Road design, safety and Vision Zero

[danbrotherston]

The signs at the city limits indicate that, if no other notice is given, a road's speed limit is 50. So these areas are reduced to 40; when you leave them, the default 50 returns.

I understand that, but why introduce a new system for 40 zones? By that logic, we should never see a "Maximum 50" sign, only the start and end of exceptions. Streets with a 60km/h limit aren't "60 Areas" demarcated by "Maximum 60 Area Begins" and "Maximum 60 Area Ends" signs, but simply by posting what the speed limit is, including when it reverts back to the standard 50km/h (see photo).

In other words, if we are posting a sign at the end of a 40 zone, why are we posting what the speed limit isn't instead of what it is?

Because this way you need only a half dozen signs for a neighbourhood rather than hundreds because the HTA requires that any road with a non-standard speed limit (not 50km/h) be signed at every intersection, so that drivers turning onto the road see the sign. Not only would this be prohibitively expensive it would clutter a neighbourhood with a silly amount of signage.