Toronto area drivers keep pulling illegal stunts to escape highway traffic
Drivers in Toronto and the surrounding region seem to have a hard time keeping on the roads when the traffic gets tough, as yet another video has emerged showing an impatient motorist literally forging their own path to escape 905 gridlock.
A video captured on Highway 403 at Eglinton in Mississauga shows the driver of a dark grey SUV taking advantage of its four-wheel-drive capabilities by illegally offroading to escape backed-up southbound traffic attempting to exit at Eglinton.
The Shortcut On📍Hwy403/Eglinton
— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) November 18, 2023
.#Hwy403 #Mississauga #ONHwys #RoadSafety #shortcut #reckless #trucking #TruckDriver #traffic pic.twitter.com/6ie1EfUNPy
The clip, on its own, isn't the most dramatic case to emerge in recent months, but it contributes to a concerning trend of motorists ignoring basic highway safety to shave a few minutes off their commute time.
Nearly identical clips of desperate drivers illegally fleeing highways in Toronto and the surrounding region have been spreading like wildfire in 2023.
Earlier in November, a driver was spotted making an illegal U-turn on Highway 401 in Cambridge before driving the wrong way onto an on-ramp to escape traffic.
Vehicle Made U-turn On Ramp And Had To Face The Merging Pete.
— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) November 6, 2023
📍Hwy401/Cambridge
.#Hwy401 #Cambridge #ONHwys #RoadSafety #trucking #TruckDriver #transport #Wrongway #Toronto pic.twitter.com/pB9MAnYpUi
Similar videos of drivers illegally fleeing Highway 401 circulated on social media in April and July.
Shortcuts On Hwy401 Near Dixie.
— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) July 16, 2023
.#Hwy401 #Toronto #Mississauga #ONHwys #traffic #RoadSafety #shortcut #drivesafe #patience #TruckDriver #trucking pic.twitter.com/ACwFG4iX1z
Incidents like these are nothing new, and in one head-scratching case from 2019, a driving instructor was pulled over after following a group of other drivers who were making an illegal U-turn on Highway 410.
A police officer caught a driving instructor trying to make an illegal U-turn on #Hwy410 - 📹 @OPP_HSD pic.twitter.com/l4Nb80lHWs
— blogTO (@blogTO) September 17, 2019
So, before you go saying that education is the answer here, even driving instructors are performing these irresponsible and often dangerous stunts.
Regardless of who is doing it, it goes without saying that pulling a U-turn on a controlled-access highway is illegal under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act.
According to section 153 (1) of the act, "Where a highway has been designated for the use of one-way traffic only and official signs have been erected accordingly, vehicles and street cars shall be driven only in the direction so designated."
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