Increase Your Chance of Avoiding Accidents

Then it would be not be an HOV lane, as required by the incentive funding provided by Congress.

It would be a Clean Air Lane, a separate category not yet funded by the feds. I want the clean air efforts to apply to all vehicles, even those outside the HOV lane and even on roads without HOV lanes.

My region already has fairly clean air, and it is getting cleaner without this incentive. Highway congestion is a bigger problem, and this incentive would make it worse.

 

I don't agree with the allowing of hybrid vehicles in HOV lanes but if they are dumb enough to offer that, I am dumb enough to take it.

 

Motorcycle with single rider is also allowed in the HOV lane. Clean Pass was designed for what the name indicates. Hybrid cars that qualify for Clean Pass emit cleaner exhaust than the motorcycles.

 

Hmm...so you went form a Black vehicle to a White vehicle? I just bought my second black vehicle that I've owned in my lifetime. I know some people hate the maintenance required for upkeep. But I like the looks of my vehicle when clean.

Just wondering what would make you jump from one end of the spectrum to the other?

 

I know you like it...but I think it looks ridiculous...

 

Mississippi avoids the issue of which vehicles can use the HOV lanes, by not having any HOV lanes. Wimps.

 

If you can't take the positive with the negative, best not to post things like this on the internet. I never said or implied that it wasn't your choice or right to do that to your car...I just said I think it looks ridiculous.

Plenty of people think lawn flamingos, toupee's and flames and fake "Type R" badges on their cars look good too...not my thing.

 

Out here, that is purely because the motorcycle lobby convinced the lawmakers that motorcycle riders are exposed to too much danger in stop-and-go traffic, that they are much safer in the HOV lane. This did not happen until some time after the first local HOV lanes were built.

Not here. They were built primarily so that transit buses could meet predictable and useful schedules, to encourage more people to ride 15 to 50 to a vehicle. And since the buses would not fill the lanes, they also allowed carpools of 3 (not 2) or more to use them.

A few years after I started carpooling in these lanes, the minimum rider count was reduced to 2 people on most stretches, though still is 3 on one local stretch. This minimum remains subject to review as traffic increases.

If the Puget Sound region were to put all its single-occupant hybrids and PZEV vehicles in the HOV lanes tomorrow morning, those lanes would suddenly become the slow lanes, blowing all the transit bus schedules out of the water. That is why it is such a bad idea here.

If your region can put all its single-occupant hybrids into the HOV lanes without causing serious congestion, then your region is not among the leading adopters of these vehicles.

 

I haven't felt offended by anything you've said. I find you amusing...not offensive.

Like I said before...if you can't handle reading negative feedback on things that you do...write them in a diary so only you can read them. If you post them on the internet...you're going to have to deal with negative feedback. I was very respectful...I simply voiced my opinion. Don't like it? Just ignore it.

This is a free and open forum and nowhere does it say we are only allowed to post positive comments. It says we have to be friendly and respectful and I was.

 

Good lord you are a PITA.

I never said you were being disrespectful at all...I simply said that I was not being disrespectful and thus are entitled to my opinion. You seem to think you need to justify what you've done to me for some reason and you don't. I never said you shouldn't have done that to your car...I just said I didn't like it.

You're the problem because you won't just let this drop. I think your tape looks awful...sorry. I'm entitled to my opinion...I'm not the only person here who has expressed that opinion. Obviously you disagree and thats fine. Its your car and you can do as you please. If you didn't want people to comment about what you had done...you shouldn't have posted pictures of it on a forum.

You need to get a thicker skin.

 

FYI, the DOT portrays the HOV lanes a congestion measure, not a clean air measure (emphasis in originals):

[FONT=&quot]High Occupancy Vehicle Facilities[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) facilities serve to increase the total number of people moved through a congested corridor by offering two kinds of travel incentives: a substantial savings in travel time, along with a reliable and predictable travel time. Because HOV lanes carry vehicles with a higher number of occupants, they move significantly more people during congested periods, even if the number of vehicles that use the HOV lane is lower than on the adjoining general purpose lanes. In general, carpoolers, vanpoolers, and bus patrons are the primary beneficiaries of HOV lanes by allowing them to move through congestion.[/FONT]

See also HOV Guidance, Chapter 2

See also USE OF HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE (HOV) LANES, including exceptions for inherently low-emission and energy-efficient vehicles, including provision made for limiting or discontinuing the exemption(s) if the facility becomes seriously degraded.

See also WA DOT HOV FAQ:
Can solo drivers in hybrid or other "green" vehicles use HOV lanes?

No. The Federal Highway Administration does allow inherently low emission vehicles (ILEVs) - which include hybrids - into HOV lanes without the required number of people, but such permission is up to individual states based upon preservation of good operating conditions in the HOV lanes.

Right now most of our HOV lanes are already full during the busiest commuting periods. The technology for hybrids and other green vehicles is changing at a rapid pace, and it is likely that many vehicles will soon fall into the ILEV category. Our HOV lanes could quickly follow the fate of Virginia's HOV lanes and become even more crowded. The HOV system greatly increases freeway efficiency and must be kept moving. We are therefore unable to offer this incentive for hybrid and other green vehicle owners.

 

But ... but ... but ...

PZEV covers a lot of car models now, including many dozens of affordable non-hybrids. In another post you were critical of another state for not providing incentives to purchase PZEV vehicles. If not HOV lane access for the other hybrids and the many non-hybrid PZEVs, what sort of incentive did you mean?

My state already has enough of these PZEVs to turn the HOV lanes into a parking lots.

 

... you can lead a horse to water. And you can post URL links and even quote the most applicable paragraphs, but you can't make others read.

The WA DOT HOV FAQ accurately describes what WA learned from VA. The NY path will put us on the fast track to seriously degraded facilities.