Basic Winnipeg Signing and Amber Light Issues

7/29/2019 Basic Winnipeg Signing and Amber Light Issues

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City of Winnipeg Road Signing and

Amber Light Issues

By: Chris Sweryda


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Why Have Traffic Enforcement?

Police claim itsto make the roads safer and save lives,but is that really what itsfor? In six months, WinnipegPolice spent $860,000.00 on traffic enforcement

overtime. Are we getting our moneysworth?


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Purpose of Fines

Unlike taxes, fines are not meant to be a revenuegenerator for government. They are meant to deterundesirable and unsafe behaviour. Manitoba has thehighest speeding fines in the country. Winnipeg issues3X more tickets per capita than Saskatoon where thefines are a fraction of those in Winnipeg. So, why do

people in Winnipeg get so many speeding tickets?


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Poor Traffic Infrastructure

Winnipeg routinely installs speed and other

signage outside of compliance with the

engineering standards. When attempting to

fill quotas police largely target those locations.Winnipeg budgets on receiving a high level of

ticket fines and therefore has no incentive to

fix signing. There are many locations wherepolice and photo radar are seen on a daily

basis.


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McPhillips and Inkster

The mandatory turn for the right lane on McPhillips SB atInkster is heavily enforced by police. This location only gives 25m of advance warning for the upcoming lane drop which is justover 1 second for traffic traveling at the speed limit.


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Other Locations

Other locations similar to McPhillips and Inkster give driversup to 800 m of advance warning. The normal is usuallyaround 100-150 m.


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Overhead Signs

Many locations have overhead signs as well as sidemounted.


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Sign Quantity

Every intersection with turn control signs hasanywhere from one to four signs. Four signs is

excessive and one is under signed. Police are most

commonly found at the under signed locations.


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Enforcement

The part-time no left turns at the intersection ofEmpress NB and SB at Ellice is heavily enforced bypolice. Unlike other intersections the near side andadvance signs are missing.


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Non Enforcement

The intersection of Ellice WB at Berry uses a near side no leftturn sign and has an advance warning sign.


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Right of Way Control

Stop signs should be reserved for intersections with highvolumes, sightline obstructions or high collision rates.

Otherwise the basic right-of-way rule applies or a yield

sign can be used. This is the national standard and

practice in other cities such as Saskatoon (above).


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Overuse of Stop Signs

In Winnipeg, all un-signalized intersections have stops

signs with a huge number being all-way stops. This

creates unnecessary delay, disrespect for stop signs and

more enforcement opportunity.


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Speeding is one of the highest contributing

causes of collisions in Manitoba.

An overall reduction in driving speed CAN

and WILL make a difference - WPS.

Higher speeds increase stopping distance,

increases accident severity and reduces

control - MPIC

Speeding (Numerous Locations)


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How to Control Speeding

The most important part of preventing speeding is to

properly post speed limits. Unfortunately, Winnipeg

has numerous issues with signing related to:

1Sign Placement

2Dual Mounting (Signing)

3Speed Reductions

4Proper Maintenance


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Horizontal Placement

Speed signs are very often found much farther off

the road than permitted by the engineering manual.


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Vertical Placement

Signs at extreme heights will not fallwithin a drivers line of sight. Theabove are both speed reductionsigns and are not compliant withstandards.

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Dual Mounting

The standards manual states, Thereare cases where it is

advisable to place a second sign on the left side of the

road to supplement the primary sign. This practice

consists of placing a second sign on the median of adivided or the left side of a one-way street.


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Across Canada

All major western Canadian cities (except Winnipeg) have

dual signed speed signs. This includes Calgary (above-right),

Edmonton, Regina, Victoria, Vancouver Saskatoon (above-left). US traffic authorities will also dual sign speed limits.

Dual signing is most common at speed changes, but most

cities will do it on all large divided roads.


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Now You See It


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Now You Dont


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Multiple Lanes

Not one speed reduction in Winnipeg is dual signed

including NB Main at Assiniboine (above) which has fourlanes of through traffic. This is before the mostprofitable speed camera at Logan. Winnipeg has 58speed reductions on divided roads where dual signingshould be done.


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Other Signs in Winnipeg

For almost all other signs, dual mounting can befound for as few as one-lane of traffic (left) andmost often for two.


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Existent Sign Posts

Even when an existent median pole is available, the speed limitreduction is still not dual signed such as on Taylor EB approachingHarrow where traffic also enters a school zone. The median signwill also distract median traffic from the speed sign on the right.


