No Expressway HOV access, even w/ sticker

I'm pasting this into the post as you have to sign up to get access to the Mercury News online, but this was in yesterdays column (Monday). Apparently there is a little loophole in the law, the carpool stickers do not apply to all diamond lanes. This refers to some Santa Clara County, not sure if it's the same in other counties.

If you have access to the Merc site, the link is next, otherwise you can read it below. Mr Roadshow

Q I have been enjoying the use of the Highway 101 carpool lane in my Honda Civic hybrid, while getting 46ish mpg. Is it also OK to use the carpool lanes on Central, Lawrence and other expressways in Santa Clara County?

Richard Tiede, Tracy Moore and a few more

A Hybrid owners, I have bad news: No. Due to an oversight, hybrid owners -- for now -- with carpool stickers cannot drive solo in diamond lanes on Montague, San Tomas, Lawrence, Central and Capitol expressways. Legislation permitting this on state highways does not refer to carpool lanes set up by a local agency, such as the county. Local officials will seek legislation next year to correct this silly oversight, but it could be 2007 before the change occurs. In the meantime, Dan-the-County-Man says the California Highway Patrol will enforce the hybrid ban on our expressways: ``So, knowing that, it would be helpful for you to make that information known to avoid a lot of tickets by confused hybrid owners.''

 

Aha, did a quick search and did not come up with anything on it. Oh well, rather too much news than not enough