Strike

A warning to those in the GTA, if you don't have 3 people in your car, you can only drive in it for 45 metres only.

Unfortunately, I found out the hard way. Now the HOV lane isn't something I take advantage but here's my story. I take the same route to the subway (Kennedy Station) every morning. I go south on Midland and make a right (west) on to Eglinton. The entrance to the subway is on the right and is about 500-700 metres away from the Midland and Eglinton intersection with no traffic lights in between.

Considering how many cars and buses turns into the station, this strip of the lane gets very congested and it would be hard to make a right lane change to get into this lane without holding up traffic. So I did the sensible thing (like everybody else) and stayed in this lane since I knew I wasn't going to be in it long. Lo and behold, a cop makes a right lane change behind me and waits until I pull into the station and pulls me over. He told me that I was driving in a restricted lane and I told him I knew but I was going to make the right in here anyway. He said he didn't care and that I was only allowed to be in here for 45 metres. He gave me a $80 ticket and told me there wouldn't be any points to be deducted. I wouldn't have a problem paying it if I thought I was wrong, but I just think it's unreasonable especially considering that it was rush hour and I would have a hard time getting back into this lane without holding up the traffic.

I've never had to fight a ticket before...I only got 1 other ticket and it was a $30 ticket for speeding 10 km over. Now $80 is a whole lot but it's the principle of the ticket that bugs me. Since there are no points being deducted, would it be worth fighting just for the principle of the ticket?

RonBurgundy

I thought the HOV lane was for 2 or more people? Is the DVP HOV lanes difference than the ones along the 403? Were you just driving by yourself?

Strike

The HOV lane I was on is the HOV lane on Eglinton (a main road). There are signs that says it's for 3 people. However, you can travel on the DVP HOV lane if you only have 2 people.

In my instance, I was travelling alone but as I stated, I only used that lane because there was a exit on the right that I was going to make that was coming right up. I could understand if the cop pulled me over for taking advantage of the HOV lane but I wasn't. I was stuck behind 2-3 buses making that very same turn plus 4 or 5 cars as well.

The lanes beside me were pretty much empty so if I was looking to avoid traffic by using the HOV lane, this wasn't the spot to do so lol. The cop was just being unreasonably about the rule. If he had an ounce of common sense, he would have realized that I was simply trying to make the turn into the subway station. Seemed to me like he was just trying to meet his monthly quota.

pg29

fight the ticket, you have nothing to lose by fighting the ticket. he said you were allowed to be in the lane for 45m, how does he know for sure that you were in the lane for longer than that?