When you think of impossibly dense, mind-destroying traffic, you probably think of cities like Los Angeles, Manhattan, and London. However, Toronto’s Highway 401 is right up there with the worst of them and its traffic can get so bad that some drivers are willing to take dangerously drastic measures to escape it. In a recent Twitter video, reported by BlogTO, several Torontonians were caught making U-turns in the middle of the highway to avoid traffic.
In the video, you can see drivers on the 401 Express, just before exit 369, making a U-turn around a barrier, which sent them into oncoming traffic. They then made another U-turn, around a second barrier, to put them in the correct direction of traffic and into collector lane traffic, so they could get off the exit.
Obviously, that’s a pretty terrible idea. Sure, traffic can be rough, especially if you’re late to work or an important family event. But what’s rougher is a head-on collision with a car headed in the opposite direction. You can see cars on the right side of the highway, having to avoid the U-turners, and it’s incredibly dangerous for everyone involved.
This isn’t the first time drivers went to drastic measures to avoid Highway 401 traffic, though. A few months back, a TikTok video of drivers literally driving cutting across a grass hill, like they’re Indiana Jones, to escape the 401’s gridlock.
Naturally, both improvised exits are highly illegal and videos such as these are likely going to have Toronto police on higher alert for future drivers following suit. So if you’re watching these videos and getting any ideas, you might want to think twice. Not only because you’ll get busted by the police but also because being ten minutes early isn’t worth risking your life dodging oncoming cars.
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