Is it Illegal to Drive on the Shoulder?

We’ve all been there: Stuck in traffic and lamenting our luck but patiently waiting our turn when someone blazes past the rest of us on the shoulder, kicking up dirt, rocks, and other detritus. It’s a frustrating experience, not simply because it’s the on-road equivalent of being butted in line, but also because it’s dangerous. However, is it actually illegal?

Although driving is a tightly regulated activity with a thick book of laws to help drivers know what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, there are still grey areas. In spite of — or perhaps because of — the large number of rules, drivers sometimes run into situations where the correct course of action isn’t clear. In this series of articles, we will seek to answer whether a variety of driving behaviours are explicitly illegal or just rude, starting today with driving the shoulder.

And we’re starting strong because this driving faux pas is, indeed, illegal. Driving is meant to happen on the road, and in most provinces, there are rules on the books that make it clear that the shoulder is not a part of the road and, therefore, cannot be driven on.

For example, whereas passing on the right is sometimes legal in Manitoba (such as when the vehicle ahead is making a left turn), the Highway Traffic Act section 115 states that passing off the roadway is never permissible. Not every province is quite as strict, though.

It is also illegal to pass on the shoulder in Ontario, though some exceptions exist. Unlike in Manitoba, the neighbouring province’s Highway Traffic Act, section 150 (2), states that a vehicle can use a paved shoulder to pass a vehicle turning left. Passing on the shoulder is also legal if the road is blocked by, say, construction material and “a person apparently employed by or on behalf of the authority that is engaged in the highway maintenance operation has directed the driver to pass it.”

However, being on the shoulder isn’t the only concern. How a vehicle gets back onto the road is also legislated in Ontario. Section 154 of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act clearly states that a driver “shall not move from the shoulder to a lane unless the movement can be done safely.

Stephanie Columbus, the training manager at X-Coppper, a law firm in Ontario that specializes in automotive cases, told AutoTrader via email that this section of the act can be “a bit of a grey area because it leaves it open to the police officer and then the court to determine what falls under making the move safely.” 

However, drivers found guilty of moving into a lane unsafely face a $110 fine and three demerit points in the province. That’s more or less in line with the penalty that can be levied in other provinces. In British Columbia, the fine is $109 and two demerit points, whereas in Quebec, it ranges from $100 to $200, experts told us.

While a penalty is one reason to avoid driving on the shoulder, it’s not the only reason. As mentioned previously, driving on the shoulder is dangerous. Going onto the soft shoulder at speed quickly changes a vehicle’s level of traction and handling characteristics, which can be challenging for a driver to manage. Moreover, the higher relative friction on the right side of the vehicle tends to draw it farther off the road, usually into a ditch.

Even a paved shoulder can be dangerous, as rocks, dirt, and other objects that find their way onto the road tend to be pushed to the sides of the road. Vehicles on the shoulder can kick up debris into other vehicles and run the risk of getting a flat tire. Even if the vehicle that goes off the road isn’t damaged by taking to the shoulder, getting back onto the road from an area that other road users aren’t expecting is a big risk.

Finally, driving on the paved shoulder can be a problem for emergency vehicles and tow trucks with a legitimate reason to be on the shoulder, such as when they are responding to a collision. Indeed, drivers on the shoulder run a greater risk of running into a stalled or broken-down vehicle that has pulled over to the side of the road. 

But besides being dangerous and illegal in most cases, driving on the shoulder is also rude, so just don’t do it.