In Ontario (as mentioned) it is legal to pass on a single or double solid 'Yellow' line... 'Provided' it is 'Safe' to do so. In Ontario it is illegal to cross a solid 'White' line... Yet so many drivers cross the solid white. Most people choose to ingore, or are just plain ignorant of the rules of the road.
Here is a pic for you... recently taken in Mississauga. All the cars are parked at the side of the road. Then, you have a solid white, a bike lane, and then another solid white...
How the heck does this work 'Legally'????
The world is so facked up!
Ontario is not very good at writing laws nor of consistently enforcing them nor of planning for situations like this. Engineering principles aren't applied properly, and not even simple logic is applied properly.
If the intent is for a solid white line to be "do not ever cross this line" then the layout of the road should be designed so that it is not necessary to cross it! If that means the bike lane should be on the other side of the parking lane ... so be it. If that means the bike lane should have dotted lines to allow crossing it ... so be it. If that means an exception should be written into law ... so be it.
There are PLENTY of other examples.
HTA prohibits a vehicle from producing "intermittent flashes of red light" and writes in an exception for four-way flashers. What about cars that have red rear turn signals? Those produce "intermittent flashes of red light" just as well as four-way flashers do. By the way the law is written, the car that I own now is illegal, as was the one I owned before it. (That turn signals really ought to all be amber, front or rear, as required everywhere else in the world outside North America, is quite another matter. But if the feds allow red rear turn signals then the provincial laws shouldn't make them illegal.) I fully realize that no cop in his right mind would ever apply this law in this manner (and most of their own cop cars violate this law "as written").
No-passing zones ... Now and again, one will see a "no passing" sign. In THAT situation, overtaking is illegal - the lane markings might not be written into law, but signs sure are. Now ... Where are the cancellation-of-restriction signs? When is overtaking once again allowed? For a counter example ... go to Germany. They are absolutely diligent about properly signing not only where a restriction starts, but also where the restriction is cancelled. School zones are similar - some of them do have cancellation signs, but others (including a big one near my house) sure don't.
P.S. I'm not so sure that the HTA so explicitly prevents crossing a white line. If there is such a restriction, please cite the section and clause. s. 151(5) prohibits driving on a "paved shoulder" (but without describing how a "paved shoulder" is identified!), and s. 154(1) covers HOV lane markings, but I can't find any general statement prohibiting anyone from crossing ANY road marking ...