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Within Manitoba

Top - MIT (Highways Dept) consistently uses dual signing and doesnt neglect thespeed reduction. BottomIn Winnipeg, many locations such as Kenaston thathave dual signing are immediately before or after a speed reduction that issingle signed. If Kenaston is so large or busy that a left side curve sign is needed,then speed reduction should be treated the same.


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Statistics

Using enforcement data compared to traffic flow, we

showed 400% more speeding after speed reductions on50 km/h roads. The citysresponse was:


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Reflectivity

Some speed signs in Winnipeg have little to no reflectivitywhile other signs, often on the same pole, are fully reflective.The first two of the above examples were before photo radarlocations that are utilized for night time enforcement.


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Speed Signs With Other Signs

Speed signs should be as equally important asother signs. On many roads, every other sign isreflective except the speed sign. This includesthe route markers which serve very little safetyadvantage.


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Provincial Signs

All signs outside Winnipeg are fully compliant

with reflectivity standards.


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Speed Reductions

Sixty-nine out of ninety-eight speed reductions in Winnipeg fail

to comply with national signing standards. Every speedreduction signed by the province was within MUTCDcompliance. The above sign is minimum sized, too high, too faroff the road and as always, not dual signed.


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Moray Example

The speed reduction sign leading into a playground zone ishidden by trees. Also, the truck route markers are dualsigned but the speed reduction is not. This locationreceives daily photo radar enforcement.


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Brookside Example

The speed reduction sign on Brookside Blvd was reportedmissing to the city in June 2011. Despite repeated attemptsto notify the city, the signs remained missing. The problemwas fixed in October when the province installed the signs.


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Transition Zones & Increases

Winnipeg speed enforcement often will target areaswhere the speed limit increases by targeting trafficthat is 1 m before a speed increase sign. In manycases, these drivers have just come off of a crossstreet and this is the first sign that they are seeing.


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Transition Zones

Many police agencies will simply not enforce trafficthat is approaching a speed limit change. Above is apart of Albertas photo enforcement guidelines as anexample.


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Speed Changes - Ontario

Under Ontario Law all speed changes(increases or decreases) must have aBEGINS tabs below the speed limit

sign. This tells drivers that they cantprematurely accelerate to the higherspeed.


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Proper Maintenance - Winnipeg

Over time, untrimmed trees willgrow to the point that signs are fullycovered. Many signs will be left tolean on a 45+ degree angle foryears. They eventually over and layin the ditch for months before beingstolen.

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More Disrepair

This speed sign on Ravenhurst was observed in Jan with abroken mounting strap which caused it to turn away fromtraffic. By mid summer it was still facing away from the roadand had fallen upside down.


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Unless Otherwise Posted

The City of Winnipeg claims:

Following this claim, 50 km/h signs must not

be used anywhere but at speed reductions.


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Selective Signing

Winnipeg has 122 selective50 km/h speed postings that arenot at speed reductions. Selective signing is found in all othermajor cities across Canada. The problem is that Winnipegrarely uses these signs on major roadways or at problemspeed areas where enforcement is continuous.


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Other Cities

Every other major Canadian city uses selective 50 km/h

signing to control speeding on major roadways. MIT andother communities in Manitoba do the same. Some citiessuch as Saskatoon (above) dual sign selective 50 km/hpostings on divided roads.


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Speed Limit Confusion

Some 50 km/h zones look so much like 60 km/h zonesthat even the citysown sign crews get confused. Thesign above is on a 50 km/h road.


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Photo Radar

(School and Playground Zones)

In addition to the police, photo radar unitsroutinely take advantage of inadequate speed limitsigning. Photo radar is only allowed in school,playground and construction zones.


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Creation of New Zones

Winnipeg did not haveschool zones at highschools and only createdthem in 2002; the yearphoto enforcement

arrived. These new zonesgreatly increased thenumber of photoenforceable areas. Othercities such as Edmonton

and Calgary still do nothave school zones at highschools.


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Dual Signing at Schools and

Playgrounds

Many school and playground zone signs are notdual signed. The left picture is from a majorarterial road that has daily photo enforcement. Thepicture on the right is a residential street with noenforcement.


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Many Signs are Missing While

Enforcement Continues

The median sign on Henderson Hwy has been missing forover two years despite repeated attempts to have the sign

fixed. The speed sign is also missing at this location and hasseen greatly increased enforcement after the signs wentmissing.

