he HOV lanes on highways in Ontario is meant for vehicles carrying at least two people, including the driver.LISEGAGNE.COM/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
What do you do when you are in the HOV lane (separated by a double solid line) and the car behind you wants to go faster than you? You can’t just move to the right, as you would normally do, because you’re not supposed to enter or leave the lane except at designated places. Also, the designated spots for crossing are quite short – so if you leave at that point to let someone pass, you’ll likely not get back in again. I find myself setting my cruise control at about 118 kilometres an hour, which is faster than I’d like, and hoping for the best. Occasionally, people go around me on the right, ignoring the lines on the road. – Neil, Kitchener, Ont.
The HOV lane is meant for carpooling – not for pushing other cars out of the way, safety experts said.
“In terms of the law, we often hear about slower traffic being required to stay to the right but that doesn’t apply to the HOV lane,” said Sean Shapiro, a traffic safety consultant and former Toronto police officer. “It is neither the fast lane nor the passing lane. It is an entirely separate section of the highway reserved for those qualified to drive within it.”
HOV stands for high-occupancy vehicle. The HOV lanes on highways in Ontario is meant for vehicles carrying at least two people, including the driver.
In Ontario, taxis, buses, motorcycles and EVs with green licence plates can also all use the HOV lane even if the driver is alone.
“They’re there to encourage commuting [and help commuters] when congestion is at its peak,” said Sergeant Kerry Schmidt, a spokesman for the Highway Safety Division of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). “But the speed limit is the speed limit.”
You’re only supposed to enter or leave an HOV lane when there’s a break in the solid painted lines, he said.
So if you’re going the speed limit in the HOV lane and the car behind you is pushing you to go faster, either by tailgating or flashing their high beams, you shouldn’t be crossing the lines to get out of their way, said Angelo DiCicco, chief executive of the Ontario Safety League (OTSL), a Mississauga-based nonprofit focusing on driver education.
“I would strongly suggest you hold your ground. You are legally in the correct lane and legally driving at a speed that you feel confident [at],” DiCicco said. “This aggressive driver will go around you just as they have come up behind you.”
But if the tailgating driver’s behaviour gets dangerous, you may decide to cross the line – and risk a ticket – to get out of their way. Make sure you can do it safely, as drivers in other lanes won’t be expecting you to cross, he said.
“If you do decide to cross the line, make sure that you are signalling your intentions well in advance so that you’re not changing lanes at the same time as the aggressive driver,” DiCicco said.
But the OPP’s Schmidt said crossing the solid lines at any time is dangerous and has led to serious collisions.
If you’re the driver in the HOV lane trying to force other drivers to go faster, “your mental state is the problem,” DiCicco said.
“If you’re feeling frustrated because you want to get ahead, this is a time for adaptive cruise control, which will keep a safe distance,” he said. “Set it and forget it.”
Best-lane plans?
While you have the legal right to stick to the speed limit in an HOV lane, it’s a good idea to only use it when the other lanes are slow and congested, Shapiro said.
“The big question is: Why are you in the HOV to begin with?” he said. “If the lanes to your right are open and moving at the same speed, then you really have no reason to be there in the first place.”
If there’s no traffic jam, then consider leaving the HOV lane open so emergency vehicles can use it, Shapiro said.
Plenty of drivers who shouldn’t be in the HOV lane – because they’re alone and not in an EV – use it anyway, DiCicco said. Some weave in and out over the solid lines.
“For someone to intentionally utilize a lane [meant for] public good and safety is really mystifying to me,” DiCicco said. “It defeats the purpose and it also disrupts the flow of traffic for a very long line of legitimate users.”
In Ontario, if you’re in an HOV lane when you shouldn’t be, you could face a $110 fine and three demerit points.
The OPP has issued more than 1,100 tickets for HOV violations so far this year. Last year, it issued more than 4,000 tickets.
We asked police in British Columbia and Quebec for charges there, but they said numbers weren’t immediately available. “[We] actively enforce HOV passenger rules, though not at the rate we focus on impaired driving, distracted driving and excessive speeding,” Corporal Michael McLaughlin, a spokesman for B.C. Highway Patrol, said in an e-mail. “When HOV lane violators are ticketed, it is quite common that multiple tickets are written [such as] speeding, using an electronic device or crossing a solid line.”
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