Impatient drivers have turned to increasingly desperate measures to escape the clutches of Highway 401 traffic, like one motorist who was spotted illegally exiting the brutally congested artery.

The driver of a BMW SUV (in typical BMW driver fashion) seemed to think their time was just a bit too valuable to sit with the plebes in 401 gridlock when they were captured on video testing out the vehicle's off-road abilities by exiting the highway via a grassy slope.

Driver Off-roads To Take Exit.
📍Hwy401/Dixie
.#hwy401 #toronto #mississauga #wrongway #onhwys #onpoli #traffic #roadsafety pic.twitter.com/A7Nk8jVsF3

— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) July 9, 2024

The car can be seen exiting the 401 near Dixie in Mississauga to merge with an adjacent road, as an onlooker records on their phone.

And if this story seems familiar, it's because this is basically par for the course on Ontario's only highway bad enough to have a television show about it.

This is far from the first case of a dangerous driver pulling an off-roading stunt to escape highway traffic in the GTA, following several similar incidents recorded in the past year and a half that show motorists forging their own paths.

In fact, this isn't even the first time someone has been recorded doing so at 401 and Dixie. Almost exactly one year earlier, a driver was spotted pulling off the busy 401 near Dixie Road and onto a nearby street, via a grassy area off-limits to motorists.

Video shows the lengths people will go to escape brutal Highway 401 traffic https://t.co/aiw79BH5wv #Hwy401

— blogTO (@blogTO) July 17, 2023

Other areas of Highway 401 have also tested the patience of motorists to the point of breaking the law.

In early 2023, a queue of cars was seen ditching highway gridlock by driving off-road to merge with Highway 401 from Highway 410.

Another clip captured in August 2023 shows drivers pulling U-turns to escape the busy collectors' lanes of the 401 near Yonge.

Last November, another group of cars were spotted taking an illegal exit to flee from Highway 401 gridlock after a massive truck crash shut down the busy artery in both directions through Ajax for several hours.

It goes without saying that off-roading a makeshift highway off-ramp is dangerous and illegal. Aside from the obvious danger, drivers caught pulling this kind of stunt may face several fines.

So, while you might save a minute or two by breaking the law, you're better off being late than risking fines, injury or worse.