Third party advertisements…

Third party advertisements on provincial highways have become a blight on the landscape. It is nearly as bad as the southern states back in the days of the Burma Shave ads every few hundred yards.

In the past few years every time I have been driving with company the conversation has turned to the huge difference between the beauty of the secondary roads and the ugly mess on the highways.

This practice should be stopped immediately for a number of reasons. 1) It is distracting to drivers, 2) they interfere with spotting directional and destination signage until too close to the need to react to those signs, 3), they increase the probability of animal collisions as they obstruct your view of the forest. (Please note the dramatic increase in deer strikes recently) 4) They detract from the beauty of the highways and the surrounding lands which are why many of the permanent residents live here, 5) they are installed over the objections of the abutting land owners, even when they are in contravention of the regulations! 6) the land owners derive no benefit from the signage despite being forced to have signs effectively on the property line, and in view, apparently on your property, constantly, 7) The MTO sells signage rights for a pittance allowing them to be resold for 50 or 100 times the lease price to the actual advertiser, effectively negating any financial incentive for the MTO, 7) It is unfair that the MTO can plant signs within the highway limits but the abutting owners are prevented from doing the same on their own land.

I appreciate the concept of a road allowance and the necessity for signage for the benefit of drivers, but the agreement to road allowances have never been an agreement to run an advertising business down the side of every street and byway.

STOP THIS BLIGHT NOW!

[Original Comment ID: 205350]