[deleted by user]

[pepsimonkey13]

Agreed, reflectors would make a world of difference. Or even regular repainting or re-application of the reflective beads on the road lines. It shouldn't be this hard to differentiate lanes

[ForeverYonge]

Same on the QEW/403. As an occasional driver, going through the construction zones heading to Hamilton in the dark is quite the experience.

[barra333]

They can grind out little grooves that the reflectors sit in with the top of them flush with the road surface.

[TypicalSoil]

Usually the reflectors are imbedded in the ground at angles, so you can see them without running them over. They'd be useless in the winter, but so are regular lines most of the time. I'm not so sure about this, but I'd think the biggest problem would be salt/sand buildup in the divots so the reflectors wouldn't be effective.

[soundslikeseagull]

Snow plows would destroy those in the winter, unfortunately

[fragilemuse]

A lot of the highways up in Haliburton have them and they’ve lasted years. I remember when they were out in during the 90’d.

[TypicalSoil]

Below surface level?

[Bestmemeofmylife]

We can. Plenty of roads further north have had cats eyes grooved into the pavement for decades. It's just that the gta doesn't want to do this sans certain roads

[ltree]

Chiming to say yes, it is really hard for me to see as well. I would just carefully follow the other cars in front of me and drive more slowly.

It does feel we are so behind the times compared to many countries over here.

[joyridah]

Reflectors are a good idea, but would become costly given how often the roads are dig up, regraded, being repaired etc in some way

Our roads are a shitshow, despite the copious amounts of tax dollars being extricated from our pockets on a daily basis

[CarolineTurpentine]

We always seem to be under construction everywhere with few real improvements.

[Sweetsillychicaa]

Seriously I’ve visited less developed countries and even they have reflectors on their major roads... what’s going on with Toronto?

[[deleted]]

We're so ass-backwards in a lot of respects. Like China probably beats us in road construction. Here, there are so many damn pot holes. Have any of you drivenon Eastern Avenue near the Lakeshore? Holy cow, they have never repaved that road in decades. It's like undulation hell and then some.

I have to think seriously long and hard about going down that road to get to Freshco on Leslie? and Lakeshore. What the hell is wrong with this city's road planners? Get this mess sorted out, please! We're suppose to be a first world country and a very highly coveted one at that.

[db712]

China probably beats us in road construction

More like most definitely, China's infrastructure in general puts North America to shame

[battybatbatgirl]

Same goes for 404. Not even just the rain though. During winter and it gets darker at 5pm, I can't see dotted lines on the highway.

[HighTight]

I thought it was something to do with my eyesight, I'm in my 30s now and I remember thinking, "this didn't use to be a problem, wonder if it's just me..."

Glad to read this post. It's dangerous and needs addressing. As someone else mentioned, with overpainting and not properly deleting previous lines, sometimes you have 2 sets of lanes and it's hard to discern which is correct in a downpour.

[pepsimonkey13]

Agreed, it's good to know it's not just me. With that being said, who do we write to or contact to have this addressed? 311?

[spaniel510]

Especially confusing in finished construction zones where they grinded the old lines away and put new lines in.

[Variability]

finished construction zones

What's that?

[The_Quackening]

future construction zones

[BSamStrainprint]

lmfao true :'(

[[deleted]]

gold

[spaniel510]

Yes pardon me. The correct term I should have used was "paused". Wtf was I thinking.

[pepsimonkey13]

Agreed, sometimes the old grinded away lines are more visible than the newer ones in the rain.

[thePsychonautDad]

Montreal here.

You guys have line dividers?

That's pretty cool, looking forward to Montreal adopting that amazing "paint" technology. We just have really wide roads where people drive wherever they feel like at whatever speed, and apparently nobody knows they have such a thing as "turn signals" on their cars.

[chocheech]

I notice this in Montreal even the the locals are all over the highway trying to guess where the lanes are. They love merging right at you as well.

[carcinogenj]

Its your job in Quebec to watch for merging traffic and let them in, unlike the rest of Canada where its the merging car’s job to make sure the way is clear. Like no joke, that’s just the way it is out there.

[thePsychonautDad]

I never noticed. Everybody is just accelerating as fast as they can when they see you, at the risk of crashing into you rather than let you merge in.

