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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.
1/5
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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.
2/5
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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.
3/5
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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