QUESTION

Where is the best place to get no-wake and speed-limit signs for our lake? Can cottagers have an official speed limit designated in specific areas?

Tracey Black, via e-mail

ANSWER

I guess this is really a question of signing authority. Transport Canada (TC) regulates official waterway signs notifying boaters of existing laws (such as the limit of 10 km/h within 30 metres of shore) and has inflexible guidelines for how they should look and where they should be placed. These signs are free of charge from TC, but cottagers can make their own by downloading graphics from its website www.tc.gc.ca/BoatingSafety

Making changes to existing limits or creating new regulations is another thing altogether and it is a daunting task. “Canadians enjoy a constitutional right to boat on our waters,” says Mike Taber, Ontario manager of TC ’s Office of Boating Safety, who adds that the process “is lengthy and rigorous because it places a permanent restriction on everyone who uses the waters.” Not all of the four or five applications they receive each year are successful. Acceptable reasons for instituting a speed limit include safety issues and protecting environmentally sensitive areas. The key to a successful application, according to Taber, is broad public consultation and proof in writing of community support – in particular from your municipal government and police services. Once your regulation is TC-approved, you are not only required to conform to specific standards when designing your signs, you’re also responsible for posting and maintaining them. To download official TC signs and for a guide to the application process, go to www.tc.gc.ca and search for “Local Authorities’ Guide to Boating Restrictions.”

You can also consider posting your own signs or ordering them from associations such as the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations www.foca.on.ca or Friends of the Rideau www.rideaufriends.com. These signs won’t be legally enforceable, but do encourage safe boating practices. 

Steve Brearton

Published in the April/May ’07 issue of Cottage Life.