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You don't understand how hov lanes operate do you lol
Ha ha! Sure I do! They are another attempt at social engineering that looks good on paper but in execution, not so well.
HOV lanes would work out far better if enough cars had more than one person in them. But since probably 85%-95% of cars on expressways only contain one human a piece, you end up with traffic jams in the regular lanes with the HOV lane standing mostly empty waiting for those few cars with enough people in them. If you opened all the lanes to everybody, maybe there would be fewer jams????? We have had these HOV lanes for decades in some cities and it hasn't changed people habits because its not really possible to change those habits.
There are reasons why most cars have only one person. Who else needs to go the same point A to point B that you do?
If you opened all the lanes to everybody, maybe there would be fewer jams?????
On the road mentioned earlier (270 in MD) the road would be jammed with or without the HOV lanes. At least with HOV, some people will get there faster.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by richb
Glad we don't waste the space on carpool lanes in the Chicago area. Seems so stupid to not use that lane to its full capacity when there is heavy traffic.
The purpose of the HOV is to take cars off the road. This is quite popular in Northern VA for workers who work at the Pentagon and live in the exurban counties of Prince William and Stafford. What a lot of people will do is drive up to the commuter lot in Woodbridge and then park their car and look for anyone heading to the Pentagon or other points North. If you drive by the commuter lot on any weekday imagine all those cars on I-95. Traffic is already mostly gridlock here and all those single cars would make it that much worse.
Quote:
On the road mentioned earlier (270 in MD) the road would be jammed with or without the HOV lanes. At least with HOV, some people will get there faster.
Yep, I-270 is just too small to handle the traffic that it does especially North of Gaithersburg.
We carpool and I cant tell you how many people I see who aren't who are clearly not supposed to be using the carpool lane. Its usually the same sorts of drivers too: someone driving like a maniac, weaving in and out of traffic, tailgating those in front of us and so on. I recall one day I had to ride solo and was waiting in line to get to the on ramp signal lights.As I sat there I noticed that it seriously seemed like every 10th-15th person was violating the carpool lane. When I got the bottom there were 3-4 cop cars with cops standing outside, pulling over every car that was doing this. There must have been 5-6 cars in a row. I have to admit that was satisfying to see.
We carpool and I cant tell you how many people I see who aren't who are clearly not supposed to be using the carpool lane. Its usually the same sorts of drivers too: someone driving like a maniac, weaving in and out of traffic, tailgating those in front of us and so on. I recall one day I had to ride solo and was waiting in line to get to the on ramp signal lights.As I sat there I noticed that it seriously seemed like every 10th-15th person was violating the carpool lane. When I got the bottom there were 3-4 cop cars with cops standing outside, pulling over every car that was doing this. There must have been 5-6 cars in a row. I have to admit that was satisfying to see.
That's funny. A situation we have on I-270 right before the main lines Northbound is the carpool lane goes off the left a bit and to an overpass, then joins up to the main road again. (This is to get over the main lines coming from the 495 Beltway, the VA side) Anyway, you get car illegally riding in the carpool lane then they see the cops sitting where the carpool lane splits off, the they slam on their brakes (causing all of us in the carpool lane to do the same!) to get back into the regular lanes before the cops see them. I love seeing the cop standing there finger pointing the cars they see trying to get back in the regular lanes, lol. I just laugh as I go by. LOL
I don't carpool but I wish they'd enforce it more on I-270. Too many cheaters out there.
I certainly agree with you and I am sure they do what they can, but with budget cuts these days, it would be more important for the law officers to be at more serious situations. Just a thought.
I don't know.... I think I'm still in agreement with the guy from Chicago, all in all. The HOV lanes are a gimmick really. They appear to solve a problem but they're just, at best, a band-aid rather than a solution.
Even if you could achieve 100% enforcement of the rules on them, you're right... When you've got a lot of traffic, you simply need as many lanes of pavement as possible to get it all moved through. Limiting a lane or two to only cars with at least 2 people in them or whatnot is stupid. It's basically an attempt to say, "Hey -- we didn't build this road for the capacity it sees, so we're going to try to force you to change your behaviors when you travel. Ride with some random stranger or something, and then you can use one of these "special" lanes we don't let everyone else use."
I know I'm never going to do that ride sharing garbage. For starters, I do computer support and I never know what my hours are going to be. When they have a crisis, they need to me to come in ASAP and other times I get a slow day where I can basically sneak out early to make up for those long days/nights that happen once in a while. I tend to purposely come in later and stay later too, so I can do work on servers after people go home for the day and don't need to be connected to them. So I need my own car so I can come and go on MY schedule. I may even need to haul a bunch of parts to or from the place, at times.
Those who drive alone hate them, and think they are a gimmick, while those who carpool think they're great.
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