but I came across a bike - left turner crash and I suspect the biker pulled out of the left lane and accelerated just as the shopper thought they were clear to make a left. The biker lost. He was semi-conscious and bleeding, being tended to by the fire department. The ambulance wasn't there yet. BTW, sneakers get ripped off in a crash and feet bleed too.
Don't expect changes unless there is an embarrassing number of crashes at one spot. Also expect oncoming cars to use your lane to get around a parked vehicle blocking theirs.
Driver I.Q. drops by 50% when they enter a parking lot. 75% if there's a sale on.
Don't get into the rage thing. It distracts you from dealing with the next idiot. I am serious on that.
www.google.ca
I just speed up now on stale greens in Milton. Solves the problem of getting hung out to dry on shaved yellows.
