HOV sticker vainness; what happens if I only stick it...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ThatAdamGuy @ Dec 23 2006, 04:13 AM) [snapback]365950[/snapback]</div>

Perhaps you'd be interested in being our test subject.

 

Someone did have them in alternate positions, and was ticketed with the minimum $271 fine (that's what it was then ... I think its $329 or something now). He had the stickers on his windows, IIRC.

So it depends on if you think its worth the fine, and then if you get the fine, worth it not to be able to drive in the HOV lane until you get new stickers (because you will NOT be able to relocate them!)

There have been some musings about mounting the stickers on some kind of substrate that would be friendlier to the paint, or be moveable. I don't think magnetic sign material would work, as the bumper is not magnetic. But perhaps there's something else that would work.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Dec 23 2006, 02:23 PM) [snapback]366106[/snapback]</div>

Although bumpers are not magnetic, there are quite strong magnets you could glue on the inside of the bumper that would attract magnetic material through the bumper. I've got a set of magnets that I can place on opposite sides of a piece of wood over an inch thick that hold well.

Experiment with such magnets, until you're convinced the HOV stickers so applied wouldn't slide off the bumper.

Dave M.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Dec 23 2006, 03:23 PM) [snapback]366106[/snapback]</div>

Seems to me this could be fought. It's not like you're not allowed to be there, you are. If you have a current registration but forgot to put the new stickers on, you'll get a fix-it ticket. I can't see how this situation would be any different. You have a legitimate right to be in those lanes, you just didn't follow directions.

 

It was extremely painful to put those four stickers on, and I spent a ridiculous amount of time debating if defacing my car was worth the supposed time I'd save. But let me tell ya -- the first time you drive in the HOV lane at 60 mph, instead of sitting in stop and go traffic, (especially here in the Bay Area) the pain disappears. And with each subsequent time you drive in the HOV lane, you'll feel better and better about the decision to slap those hideous stickers on.

Suck it up, its worth it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(OaklandPrius @ Dec 24 2006, 09:43 PM) [snapback]366439[/snapback]</div>

Maybe for you. I've got a grand total of 3 miles of HOV lanes on my daily work commute. By the time I work my way through the traffic to get to the lane, it's time to work my way back again to get off.

 

Aren't these HOV stickers up for review in '08? As in, they either renew the program or it sunsets? With the level of whining I hear up here in the Capitol about HOV lane crowding I'm concerned about this program sunsetting and being left with worthless and ugly stickers on my car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Platypus @ Dec 25 2006, 05:50 AM) [snapback]366490[/snapback]</div>

The program has already been extended by three years to 2011.

 

My suggestion is to buy a small sheet of the 3M paint protection film for a few bucks and cut pieces slightly bigger than the stickers. Put the film on the car and the stickers on the film. The film can be removed from cars without damaging the paint.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ThatAdamGuy @ Dec 23 2006, 12:13 AM) [snapback]365950[/snapback]</div>

Put them as low as you can, they are less objectionable that way.
My guess is that the rear and right rear ones are a "must".
Removing them leaves a bunch of sticky dots that can be removed with a mild detergent.

Using the 3M film might work but it also makes them easily removable and they might end up on the wrong car
(CHP looks for stickers not for cars)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr. Zorg @ Dec 24 2006, 10:16 PM) [snapback]366457[/snapback]</div>

I've got a short commute, so I don't take advantage of them every day. Wish I could. But when I need to head into SF or the South Bay during the rush hours, it makes the trip a much sweeter ordeal. I've had my stickers for about 7 months, and I still grin every time I hop into the HOV lane.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr. Zorg @ Dec 23 2006, 08:53 PM) [snapback]366194[/snapback]</div>

Maybe the guy who got the ticket can jump in here. My understanding is that the phrase "The law is an nice person" (as in the particularly stubborn animal) applies in this case. You are free to do whatever you want, risk getting a ticket and then try to fight it and let us know what happens. I'm too cheap to let vanity stand in the way of me keeping $349 or whatever the fine is!

 

I agree that the stickers are horribly ugly. Too bad the Prius doesn't come in Yellow, then they might look better. But I'm going to put them on anyway when they arrive. Those will be the first stickers placed on a non-glass area of any car I've owned for 24 years... Oh well, the price for the HOV lane... The good part is that you can't see the ugliness when you are in the car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ThatAdamGuy @ Dec 23 2006, 12:13 AM) [snapback]365950[/snapback]</div>

You've heard wrong. I destroy the stickers when removing them, but nothing happens to the paint if you do it right. Just use heat - the same way you would remove the ugly emblems that come on the car.

