Exiting Freeways & HOV Lanes

A freeway exit is generally made up of three parts:

1. Deceleration lane: Where you bleed off speed, carrying you away from the main stream of traffic
2. Exit ramp: The link between the freeway and the road that crosses it
3. Intersection: Found at the ramp's end, where a traffic light, yield sign or stop sign controls it

How to exit:

1. Signal your move into the deceleration lane -- but hold your speed for now
2. Once you're in that lane, ease off gradually down to the speed posted for the exit ramp
3. Glance at the speedometer -- it's easy to misjudge how fast you're actually travelling
4. Be ready to come to a stop where the ramp ends

Spend a while at freeway speeds and your sense of how fast you're moving can stop being reliable. That effect goes by two names: speed adaptation and velocitization.

It poses a particular hazard as you leave a freeway because:

• Your speed can feel far slower than it really is
• Always glance at the speedometer on the way off, confirming you've slowed enough for both the ramp and the intersection waiting at its end

Exit signs are posted with enough lead time that you can change lanes without rushing.

If you go past your exit:

• Never stop on the freeway
• Never back up on the freeway
• Just carry on to the following exit

Picture a High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane as a purpose-built lane set aside for particular vehicles that carry a required number of people on board. Drivers who carpool or ride transit can save travel time by using one.

The benefits reach every road user, not just carpoolers:

• Carrying more people in fewer vehicles makes better use of the highway network
• Fewer vehicles end up on the road overall
• Total emissions drop and air quality gets better

These lanes operate around the clock, every day of the week.

On provincial highways, the HOV lane is set aside for vehicles holding two or more people (a driver and at least one passenger) among these vehicle types:

• Cars
• Minivans
• Motorcycles
• Pickup trucks
• Buses

Key rules:

• A striped buffer zone divides the HOV lane from the ordinary traffic lanes, and crossing those striped pavement markings is both against the law and dangerous.
• Get in and out of an HOV lane only where the marked entry/exit zones allow it.
• Misuse the lane and a police officer can pull you over and issue a ticket; you'll then be told to merge back into general traffic at the following entry/exit zone.

A handful of vehicles get a pass from the HOV occupancy rules:

• A bus may travel in an HOV lane whenever it likes, no matter how many people are aboard
• Emergency vehicles -- police, fire and ambulance -- are exempt
• Taxis and airport limousines carrying only the driver are allowed in
• A vehicle bearing a "Green" licence plate can use the lane with however many people are inside (these plates go to qualifying plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, as well as to full-battery electric vehicles)

To run in the HOV lane, a commercial motor vehicle has to:

• Carry two or more occupants, AND
• Measure under 6.5 metres end to end.