Toronto Queens Quay & Water's Edge Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

Apparently there was another collision today, at Simcoe. Lost count at this point. Reports state that the Mercedes driver ran the left turn red straight into the path of a streetcar and got t-boned, which would match the damage seen in the photo. Source.

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nfitz said:
Though normally there isn't the green streetcar signal to create extra confusion. This could so easily be changed to use a non-green signal for the streetcars, which would reduce the number of accidents.
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Those green signals have since been replaced by green arrows pointing straight ahead. No longer that confusing.
 
ndawgg said:
Overdramatic, much? I'm talking about Queens Quay aka the thread we're posting in with the new streetcars. Not buses on Eglinton. A place where it IS crawling with tourists. I just happened to get on at Union before I used this route otherwise I would have had my token ready and not known what the heck to do either and I've lived downtown for 12 years. It boils down to why aren't there places for tickets/tokens at the front doors where tourists load instead of somewhere near the back where the locals with POP load. It makes no sense. Its a simple thing and doesn't equate to your overly exaggerated "nanny state" comment. Smh. I forgot that everyone should be a knowledgeable Toronto transit nerd, even people who are visiting for the first time.
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Don't take my word for it. Take a first hand account from someone else. These are not tourists. These are locals in their own bubbles and the sooner they are prevented from disrupting and slowing service down for everyone else, the better. I know it's hard to see outside the bubble from within it but trust the rest of us on this.
 
Tuscani01 said:
Those green signals have since been replaced by green arrows pointing straight ahead. No longer that confusing.
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Not as confusing. Was that recent, or did I miss it on my trips down 509 in June and July?

Still ... they don't have to use green. The white bars work well for left turns.
 
nfitz said:
Not as confusing. Was that recent, or did I miss it on my trips down 509 in June and July?

Still ... they don't have to use green. The white bars work well for left turns.
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I think it was late July/early August. It was in Waterfront Toronto's update a few pages back. Agree about the white bar though, especially when placed on top of the signal, where it absolutely cannot be confused with a green turn signal.
 
Tuscani01 said:
I think it was late July/early August. It was in Waterfront Toronto's update a few pages back. Agree about the white bar though, especially when placed on top of the signal, where it absolutely cannot be confused with a green turn signal.
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That is indeed the standard the world over.
Boston:
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San Francisco:
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(I wouldn't even know what that indicator meant without googling…no way would I get confused with my signal as a car)
Copenhagen:
CopenhagenTrafficLights_0.jpg

(An extra complicated example).

These are all very intuitive.
Cars: watch for green circles, arrows, etc.
Transit: Looks at white bars, triangles, and what-evers
Bicyclists: coloured bike signals are very obvious.

No one is confused. Imagine if you did this in Toronto. There would be identical sets of green, yellow, and red lights side-by-side with wordy text above each one.
 
Napoleon said:
No one is confused. Imagine if you did this in Toronto. There would be identical sets of green, yellow, and red lights side-by-side with wordy text above each one.
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Ontario traffic code desperately needs an update in this area. With the abundance of BRT/LRT being funded, it would seem now (if not 10 years ago) is a great time to make these changes.
 
for some cyclists, it's not a matter of being confused. they just don't want to stop.

I don't think it's the majority, but even a small number of cyclists failing to obey will cause big problems on a busy day.
 
rbt said:
Ontario traffic code desperately needs an update in this area. With the abundance of BRT/LRT being funded, it would seem now (if not 10 years ago) is a great time to make these changes.
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So true. There are other traffic code changes that Ontario has to catch up with. Speed limits (up to 120 km/h for the 400 series, the default urban speed limits should be 40 km/h), more pictographs signals and signs, transit specific signals, single-rider motorcyclists should be able to use the HOV on provincial roads, motorcyclists should be allowed to ride side-by-side.

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Illegal in Ontario
 
rbt said:
Ontario traffic code desperately needs an update in this area. With the abundance of BRT/LRT being funded, it would seem now (if not 10 years ago) is a great time to make these changes.
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The vertical white bar is already allowed, and the recent update to the traffic code added bicycle symbols.

Every driver shall obey every traffic control signal that applies to the lane that he or she is in and, for greater certainty, where both a traffic control signal that is not a bicycle traffic control signal and a bicycle traffic control signal apply to the same lane,
(a) a person riding or operating a bicycle in that lane shall obey the bicycle traffic control signal;
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Exception – white vertical bar indication
(19.1) Despite subsection (18), a driver operating a bus or street car on a scheduled transit authority route approaching a traffic control signal showing a white vertical bar indication may, with caution, proceed forward or turn right or left. 1994, c. 27, s. 138 (13).
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It's just a matter of actually implementing use of the transit signal.
 
mettle said:
for some cyclists, it's not a matter of being confused. they just don't want to stop.

I don't think it's the majority, but even a small number of cyclists failing to obey will cause big problems on a busy day.
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I fully agree. While I enthusiastically support the Idaho Stop for stop signs on side streets, I think running a red light in a major city is unacceptable. (The one exception being intersections where you are unable to trigger the green from a side street with a bike). I would very much like to see bikes ticketed for running reds. Unfortunately, I seem to only know cyclists that have warned or ticketed for slowly rolling through stop signs.
 
This from the U.S. Department of Transportation, from link:

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Compare with MTO's:

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Transit priority signals

Traffic and pedestrians must yield to public transit vehicles at a transit priority signal. The round signal is on top of a regular traffic signal and shows a white vertical bar on a dark background. This allows transit vehicles to go through, turn right or left, while all conflicting traffic faces a red light.
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Aug 15
Now the games are over, I guess they will finish installing the south railing on the bridge. Most likely will have an impact on TTC serive.
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