Ontario piloting new HOV lane merges on Highway 400

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A new way to enter and exit HOV lanes on Highway 400 is designed to take the terror out of merging.

Opened just days ago on the 400 southbound through Vaughan, drivers will see the new transfer lanes bordered by zebra stripes. The extra lane will add a buffer between fast-moving traffic and potentially slow-moving traffic. The extra lane allows drivers to either speed up or slow down to transition between lanes.

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Ontario piloting new HOV lane merges on Highway 400 Back to video

It’s one thing to describe the new merging maneuver with words, but another to see it while travelling at or over the speed limit as drivers are often pushed to do on the 400 series of highways. So to help us prepare for using the transfer lane, the Ministry of Transport released this video:

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The video helps, but judging by social media reaction to the new transfer lanes it might take some getting used to.

The concept of course is to ease the dread of finding an opening to either join or exit an HOV lane.

The intricate ballet involves keeping track of where you need to exit, and anticipating a gap that permits rapid acceleration or deceleration.

The new dedicated transfer lanes designed to mitigate merge anxiety are currently only on Highway 400.