Castanet

I see many people turning left onto a one-way street when they have a red light. Admittedly, it's been awhile since I was in driving school but this just seems wrong to me. Is this a legal maneuver?

It is perfectly legal to make a left hand turn onto a one-way street while facing a red light.

One way to one way - legal
Two way to one way - yes legal and I wish more people would know that
One way to two way - not legal

Here in BC yes, but I think other provinces are different (i.e. Alberta and Nova Scotia).

Two way to one way - yes legal

Fancy wrote:Here in BC yes, but I think other provinces are different (i.e. Alberta and Nova Scotia).

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Traffic rules should be the same everywhere and not different from Province to Province!

That's why you need to apply for a drivers licence when you move from province to province.

Fancy wrote:That's why you need to apply for a drivers licence when you move from province to province.

If they're going to charge you for a new license when moving to a new province, they should at least give you a list of the different driving laws in that province. There are so few that they should have made them the same across the county a long time ago anyway. You can grow up in Alberta where a flashing green light means the opposing traffic is facing a red light, then move here, get your BC license, and never be told that a flashing green here means it's a pedestrian controlled crosswalk, which of course can create havoc for Albertans turning left here at one (on top of their already horrendous driving.) You can't expect anyone to go through the whole driving manual to see if there's a few changes, too bad ICBC and the like can't clue into such a simple concept.

I was told to get the ICBC handbook and read it before renewing my licence - I'm glad I did.

Fancy wrote:That's why you need to apply for a drivers licence when you move from province to province.

Applying for a new license doesn't immediately import all of the different rules-of-the-road into your head.

That being said it doesn't exactly take a lot of time to educate yourself on these things.

A flashing green light in Ontario also represents an advanced left turn for those facing the light. But come to one intersection where the oncoming traffic appears to be "blowing through their red" and you realize pretty quickly things are different around here.

Not much you can do about the people who don't know the left-turn-onto-a-one-way-street rule around what. If they don't know, honking won't do anything but confuse 'em.

That's why on the ICBC website there's an indication of refreshing yourself on the laws here. You can do it online or go to the office and pick up a small booklet complete with pictures.

Fancy wrote:That's why on the ICBC website there's an indication of refreshing yourself on the laws here. You can do it online or go to the office and pick up a small booklet complete with pictures.

There aren't too many people who refresh themselves on the laws by having to go through all of them when they move here even though it's a good idea. Seeing as there are only a handful of different driving laws here, a little piece of paper mentioning the different laws here would be much more effective.

I do agree that makes more sense. People aren't going to ask when getting the licences renewed if there are any changes (going from province to province). You'd think that would be such a simple thing to do.

How about just adding a sign at those intersections that says: "Left turn on red is allowed"?

Always Sunny wrote:A flashing green light in Ontario also represents an advanced left turn for those facing the light. But come to one intersection where the oncoming traffic appears to be "blowing through their red" and you realize pretty quickly things are different around here.

My brother-in-law from the States was sure confused when he first came across a flashing green light when driving up to visit us. He started to slow to stop, but the honking behind him made him realize that flashing green = steady green = go.

peachlandnotary wrote:I see many people turning left onto a one-way street when they have a red light. Admittedly, it's been awhile since I was in driving school but this just seems wrong to me. Is this a legal maneuver?

Depends which way the one-way is and if you'll be going in to oncoming traffic. Ha!