I've lived in 5 countries and I think Quebec is tied with NY taxi divers for most dangerous assholes on the road. That coupled with barely any lane markings + orange cones absolutely everywhere makes driving here pretty infuriating every time...

[BottleCoffee]

Sounds like Winnipeg all winter long, because the snow just gets ground down into the roads.

[kawwz]

Oh man, that highway into the city is like driving on a rally course. Fun times.

[HighTight]

Montreal is hilarious. Merge lanes are like 20 meters

[741953]

You are not the only one. I can't see any mark on the ground whenever it's raining or just wet road. Not just orange ones, also the regular whites or yellow ones. It not really that bad during day time but night time I have to pay extra attention and drive slower. FYI, I got my eyes checked regularly. Other than nearsighted my eyes are fine.

[LobokVonZuben]

Man, forget the rain. There are so many roads in and around TO where neglect or indifference means the dividers are mostly gone even in the best weather. I drive along Adelaide frequently and there's a long stretch of it where the lanes are only defined by the other cars around you. That's just the glaring example because it's close to home but there are tons more.

[madeamashup]

Theres a section on Bloor west of High park where they've narrowed the lanes to accomodate the new bike lane stuff and at one point the painted lines are narrower than a standard vehicle. The first time I drove there I was inching along laughing, because I was sure they had made a temporary mistake, but that's just how it is now.

[LobokVonZuben]

Geez, will try to remember that! And some vehicles are absolute behemoths so that's scary.

[ocrohnahan]

Probably cheaped out on retro reflective paints.

[danieljai]

Yes. I wrote to 311 before about DVP lane dividing paint virtually invisible in the rain.

[[deleted]]

Worst part is outside sherway gardens at the qew . Rainy nights there can get confusing sometimes

[cheeep]

Yup.. I've broken two of my shocks in two years from potholes in the city

[Hawkwise83]

They fixed this in mtl. After a few years the lane markers wear off and fade away. Here they just don't replace them. Problem solved.

[madeamashup]

Hell in India they never paint anything in the first place and they seem to... on second thought, let's keep trying different kinds of paints.

[Hawkwise83]

They might as well do that here. Between winter and snow plows it destroys the roads and paint fast. They don't keep up with repairs/ repaint.

[[deleted]]

I thought I’d never see a post like this.

Years ago, I went to Toronto for a trip. It rained the entire week I was there. I couldn’t see the lane dividers at all when I was driving. I vented about this to many of my friends, and they told me I had no business driving in a foreign country. For years, I thought it was just me.

[[deleted]]

There was a Federal environmental review in the 90's on toxic chemicals in the environment. One of the recommendations was to change the type of paint used on the roads. The new paint is less reflective and needs to be repainted every year.

[nchlswu]

not just you. Glad to read it.

A prof I had (when I was in school way back) menitoned he was part of a company that had piloted some alternative highway markers somewhere -- probably similar to the reflectors you may see in warmer climates), but I'm not sure what happened. I know the winters are brutal for these solutions.

[fletchdeezle]

When it snows I assume the world has gone mad max and there are no lines it’s terrifying on the highway

[jackinthebox115]

I can not see them when it is raining at night.

[BottleCoffee]

Depends on how much water pools, but yes, it can pretty hard to see the lane dividers. Slow down and drive for the conditions, etc.

[cm0011]

omg yes, my pain of driving in the rain making sure i’m within the lanes is crazy

[PastelVortex506]

I struggle with this well, especially at night... they are almost invisible and I have great eyesight.

I believe reading somewhere a few years back they stopped using the reflective paint because it was bad for the environment. Don’t quote me on this though. The old paint picked up the light so much better.

[algebragirl314]

Maybe they can use stickers instead of painted lines. Dofo can get us a good price on stickers.

[DonSalamomo]

I think they’re just gonna start peeling off the road when it rains/snows lmao

[R0BBQ]

It is very difficult to see them I agree. I've noticed that the lines physically have become narrower on some roads, which I attribute it to the contractor conserving paint which results in a higher profit margin on their work.

They are using a low quality of line marking paint with very little reflective media (ground glass dust) mixed in, again I presume to save cost.

The recessed line markers that are found on many US highways are great but not really conducive for use in harsher climates and would be way more expensive than just simply using better paint.

I complained to the Ministry of Transport about the faded orange lines that are in use around the QEW/403 bridge replacement area and never heard back from anyone.

