stealing time in the carpool lane

• Brazenly stealing time in the carpool lane
  Cheaters are so commonplace that they're clogging the diamond lanes -- drivers and legislators are fed up
  Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
  Thursday, April 26, 2007
  
  Every weekday, thousands of Bay Area drivers flout the law, thumb their noses at fellow motorists and risk hefty fines to shave time off their commutes.
  
  Carpool lane cheaters -- drivers who don't have enough passengers to qualify for access to the lanes but use them anyway -- have become so commonplace that they're clogging some diamond lanes, slowing the trip for those who pile a couple of passengers into their cars. Caltrans data show that carpool lane cheaters have become more common as traffic has worsened over the past five years.
  
  "They usually don't have anyone or anything in their cars -- it's just one person,'' said Joyce Holter, a solo driver who commutes on Interstate 80 between Richmond and Berkeley in the regular traffic lanes. "They're really brazen. It's amazing.''
  
  In response to complaints, state Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), has proposed legislation that would set up a hot line and Web site for motorists to tattle on carpool lane cheaters. Those cheaters would receive a warning letter. The bill, SB889, passed the Senate Transportation Committee this week.
  
  Keeping carpool lanes flowing -- and free of cheaters -- will become even more important as the Bay Area expands its carpool lane network over the next few years. Lanes are planned for a number of Bay Area freeways, including Interstate 580 in the Tri-Valley and Highway 101 in Marin and Sonoma counties.
  
  Many scofflaws weave in and out of the lanes to avoid being caught or enter only where traffic has slowed to a stop in the regular lanes. Cheating can cut many minutes from some commutes, according to Caltrans.
  
  Big-time savings
  
  For instance, morning commuters headed south in the carpool lane on Interstate 880 between Whipple Road in Hayward and Mission Boulevard in Fremont can save 23 minutes. And northbound drivers on Interstate 680 between Highway 242 in Concord and Marina Vista in Martinez can cut their evening travel time by 18 minutes in the carpool lane.
  
  But cheating can be costly -- the fine is $376 or $386, depending on the county.
  
  Still, sneaking into the carpool lanes has become increasingly popular. A Caltrans report estimated that in 2005, about 14 percent of drivers in Bay Area carpool lanes were cheaters.
  
  On one busy stretch -- the westbound Interstate 80 flyover to the Bay Bridge toll plaza -- 20.6 percent of those driving through the lanes during the evening commute did so illegally, the report found. Other stretches ranged from 9.9 percent to 16.3 percent.
  
  In 2001, only I-80's carpool lanes had violation rates exceeding 10 percent in the Bay Area.
  
  A Chronicle count on Interstate 80 eastbound during the evening commute last week found at least 11 percent of the motorists cheating.
  
  Cars with heavily tinted windows or in which the backseats were hard to see were not counted as cheaters.
  
  On the Sterling Street on-ramp to the Bay Bridge during the evening commute on Monday, The Chronicle found 39 percent of the drivers using the ramp illegally -- some of them pausing and apparently looking around for California Highway Patrol officers before accelerating up the ramp.
  
  Drivers complain
  
  Carpoolers and solo drivers alike complain that too many cheaters are getting away with the crime and wonder why the CHP isn't cracking down.
  
  "In my 40-minute commute in the morning, I see at least 10 violations -- on a decent day,'' said Michael Santo, 49, an engineering project manager who drives from Castro Valley to the South Bay. "On a particularly bad commute day, there are cheaters all over the place. On my way home, there are a lot more cheaters, most likely because people want to get home fast. The CHP is not enforcing the law.''
  
  Holter, a purchasing agent for UC Berkeley, agreed. In 17 years of commuting along I-80, she said, she has seen congestion and use of the carpool lanes increase, but not enforcement.
  
  "They ought to be ticketed,'' she said. "It seems like they consistently do it because they're not getting caught. But if there was a crackdown, it might make a difference.''
  
  CHP Sgt. Les Bishop said officers regularly issue citations to carpool cheaters and conduct occasional enforcement blitzes as well.
  
  Over the past five years, the CHP issued an average of 6,685 citations a year on four of the Bay Area's busiest carpool lanes: I-80 from the Bay Bridge to Hercules; I-680 in central Contra Costa County; I-880 in Alameda County; and Highway 101 in Marin and Sonoma counties.
  
  "All you have to do is look at the number of citations,'' Bishop said. "We're out there, and it's like any other law -- when we see the violations, we will cite them.''
  
  Bishop acknowledged the perception that thousands of drivers are blatantly breaking the law but said many motorists who think they see cheaters could be mistaken.
  
  "From my own experience, there's a large number of times you think someone is violating the law and when you pull them over, you find someone sleeping in the back seat or a small child in a car seat.''
  
  Most of the cheaters don't employ such extreme -- and entertaining -- measures as putting inflatable dolls, stuffed dummies or dressed-up pets in their cars, Bishop said.
  
  Most simply roll into the carpool lanes without the required number of passengers, sometimes weaving in and out or entering only when traffic slows to a stop in the regular lanes.
  
  No cheater profile
  
  Among many commuters, there's a perception that delivery vehicles, contractors' trucks or folks in expensive cars are the principal offenders. But there's no particular profile for a cheater, Bishop said.
  
  "It's everybody,'' he said, "across the spectrum.''
  
  Not everyone is getting caught, though, Bishop concedes. The CHP has limited resources -- the number of officers statewide is just 240 more than in 1972, he said -- and a lot of work to do on the congested highways.
  
  "It's certainly an uphill battle, and I can understand why people are frustrated,'' he said. "You're sitting there in the No. 2 lane, and you want to be moving faster, and you see people you think shouldn't be there. It's a quality-of-life issue.''