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Winnipeg School Zone Sign Presence

Many (166) of Winnipegs school zone signs are missing andhave been for over 3 years. Traffic on Concordia WB has nosign advising of the upcoming school zone at London Street.

School


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When Signs Are Present, Obstructions Are Common


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Redundant Signs

Some (32) school zone signs are found onroads that do not have schools. This creates

an unnecessary expectation of a school andcreates disrespect for these signs. Six ofthese areas are being used for school zonephoto radar enforcement.


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Winnipeg School Zone Sign Placement

School zone signs are found at random distancesfrom the schools. In 50 km/h zones, thisdistance ranges from -75 to 323 m.

School School Not In Picture


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Where are the Speed Signs?

The City claims that they cannot post speeds in 50 km/h zonesand the examples given were all before enforcement. Only 7

out of 122 selective signs in 50 km/h zones are before photoradar. By avoiding placement of speed signs before photo radar,the city is actually avoiding speed signing before schools andplaygrounds. Overall, 86% of photo radar occurs in 50 km/hzones with almost all being unsigned.


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Double Dipping

When photo radar finds a good spot, they often

double dip by issuing multiple tickets over as little as1 block.


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Speed Signs Do Work

There is only one school zone in Winnipeg that has apair of speed signs dual signed. It is the only zoneon Grant not photo enforced and is used in thepress for stories regarding school zone safety. Themayor himself held a conference there regarding

school safety.


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Speed Limit Sign RemovalHespeler Ave is a 50 km/h majorroadway, truck route and numberedcity route. It runs betweenHenderson and Main which are both60 km/h zones. It has a highproducing speed camera and daily

photo radar. A request was made tohave Maximum 50 km/h signs addedwhich referenced Springfield andMcLeod which already have signs; butno enforcement. Even though the cityclaims to be begging people to justslow down, the citys response wasto remove the signs from Springfieldand McLeod so that comparisons areno longer possible.


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Grant Ave Sign Removal

In regards to the radar accuracy issue on Grant, WinnipegPolice stated that, "They're still speeding like crazy. It's a big

problem speed area. It's a huge complaint area. A lot of thepeople from all the residential apartment blocks phone us ona regular basis, saying they can barely get across the street at

the crosswalk because of all the speeders. Despite this, signsalso got removed from Grant.

Photo Radar


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Sign Removal and Higher Speeds

After starting the sign removal on 50 km/h roads, thisproject moved into higher speed zones. To date 110signs have been removed including all that were addedin front of photo radar cameras and many from photo

enforced school zones.


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Sign Removal in Progress

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Intersection CamerasIntersection cameras are

as strategically placed asphoto radar to avoidspeed limit postings.Fifteen out of 18cameras in 50 km/hzones have no speedsigns preceding them.The camera onProvencher (left) is

placed a half blockbefore the only speedlimit sign.


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Newly Missing Signs

Many speed signs go missing for extended periods of timewhile ticketing continues. The speed reduction sign on Grant(above) has been missing since July 12, 2012 before one ofthe citystop producing cameras.


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Courts and the Highway Traffic Act

All seven of the above speed reduction signs are

compliant with Manitobas HTA.


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D4 Photo Enforcement Warning Signs

At the start of the photo enforcementprogram in 2002, the province created

the Conditions of Authority which

Winnipeg had to follow in order to run

photo enforcement. In the conditions,Winnipeg had to install permanent

warning signs on the approaches to

intersections enforced by cameras.


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Dual Mounting

To warn traffic in median lanes, all divided

approaches to photo enforced intersections had asign placed on the right and left side. This is

especially useful because faster traffic is usually in the

median laneSlower Traffic Keep Right.


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Signs of Safety

In 2005, Winnipeg Police launched a PR campaign forthe cameras. The focus was on the camera warningsigning acting as a deterrent and referred to thesesigns as Signs of Safety.


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Recess on Speeding

Radio adds featured a school principal ,construction worker , paramedic and a newdriver who all talked about the success off the signs ofsafety. It was claimed that since photo enforcementsigns went in at Kenaston/Corydon speeding wentdown by 84%. It was also stated that citywide, areaswhere these signs were installed saw a 66% drop in

speeding.


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Median Sign Removal

In the summer of 2009 during e-mail exchanges

between Public Works and Winnipeg Police, it was

concluded that the camera warning signs on medians

would be removed as a sign clean-up effort. Thisproject was conducted immediately and only

involved photo enforcement warning signs. A total

of 78 out the 87 median signs were removed

throughout the city. Of the original total of 257

signs, 179 remained (30% of the signs were

removed).


