Coming from Arizona I was not used to this stupid rule about only being able to exit the HOV lane during small stretches of the road. And no, being able to enter and exit the HOV like an otherwise normal lane doesn't slow the HOV lane at all. But having to wait and then hurry across lanes to exit if you are not familiar with the route is just beyond stupid and creates unsafe conditions. If you get stuck behind some slow HOV driver, people are tailgating and then everyone tries to go fast to enter and exit the lane during the small stretch of road when it opens.