Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

I am aware what section you linked too.  That section doesn't apply to our discussion.  A "turnout" is a specific piece of roadway giving a place for traffic to pull into to allow vehicles behind to overtake.  It doesn't apply to driving down a straight urban roadway.

The phrase is “turn out” (verb, meaning ‘move out of the way’), not “turnout” (noun). §148 is precisely the part of the Highway Traffic Act concerned with meeting and overtaking; if you want to point out a different section, here is the whole thing again.

The phrase "turn out" is also a noun, indicating a location where one might turn out.  Without a location to turn out, one cannot turn out.  Clearly you've never seen one of these, feel free to google image search it, they're quite common in mountainous areas where roads are narrow and winding and passing is impossible.

But lets drop the semantics.  The statement in the MTO's cycling skills document: "In urban areas where a curb lane is too narrow to share safely with a motorist, it is legal to take the whole lane by riding in the centre of it."

That is clear and unambiguous.  There is no confusing it.  Riding in the centre of a lane thereby taking the lane in urban areas with lanes too narrow to share is completely legal.

This is the finding of the MTO, it is the finding of the OPP, it is the finding of most city councils including ROW.  

This is one of the rules which apply to our roads and all drivers must accept.