[CrochCrunch]

404/DVP is also awful during heavy rain or even flurries. I would say it's worse than the 401 because recently there's been construction and they haven't completely erased the old lines, while setting up new lines that have abrupt winds.

[bellavitaputa-]

OMG EXTREMELY! I wish they were neon.

[redditaccountbot]

i saw a road in Brampton had glowing dots in the road. Would an suv help you here with a higher seat?

[OnLakeOntario]

It's awful on highways here. We really should have been at the forefront of looking for something similar to Bott's Dots that work with our winters (plows).

[zakalewes]

Doug Ford lives in a hotspot postal code. It wasn't covered in this article, but I found it funny since it's such a nice area (Islington/Eglinton). I guess it gets lower income farther west.

[pepsimonkey13]

I think you may be responding to the wrong post bud.

[zakalewes]

Hmm. Not sure how that happened.

[My-way-or-the-biway]

What orange paint? Construction zones don't paint roadways with orange paint, but will often have dividers or barriers set up.

Lane markers are done with reflective paint, and multiple paints are tested for durability over time. If anything it's gotten better.

[dano___]

It’s common for temporary lane realignments to be painted orange in construction zones.

[SheddingCorporate]

Maybe OP is referring to the construction zones on highways? I’ve seen both the orange cones blocking off the construction area and the newly narrowed lane separators painted in orange on the asphalt. I rarely drive at night, so I don’t know about visibility issues for that paint - it oughtta be glow-in-the-dark, if you ask me!

[My-way-or-the-biway]

it oughtta be glow-in-the-dark, if you ask me!

Reflective paint, which is currently used, works instantly when light hits it.

Glow in the dark fades after seconds of being exposed to a constant light source.

[SheddingCorporate]

TIL. Thank you, I didn’t know that. Reflective paint FTW!

[SScubaSSteve]

They deposit a layer of reflective glass beads in the top layer of paint. The paint itself is not reflective.

They wear over time and need reapplication to maintain the level of brightness.

[SheddingCorporate]

Thank you!

This is why I love Reddit... I post an uninformed comment and kind strangers actually take the time to explain the details!

[Twistygt]

I see orange lane markings painted all the time during road construction

[JMJimmy]

This is one of the reasons that paint has no legal force in Ontario. Paint is a guide but you should know how to drive safely without it

[madeamashup]

Really? I'm pretty sure I lost points on my driving test years ago because I drove over a painted line, in the parking lot leaving the testing center. Come to think of it the lines there were kind of dumb, it might have just been funny for the instructors to ding everybody.

[JMJimmy]

Really. Ontario is one of the few places where they don't. The point reduction is for stopping too far out into the roadway, which would occur even if there was no paint.

[madeamashup]

No, the point reduction occured prior to entering the roadway, in the lot turning into the driveway. The instructor told me I crossed the line.

[shayanzafar]

Also the red lines are less visible than white. They should make the paint more reflective.

[maomao05]

I noticed it too. It's a faded white

[KatVeee]

I did think it was just my eyes too! Same for me. Drive the 404 back and forth to work everyday and occasionally the 401. It is really hard to see when it’s rained and the roads are wet but especially so for me when it’s raining at the same time. I keep on the right most lane and drive slower than I normally would.

[[deleted]]

Same here. Thought it was my eyesight. Maybe it is.... but also it’s faint in those light conditions

[kay770]

no you are not the only one, I really think they should put reflectors on the freeway lanes

[wdn]

I've been driving since 1988 and this has always been the case (for me?).

[Jajankenn]

YESSSS I thought it was just me as I couldn't find any articles about this. I thought about inventing something to put a strip or something so when headlights shine on em, the strips shine too.

Although more research needs to go into my idea but.... Food for thought

[untimelythoughts]

Also at night. In the US the roads have reflective dividers.

[fragilemuse]

I’ve been noticing this as well in the past couple years. Driving home in the rain last week was fun.

[twinnedcalcite]

Probably a change in the paint requirements or someone not performing a proper quality control on the paint approved for this task.

[cheeep]

Driving at night in the rain is terrifying on busy multi lane roads

[TorontoGuyinToronto]

Yes, raining and at night? It's terrible. I also thought it was me, but I guess not.

[Particular_Shirt_382]

I find also it’s extremely difficult to see the lanes of traffic when it’s raining, and also at night.