Highways in Canada

[dmuzika]

Looks like there might be two Gordie Howe bridges. The City of Saskatoon motioned to rename the Circle Drive South Bridge the Gordie Howe Bridge.

http://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-new...th-in-honour-of-hockey-icon-gordie-howe2

[Stingray2004]

Originally Posted by ghYHZ

Please stop posting Newfoundland pictures!!

(Makes me want to get in the car and go….just one thing in the way: Work!)

I especially liked the ones you posted a couple of weeks ago from NL Tourism.......Beautiful Country!

Funny and a bit off-beat. This afternoon, I was in Richmond, B.C. and came to a stop sign. Noticed a BC license plate in front of me (I thought). Had white background with blue letters/numerals. Then noticed that the plate was missing the BC flag at its centre.

Looked closer and it was a Newfoundland & Labrador license plate. Have been a license plate observer geek since I was a kid and have never seen one of those out here in BC. First thing that came to mind was prolific SSP contributor SignalHillHiker from Nfld.

Then later this evening was at at another local stop sign. This time, the license plate in front of me was from Prince Edward Island. Never seen one of those out here before either.

Two separate provincial licence plates from 2 islands on the other side of the continent. Never seen before. In one day.

Wonder what kinda odds the Vegas bookies would give me on that score?!

[le calmar]

I saw a Nunavut plate once in Montreal. I made sure it was not one of the fake tourists plates someone would put on the front of their car in Quebec, so it was a legit Nunavut plate. One that was also uncommon is a Mexican plate I also spotted in Montreal. I have seen a few Europeans plates too.

[sonysnob]

I find this time of year is probably the most common time to see out of province plates as well.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Stingray2004

Funny and a bit off-beat. This afternoon, I was in Richmond, B.C. and came to a stop sign. Noticed a BC license plate in front of me (I thought). Had white background with blue letters/numerals. Then noticed that the plate was missing the BC flag at its centre.

Looked closer and it was a Newfoundland & Labrador license plate. Have been a license plate observer geek since I was a kid and have never seen one of those out here in BC. First thing that came to mind was prolific SSP contributor SignalHillHiker from Nfld.

Then later this evening was at at another local stop sign. This time, the license plate in front of me was from Prince Edward Island. Never seen one of those out here before either.

Two separate provincial licence plates from 2 islands on the other side of the continent. Never seen before. In one day.

Wonder what kinda odds the Vegas bookies would give me on that score?!

That's very surprising. That as a self-described licence plate geek you'd never seen NL and PEI plates in BC before.

I see BC and Prairie and a whole bunch of American plates all of the time when I am travelling in Altantic Canada, for example. And that's just in a two or three week period. Not actually living there.

Are you quite young?

[esquire]

^ I'm a lot closer to the east coast than stingray is and NL/PE plates are a rare sight.

I know nobody asked for it, but I'll still break down frequency of appearance anyway:

COMMON:
1. Ontario (a daily sight, the border is barely over an hour away and we're a bit of a service centre for NW Ontario)
2. Alberta (not quite as frequent but still common, I'm guessing many Alta. plates are on the cars of Manitobans who moved there and came back for whatever reason as you often see AB tags on cars with a Manitoba dealer label)
3. Saskatchewan (probably tied with Alberta, I don't see them on a daily basis but I see them often enough

OCCASIONALLY SPOTTED:
4. British Columbia (probably like AB, many of these are likely driven by expat Manitobans)
5. Quebec (not as uncommon a sight as you'd think. I always assume these people are passing through on their way west)

RARE
6. Nova Scotia (I might see this one a few times a year)
7. New Brunswick (now we're getting into truly rare territory)
8. Newfoundland and Labrador (you see the odd one but they're not frequent)

VERY RARE
9. PEI (this one stands out because you so seldom spot them)
10. NWT (very rare, can't remember last time I spotted one)
11. Yukon (almost never)
12. Nunavut (seen it a couple of times, like spotting a unicorn)

[MonctonRad]

I've seen Saint Pierre & Miquelon plates a couple of times in Moncton within the last year. They're bright orange with the prefix SPM on them and the EU symbol (ring of stars).

It's a rare sight and an exciting catch.

As far as Canadian provinces are concerned, the rarest catch around here is Manitoba.

[Acajack]

I saw Newfoundland and Labrador the other night in the parking of a restaurant in Hull. You don't see that one that often.

The most common is of course Ontario. You drive for 2 minutes and see one and you can find many of them in any given parking lot large or small.

Second-most common here is New Brunswick. I see them most every week.

New York is the most common after that.

As for Canadian provinces, strangely enough I seem to see PEI more than Nova Scotia.

I also see Florida plates quite regularly. More than most of the NE states that are a lot closer.

[eemy]

Michigan, Ohio, New York and Quebec, not necessarily in that order.

