Don’t let your tires run over the Fog Line
Before I started into hotshotting, I had no idea what this meant.
After hundreds of thousands of kilometers of highway, a hot shot operator can tell you something highly important. Keep yourself safe based on highway painted lines, based on colour and shape.
Here’s some rules every driver should be aware of, on some stuff you probably never thought about.
In Canada, the lines and colors on highways are standardized to convey important information to drivers. This ensures safety and smooth traffic flow. The most common lines are white and yellow, each serving distinct purposes.
White Lines: On Canadian highways indicate lanes of traffic moving in the same direction.
- Solid white lines mark the edges of the road, and the boundaries of lanes. Crossing these lines is generally discouraged, particularly where visibility is a concern, or lanes are merging.
- Broken white lines, on the other hand, separate lanes of traffic moving in the same direction, and indicate that lane changes are permitted when it is safe to do so.
Yellow Lines: Yellow lines are used to separate traffic moving in opposite directions.
- A single solid yellow line indicates that passing is not allowed if it is adjacent to your lane. This is typically because of limited visibility or other hazards.
- If the yellow line is broken, passing is permitted when safe. In situations where there is a combination of solid and broken yellow lines, the broken line on your side of the road allows for passing. The solid line on the opposite side indicates that oncoming traffic cannot pass.
Special Markings and Colors: In addition to white and yellow lines, other colors and markings provide additional information.
- Diamond symbols painted on the road indicate lanes reserved for high-occupancy vehicles (HOV), such as carpool lanes.
- Red or blue markings are less common, but may be used in specific contexts, such as bus lanes or bike lanes in urban areas.
Overall, the color and style of highway lines in Canada play a crucial role in guiding drivers. They enhance safety and regulate traffic flow. This helps to ensure that everyone on the road understands the rules and drives accordingly.
Key Tips to Remember
- If you find yourself in heavy fog, and you see a white solid line to your right, then you know the road shoulder is very close.
- If you see a white broken line to your left, you are in the “slow lane” and traffic might overtake you on your left.
- If you are putting along in the fog, and there’s a yellow broken lane, or solid line to your left, watch out because you could have oncoming traffic to your left.
- And finally, if you are in heavy fog and you see those yellow lines to your right, then get the heck back into your own lane. LOL
If you would like more information, please contact Erik at Hightail Hotshot. His number is 604-728-3037.
Or you could email Erik at erik@hightailhotshot.com .
"When it absolutely must be there yesterday"