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Kenaston at CorydonThe intersection of Kenaston and Corydon where photo

enforcement warning signs were claimed to have reducedspeeding by 84% was included in the sign removal project. Ofthe 8 signs at that intersection, 4 ( of the signs) wereremoved.

Before and after views of Corydon EB approaching Kenaston.


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The Dilemma Zone

A yellow light should be timed for a motorist to either come

to a safe and complete stop or proceed into an intersection

before the red light is displayed. Improper timing creates thedilemma zone. This is the zone where drivers are unable to

come to a stop or clear the intersection before the red light.


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How are Ambers Timed?

Proper calculation of an amber time is based

on three variables: Intersection width, speedlimit and grade.


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Proper Timing

Proper amber times are calculated by

engineering formula. Below is the formula

used by the city of Calgary.


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Higher Speed = More Time

It is a proven engineering fact that timing

must be based on intersection design and

speed. Higher speeds must have more time.

Winnipeg is now using a universal 4.0 secondamber which is inadequate for many higher

speeds (80 zones).


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Across Canada

The table to the right shows ambertimes used in 80 km/h zones by major

cities across Canada. Winnipeg does

appear alone in using a 4.0 second

amber in all speed zones.

The proof is in the ticket counts. In 2010, Winnipeg cameras in 50-70

km/h zones issued 164 tickets/camera while cameras in 80 zonesproduced 979 tickets/camera. Unless Winnipegs red light runners stick

to driving in 80 zones, the problem is the timing and not the drivers.


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Effects of Proper Timing

It has been proven that 80% of red light violations occurduring the first 1 second of the amber light and will disappearwhen the amber is timed properly. Winnipeg will not release

their data to check this statistic locally. Above shows thedecreases in violations at sites where ambers had one secondadded to comply with formula.


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Other Issues Not Covered

Improperly/Politically Set Speed Limits

Radar Inaccuracy

School Zone Speed Reductions

Removal of Warning Signs at Camera Intersections

Traffic Court

Construction Zone Enforcement

Manipulation of Collision Data Eroding the 50 Unless Otherwise Posted Rule


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What Needs To Be Done?

Rather than seek out the most opportunistic enforcementlocations, police should be working with the city to identifyproblem areas and seek engineering improvements.

Regulations need to be implemented controlling the use ofspeed limit and other signing.

Amber durations need to be legislated with minimums ratherthan being optional.

Standards need to be followed for school and playgroundzone signing.

Speed signs should be posted on all major roadwaysregardless of the speed limit.


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Conclusion

If the city wants more safety and lower costs, it should invest inmore and proper signs. Compare the cost of a sign to the cost

of a police cruiser team. Use the speed traps as a meansof identifying signage problems.


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Signing Mistakes - Examples

R t M k C f i


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Route Marker Confusion

Sign first said South but was on the northbounddirection. When informed, the city put North onupside down. It took a second complaint to get itfixed.


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Lane Closure Problems


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Forcing People To Disobey The Sign

Sign should be a keep right with left turn allowance.

Left turning traffic is forced to disregard the sign.

Crosswalk Ahead Sign With No


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Crosswalk Ahead Sign With No

Crosswalk

k


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Incorrect Truck Route Signs

Above sign says McPhillips Casino ParkingLot is a truck route.

Si i C fli


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Signing Conflicts

Some locations have two conflicting signs

posted. Although yield and merge signsshould never be posted on the same right turn

channel, some locations are signed like this.

O f Yi ld Si


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Overuse of Yield Signs

Many locations that are obvious merges oreven have a lane added are signed with yield

signs. This restricts traffic flow and creates

disrespect for proper yield locations.

Mi i M Si


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Missing Merge Signs

Many merge locations have no sign. The Pembina Hwyoverpass at Bishop has four onramps to Bishop from Pembina.All four are merges, but only one is signed. The one that issigned has three signs, not one of which is in the locationwhere the sign should be.

O W S


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One-Way Streets

One-way signs are necessary to indicatestreets where only one direction of travel is

permitted but many are unsigned.

Truck Route Marker Pointing Wrong


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Truck Route Marker Pointing Wrong

Way Down Unsigned One-Way Street

Documents

Basic Winnipeg Signing and Amber Light Issues