Montreal City Weblog

Kate 08:43 on 2020-01-30 Permalink Reply  

• Ian 10:11 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  Lane markers have worn away on about 80% of the road surfaces in the city. They can’t be repainted in winter in any case.

• John B 10:17 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  I’m pretty sure I’ve seen studies saying roads are safer without lane markers because drivers pay more attention, but everything I’ve seen applies to surface streets, not freeways. It would be interesting to see if some accident stats could be teased out of somewhere in a year’s time, and compare pre- and post- line painting.

  The CTV article mentions the 50k/h speed limit being ignored. That speed limit is ridiculous. I get it that it’s there because the space is technically a “construction zone” but huge sections between the 15/20 interchange and Ville-St-Pierre interchange are essentially finished, yet still have a (completely unenforced) 50km/h limit. If we want people to respect speed limits they should be reasonable, (ie, highway speed in the sections where the road is done), and enforced.

• Blork 10:51 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  “…roads are safer without lane markers because drivers pay more attention.” I can see that being true in places where driving culture is oriented towards safety and respect for others, but as been discussed here at length, Montreal driving culture is pretty much the opposite.

• Spi 11:38 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  I agree with Blork, maybe in places where speed limits are lower and there is a more fluid interaction between all forms of transit but in this city all it would lead to is the magical appearance of additional lanes like on rené-lévesque.

• dwgs 11:48 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  I’ve been driving a long time, often in lousy conditions and I’m usually pretty unflappable but I drove that section of the 20 last weekend and it was stressful. Four lanes of cars travelling from 50 to 100 km/h with nobody quite sure of where they should be, it was bedlam.

• Ian 11:49 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  It’s especially hairy when there is a lane that must turn that is not indicated with street markings so people don’t realize their lane is about to suddenly end until they are in the intersection. There are a lot more of those than you might think in Montreal.

  Add to this that lot of Montreal only makes sense if you have actually driven that specific route before, I can’t imagine how out-of-towners cope with it. The first 3 mornings I tried to take the 40 from Acadie I ended up on the road to Laval.

  But yeah like Blork & Spi said, “studies have shown”, haha. Did you know Beaumont is 2 lanes going west from Parc plus a parking lane? That’s how people use it, despite it being only one lane plus parking. There is a cop station right at Beaumont and Querbes, I guess they don’t see enforcing local traffic laws as part of their jobs. That is of course only one specific example amongst a multitude.

  As far as the 50k speed limit, I disagree – that is a very safe speed when you’re in the spaghetti heading east, especially at night, especially as right after a series of high speed hairpin turns people start rapidly switching lanes as they come up into the downtown exits. I me man let’s be real everyone drives 20 over minimum anyhow, so I don’t think that posting should be changed to 70 or people will be flipping their cars like a bunch of dopes. I’ll be honest, regardless of its completeness the 20 always feels way less safe than the 40 to me all the way from Ste Anne to Viau.

• Ian 12:13 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  to clarify & correct
  I mean let’s be real, everyone drives 20 km/h over the speed limit, minimum, anyhow

• Blork 14:32 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  (Here’s me fixing the Internet one edit at a time: Ian means “everyone drives at least 20 km/h over the speed limit anyhow.)

  A further note on the lack of readable road signage: history is full of stories about cities that removed all road signage in times of war and siege in order to confuse the invading armies. I often think of this when I’m driving around Montreal and environs. The road signage tends to be SO BAD that I feel like it must be deliberate, that someone somewhere DOES NOT WANT ME TO KNOW.

  Of course that’s not the case, but there is clearly very little thought put into it. As Ian mentions, there are many streets where you don’t realize you’re in a turning lane until you reach the intersection — and are thus committed — even though you had no intention of turning. The only indications are a few faded arrows on the street that you can’t see if there’s a lot of traffic or if there is snow on the ground. Maybe a small sign right at the intersection, but you can’t see that because it’s behind a tree or is lost in a sea of visual noise, or a truck is blocking the view.

  Ditto wide intersections of primary boulevards where the only indication of what street you are crossing is one tiny white street sign that’s similarly lost in a sea of visual noise. You approach the intersection knowing you want to turn at Papineau or whatever, and there’s NO SIGN, so you slow down and start scanning the six or eight posts where a sign might be, distracted by searching for street signs instead of watching the goddamn road, and people start honking at you making it worse. By the time you see the sign (if you see it at all) it’s too late to turn. THIS HAPPENS A LOT.

• Dhomas 14:40 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  Doesn’t everyone have a GPS built into their smartphone? I haven’t looked at a street sign in ages while driving.

• Blork 15:46 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  Sure, but not everyone engages their navigation system when they’re driving in familiar territory. For example, the “Papineau” example happened to me just last weekend; I was driving back from the JT market, and I usually get to Papineau via St-Zot or Beaubien, but that day I was on Belanger, and as I approached Papineau I figure it was probably it but it would have been nice to know for sure. That’s otherwise a familiar ride so I don’t GPS it.

  Same thing has happened a bunch of times on the south shore, where I’ll be driving along Trashereau and I need to turn at some street or other. I don’t bother with the GPS because it’s familiar territory, and I still live under the illusion that the cross streets will be marked.

  So no. Loads of people drive without GPS.

• CE 15:57 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  I don’t drive a lot but when I do I never use GPS. I usually find it more confusing than helpful.

• Ian 17:26 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  Dhomas, doesn’t it seem strange to you that Montreal’s signage is so poor that a GPS is required just to get around?

• Spi 17:50 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  Montreal signage is undoubtedly terrible, and unless you’re downtown on a recently renamed stretch of road you’re unlikely to see any street signage that isn’t from the 80’s. The corner of René-Lévesque and Robert Bourassa has large and bold signage at that intersection, none of the other surrounding streets do.

  Cross into Laval and every single street (commercial and residential) sign has been replaced with large white on blue signs that are easy to read.

  Frankly, the maps application on my iPhone consistently provides more pertinent information than the road signs and paint on the road. It displays clearly the speed limit, the upcoming turning lanes (at least on the highway unsure for boulevards) and the name of approaching perpendicular roads.

• Ian 19:28 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  Boulevards too. The one I use even shows roadwork in the city which is essential when construction starts up again as streets are seemingly randomly closed off, and there’s no central authority at the city tracking those temporary closures.

• Dhomas 20:07 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  When I know where I’m going and I’m familiar with the area, I don’t use GPS. If you have to look at individual street signs you obviously don’t know the area as well as you think. In those cases, I use GPS. Simple, no?

  Also, realtime navigation offers loads of other advantages, like traffic avoidance and known construction/road closures.

• Spi 20:27 on 2020-01-30 Permalink

  @Dhomas, sometimes it’s about putting local knowledge ahead of what your GPS might think is right. GPS’s aren’t often updated to reflect the game of musical chairs that is Montreal construction sites or temporary driving restrictions (one ways, no turning etc) and I find that it doesn’t always take into consideration no left turn on major arteries. For me at least it’s not about needing direction, I know the area well enough that I’m not lost, rather it’s about saving time and not sitting in needless traffic.