[Acajack]

It depends on the roads you drive too. If you drive the Trans-Canada (A-20) between Montreal-Quebec City-Rivière-du-Loup and you're attentive you'll see almost all of the Canadian plates from east to west fairly regularly. Similarly if you drive the TCH in NB.

You won't see as many in the Halifax area as you will in Moncton for example, because Halifax isn't on the main cross-Canada route.

Except for Quebec, you don't see that many (at least, not as much as one might think) plates from across Canada in southern Ontario either as it's not on the main east-west routes either.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

Michigan, Ohio, New York and Quebec, not necessarily in that order.

Oops, I forgot to mention the US ones. Minnesota and North Dakota are by far the most common (both are an hour away from Winnipeg), then after that it drops off precipitously.

Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota pop up from time to time, but after that it's a total crapshoot.

[haljackey]

BC Speed limits

Crash rates are down or unchanged in 19 of 33 new speed zones

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016TRAN0166-001165?WT.cg_n=HootSuite

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by haljackey

BC Speed limits

Crash rates are down or unchanged in 19 of 33 new speed zones

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016TRAN0166-001165?WT.cg_n=HootSuite

And here we have been taught our whole lives that speed kills.

Maybe they don't, and if given a reasonable speed, people will police themselves.

To be fair, if they removed all speed limits, in residential areas, 60 km/hr, in rural 2 lane 100 km/hr, and divided highway 120 km/hr would be the fastest I would travel. Beyond that and it is unsafe to me, and wastes too much fuel.

[Taeolas]

120 on divided highways is about as fast as I'd go, even if there weren't limits; it's a speed I'm comfortable driving at and seems to be what most people go at. I might push to 125-130 for some stretches depending on how familiar with the land I am, but I doubt I would go much above that. (NB limits are 110 on all divided highways in the province)

As for plates, Freddy is on the TCH, so it's not uncommon to see most of the country eventually. As MonctonRad said, Manitoba and SK seem to be the rarest; Alberta is surprisingly common (due to ex-Maritimers I suspect) and BC isn't very rare. NS, NF&L and PEI are so common you don't even bat an eye; Ontario and Quebec are almost just as common.

For US state plates, Maine is the most common and the rest of New England isn't too rare. Beyond Mass and any plate is a surprise basically. Though Georgia and Florida are surprisingly common. From what I've noticed, Florida, Georgia and probably Texas are the most common non-New England US plates I see around here.

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

As for plates, Freddy is on the TCH, so it's not uncommon to see most of the country eventually. As MonctonRad said, Manitoba and SK seem to be the rarest; Alberta is surprisingly common (due to ex-Maritimers I suspect) and BC isn't very rare. NS, NF&L and PEI are so common you don't even bat an eye; Ontario and Quebec are almost just as common.

For US state plates, Maine is the most common and the rest of New England isn't too rare. Beyond Mass and any plate is a surprise basically. Though Georgia and Florida are surprisingly common. From what I've noticed, Florida, Georgia and probably Texas are the most common non-New England US plates I see around here.

NB and PEI are especially used to NS plates since rental companies in the region register their cars there.

[manny_santos]

I have seen a Mexican plate in Canada exactly once: on London's Richmond Street. I believe it was from the state of Chiapas.

Conversely in Mexico City, I saw Texas plates quite a few times and also California plates at least a couple times.

I have once seen an NWT plate in London as well. It was in my elementary school parking lot circa 1997. I do occasionally see NB, MB, SK or AB plates in Ontario; can't remember the last time I saw one from BC.

[Innsertnamehere]

I've seen all provinces and territories. Saw a Mexican plate on a bus once - and the bus was a South American model not sold in Canada and the US.. That was interesting. New York, Quebec, Alberta, Michigan, and New Jersey seem to be the most common in Toronto.

The one that always seems surprisingly common is California - I see them occasionally, which is odd considering how far a drive it is, and how you almost never see plates from other western states. Can't remember ever seeing a Washington, Nevada, or Utah plate.. Even Texas is very rare.

[Marshsparrow]

California is probably a Cdn transplant back visiting!

Ontario plates - can we not have an update please - so borrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnggggg!

[Innsertnamehere]

Ontario's plates are the "classic" style - that is, no changes. Many US states do it that way, and so does Quebec. I don't mind it. Michigan was like that until very recently, Maine is like that, and New York just switched back to its old yellow plates a few years ago.

[srperrycgy]

Licence plates from all provinces are prevalent in Calgary. Out-of-province vehicles are very common. The only Canadian ones I don't tend to see regularly are from the Yukon and Nunavut. The really rare Alberta plate (starting with CC) are the ones registered to the foreign consulates that operate in Alberta (ie: the US, China, the UK, Japan & Mexico).

Our annual Cowboy Cliche Festival starts next week, so there will be lots of plates from lots of states.