caught by COP to use HOV lane I-10 (Houston: insurance, taxes)

[colcat]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

I've been on a traffic jury before. Trust me when I tell you that "a bunch of other people did this and didn't get caught" is not a good defense.

Yeah. I'm always amazed at the "everyone else does it so why not me" thing.

[texas7]

I take the hov lane alone but pay the 4.50 toll for single riders before 7 a.m. Some of the lone riders you compare yourself to may be paying for the privilege.

Sorry you got a ticket but glad they do enforce it.

[johnrex62]

Originally Posted by johnsmith

I was caught by COP to use HOV lane on I-10 during peak hour. I drive alone. I know that day will happen, but I don't expect the ticket is so expensive, $450, and I have to go to court to defend myself. What should I do?

I have seen many people doing the same thing, drive alone and use HOV lane on I-10. It is not fair......

Is your point that it is not fair that people get away with violating the law and others suffer the inconvenience of obeying it? Or did you mean to imply that it is not fair that you were caught taking unfair advantage of the inability of the cops to catch everyone? I will agree that it is not fair that people break the law and think they should be exempt of the consequences.

As to what you should do? My advice would be to go to traffic court and plead guilty and beg the judge to be lenient because you truly feel bad about being a @ss and flaunting the law as if you were above it all. Maybe a few tears might be convincing, but I don't know.



My Dad told me a story of his younger days. He was cutting through a construction site along with a number of cars trying to avoid a traffic delay. At the end of the dirt trail throught the site was a couple of cops writting tickets to everyone they could stop. My dad pointed out all the cars passing by while the two cops were busy writing and the cop shrugged and said "I can only write so fast." Life is not fair, but you usually don't have a valid reason to complain when you get caught cheating.

[eastontracks]

Am I the only one that thinks you deserve the ticket and should pay it ? Maybe im harsh but it's a car pool lane so there should be 2+ in your vehicle. Or like others said, pay the toll. I don't understand the attempt to fight it.

True I'm sure many others do it but they shouldn't be doing it Either. Drivers here are the most selfish I've ever driven in any other city. Same people who try and cheat others by going solo in the carpool while also not wanting to pay the toll I'm sure are the same ones who cuts everyone off last second when exiting.

[Trae713]

Say you thought it was a HOT lane like 290.

[trele6]

Maybe I am reading this differently than everyone else but I think he is saying the following:

He got on where there was EZtag and HOV options - Didnt clarify if he used eztag or hov lane.
EZtag ends at HWY 6, however he stayed on and recieved a ticket after the eztag area ended.

I can see if that is the scenario why he would be upset, if you just paid $4 to get all the way towards hwy 6 but that isnt your exit and you stay on and then get a ticket.

Anyone else read it like that taking into consideration of his responses?

[HookTheBrotherUp]

The HOV could have been in the lanes with electronic monitoring, or west of HWY6. However, I have seen cheap people get on the HOV electronic portion of the road riding the EZ Tag lane, only to switch to the HOV lane (no charge) at the monitoring station.... solo to avoid paying a fee.

I read at one point that "they" were refining a sensor that would detect if there were more than one rider in the vehicle. I think now they issue electronic fines just by the decision of the operator in the booth looking for obvious solo riders. My problem with that is when you have kids. Sometimes the kids go to sleep on the way home and recline the seat.

In any case, you have absolutely nothing to lose by giving excuses, so have some lined up. I don't see this as a moving violation, so I would think it is just a penalty, but not count against your driving record (points). At best, you can tell others how expensive it is and if you think $450 was worth the extra time.

Please post after you clear it up and let us know what the outcome was.

[azinwood]

I'm glad you got caught.

[texas7]

Originally Posted by eastontracks

Am I the only one that thinks you deserve the ticket and should pay it ? Maybe im harsh but it's a car pool lane so there should be 2+ in your vehicle. Or like others said, pay the toll. I don't understand the attempt to fight it.

True I'm sure many others do it but they shouldn't be doing it Either. Drivers here are the most selfish I've ever driven in any other city. Same people who try and cheat others by going solo in the carpool while also not wanting to pay the toll I'm sure are the same ones who cuts everyone off last second when exiting.

Agree that he should pay his fine. My coworker just paid a similar fine for the same offense. You can get in the toll side if you are solo before a certain time in the morning or after a certain time in the evening. If I am leaving work at 5:45 sometimes I hang around till 6:00 so I can use the ez tag toll option. So yeah if I pay because its the way the system works then I wouldn't say it's right for others to ride free just because they don't want to sit in traffic and they don't want to pay either.

Now I do think they should issue tickets to drivers Hov or ez tag toll who get in the lane and drive 30 mph. For my 4.50, I expect to go 60. Can't tell you how often a slow driver hoses it up.

[Glucorious]

Originally Posted by texas7

Agree that he should pay his fine. My coworker just paid a similar fine for the same offense. You can get in the toll side if you are solo before a certain time in the morning or after a certain time in the evening. If I am leaving work at 5:45 sometimes I hang around till 6:00 so I can use the ez tag toll option. So yeah if I pay because its the way the system works then I wouldn't say it's right for others to ride free just because they don't want to sit in traffic and they don't want to pay either.

Now I do think they should issue tickets to drivers Hov or ez tag toll who get in the lane and drive 30 mph. For my 4.50, I expect to go 60. Can't tell you how often a slow driver hoses it up.

And I think I should have a couple of million Dollars in my bank account...


Get a lawyer for about 100 Dollars. I did it and it was fine. Cop didn't show up. Now I could do it myself, I guess. It's not that hard.

And how stupid you gotta be to pay a whooping 4.5 for this short stretch of highway? Taxes here, taxes there, taxes everywhere.. and they still want money from me to use the highway?

Anyway, good luck. definitely go to court and fight it.