If you find the stickers too ugly, leave them off and stay out of the HOV lane is my friendly advice.

Nope. Sort of like choosing to have the license plate taped to one of the windows somewhere. Gets the point across that you have a license, but it is not located where it should be.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr. Zorg @ Dec 23 2006, 08:53 PM) [snapback]366194[/snapback]</div>

It is exactly like you are not allowed to be there - without the HOV stickers. You don't get to drive in the HOV lane because you own a hybrid. You get to order the stickers because you own a qualifying hybrid. You are allowed to drive in the HOV lane only after you've installed the stickers on your hybrid. Seems subtle, but you are breaking the law one way, and are perfectly legal the other.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr. Zorg @ Dec 24 2006, 10:16 PM) [snapback]366457[/snapback]</div>

Ah... another good place for my most appreciated advice - if the stickers are too ugly, and it is too much trouble to merge into and out of the HOV lane... what's the point of doing it at all?

Yeah, I know I'm sounding like a snot. I've just heard about how ugly these stickers are for so long, that I have to wonder why some people even consider ordering and applying them in the first place. I've now owned four cars with HOV stickers, and I install the stickers proudly - even when the car never sees an HOV lane. And on top of all that, I think the HOV stickers are the best looking thing about my ugly Prius!

You want the HOV benefit without the stickers? Get yourself a real carpool, and make a REAL difference in pollution, gas use and congestion. If you purchased the Prius just for the HOV access, installing the stickers is still one of the requirements.

Whoa! The air is really thin up here in the ivory tower!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim1eye @ Dec 23 2006, 11:10 AM) [snapback]365981[/snapback]</div>

I have spoken to California highway Patrol that HAVE written tickets for turds that stick them on their non-qualifying bigger / gas-guzzlin hybrid cars (the Highlander, & the Lexus car in particular) which means they either necessarily re-ordered stickers, or were driving around their qualifying car with a shortage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ThatAdamGuy @ Dec 23 2006, 12:13 AM) [snapback]365950[/snapback]</div>

Absolutely not true at all. I have taken mine off and repositions them one both my Prius and my Honda CH and they come off cleanly and went back on nicely. Just pull them off gently without BENDING the stickers too much and it won't even leave a streak or a single dot of goo..

 

I too hate the stupid stickers; but, my time is worth more than geeting a ticket and having to go to court to fight it. I bit the bullet and just put them on as low as possible and nice and straight.

For those that do not know this trick, put some liquid dish washing soap (couple of drops) in a bowl with luke warm water and then peel the back off the HOV sticker and put it in the bowl. Then wet the bumper with the same solution and then you can position the sticker where you want it by sliding it around as needed and then when it dries it is permanently affixed.
Good luck.

 

There is a poll about cop encounters due to improper HOV sticker placement... please vote if you haven't already:

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=12659

The results have numbers for how many people got away with it. I personally have the two small stickers in the correct positions on the front and back bumpers, but didn't put the big stickers on the sides. Never had any problems after approx 30 hours in the carpool lanes.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Jan 1 2007, 11:48 AM) [snapback]369287[/snapback]</div>

I agree. This vanity thing baffles me. This is a Prius, not a Lamborghini or Ferrari. You actually think this is a great looking car? There is a fairly large crowd of folks who, though loving the car and its technology, think it is rather "quaint" looking. I'm one of them, though I wouldn't trade this gem for one of the beauties named above. There was even a thread or two posted about the "manliness" of driving a sissy-looking Prius.

Think of the stickers as Formula 1 drivers do. Theirs says "STP" and ours says "Clean Air Vehicle." That's the message our "sponsor" asks us to display for the free ride.

As for driving in the HOV lanes solo, we should be sending small gifts to our legislators each holiday season thanking them, rather than nit-picking the simple rules they require for this wonderful privilege. When I think of the thirty-four years I drove 50 miles in rush hour traffic from my Orange County home to LAX for work in pre-Prius days and looked at the guys whizzing by me on the left I could cry. I would have painted "Vote For Nixon" in green paint on the side of my Mercedes to be able to get into the HOV lane!

Some folks are born into this world with the idea that they deserve whatever is available as a natural right, with no give and take. Others are happy with what comes their way by hard work or just good luck. If I were a cop, I'd issue a ticket just for the bad attitude displayed in scoffing the placement law.

But then I'm Italian and attitude is everything to us.