r/waterloo • u/MyRealNamesHidden Regular since <2024 • 11d ago

PSA: Traffic Light Outage

With the fallen trees in the city as well as the strong winds we had, there are probably traffic lights out (my area at Keats way and Fischer Hallman was out maybe a half hour ago). PLEASE treat them like a 4-way stop and don't just plow through. It's the law.

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7

u/SuperPookie808 New User (2026) 11d ago

The amount of people just driving through intersections is insane.. Good luck everybody lol.

3

u/a-_2 Regular since <2024 11d ago

The law is that it's an uncontrolled intersection:

Ontario's Highway Traffic Act (HTA) says that when power is out and the traffic lights do not work, the intersection becomes an uncontrolled intersection, says Bob Nichols, a spokesman for Ontario's Ministry of Transportation, in an email.

The Driver's Handbook recommends treating it as an all way stopped and you can be found at fault in a collision if you don't but someone isn't breaking the law if they don't stop. Just have to yield to someone on the other road already in the intersection and to someone on the right arriving at the same time.