OHTA.ca

Hi,

I am trying to verify if making a left turn from a driveway in specific conditions is allowed or not.

This is the road in question:

Bigger version: http://i.imgur.com/Nvme8FG.jpg

A link to that place at Google maps: http://tinyurl.com/kh4x94c

I am wondering if making left turns from either of the visible driveways

(the one on this side of the road, and the one on the opposite side) is legal.

What about turning INTO one of these two driveways from the main road?

In the middle, there is an area between solid yellow lines, which is quite wide.

Should this be considered a median? And if so, does it mean that this turn is illegal?

Or is it simply not legal because there are two yellow lines?

I wasn't able to find any law or rule that talks about that.

I found some posts in various places discussing left turn laws in Ontario

(which are apparently different than in other provinces)

and most of the opinions were that turning left across yellow lines was OK.

I also found this: http://drivingtests101.com/Ontario-G1-D ... llowing-is.

They have a following question: "Which of the following is true for 2 sets of solid, double yellow lines that are more than 2 feet apart?".

There are following possible answers:

- Should be treated as a separate traffic lane

- May be crossed to enter or exit a private driveway

- May be crossed to pass a vehicle slowing down to make a right turn

- May not be crossed for any reason

The last one is marked as correct.

But, again, I couldn't find any rules about that. Does anybody know what they are? Or where to find them?

Thanks!

In Ontario, yellow lines or yellow signs are just cautions/guidelines/warnings or whatever you want to call them. There's nothing that stops you from crossing a solid yellow line as long as it is safe to do so.

bend wrote:In Ontario, yellow lines or yellow signs are just cautions/guidelines/warnings or whatever you want to call them. There's nothing that stops you from crossing a solid yellow line as long as it is safe to do so.

Thanks! What about solid white?

For example, if the solid white line of that left turn lane started earlier,

meaning that to turn left from one of the driveways you would

have to cross that line? Would a turn like that be legal?

No problems with crossing any lines, yellow or white. You cannot however, cross raised or lowered medians/ditches (like on 401 hwy, or the concrete divider in your picture).

Hi there, I would like to respond to the comment by "john deere" because I don't think he's entirely correct about not crossing a median when turning left. There is a road in Toronto called Yonge Boulevard where there is a raised median along most of the length of the middle of this road where cars are allowed to mount and cross the median in order to enter and exit their driveways. In fact, often people will even park their cars on this median because there is no room on the road to leave a parked car. I guess this road is an exception to the rule? Thanks

I know the area you're talking about. This is one of those cases where you have to go by the Highway Traffic Act definition of "median" versus the plain English one. The Highway Traffic Act describes a median strip as the following:

portion of a highway so constructed as to separate traffic travelling in one direction from traffic travelling in the opposite direction by a physical barrier or a raised or depressed paved or unpaved separation area that is not intended to allow crossing vehicular movement

Since the feature on Yonge Boulevard has "soft" curbs that allows vehicles to cross, it doesn't meet the H.T.A. definition.

So in essence, you're both correct. You can cross a median, just as long as its not an H.T.A. median.

Edit: Add a Street View shot for reference.