I just got my car back from the shop, after someone rear-ended me on the freeway. I asked them to remove and save the HOV stickers as I'll need them to request new ones. They told me they're a pain to get off (by design) and instead cut the bumper around the stickers and gave me sticker shaped bumper pieces with the stickers still stuck. DMV shouldn't have a problem with that..
This is a serious question... where in the US do people bother with HOV stickers or obey the HOV lane laws? Or are you not in the US? I've only ever lived in one place with HOV lanes and that's Nashville, TN. The HOV law is neither obeyed by anyone nor enforced by anyone or any device. I'm just seriously curious are there parts of the US that I'd actually get a ticket for not having a passenger while in an HOV lane? I've never bothered paying attention to it.
Yes, there are places where HOV rules are enforced, at least somewhat. The driving culture you see is not universal.
I now do remember driving in Atlanta one weekend (with a passenger) and they had dedicated lanes that split off from the rest of traffic and breifly rejoined when a major exit was coming up. It was awesome. That system sure works a lot better than a little sign saying not to use a lane because you don't have a passenger. That's no more effective than the solid white line they put between two lanes when they don't want people changing lanes through construction sites. Which never stops anyone. It just seems that here since everyone else does it no one bothers to even try. If police enforced it it'd change overnight, but they don't enforce anything here.
When I lived on Long Island and traveled the Long Island Expressway (the world's longest parking lot) the HOV rules were strictly enforced. SCH-I545 using PriusChat mobile app
Where those bumper salvage-worthy? Just seems a dang shame to deface a half-decent bumper for something like this.
We do have some enforcement all the time. A few times a year, local news even shows pictures of the most interesting dummy passengers that local police bust and publicize. Emphasis patrols for various issues -- HOV violations, tailgaiting, aggressive drivings, left lane hogging, etc. -- are pre-announced on a regular basis. Here are the results of an HOV emphasis two weeks ago: State Patrol busts more than 180 HOV lane cheaters in 3 days Troopers bust 187 HOV lane cheaters over 3 days | KING5.com Washington State Patrol - Home | Facebook WSP totals of more than 14,000 HOV-cheater pull-overs, 10,000 tickets per year: How many HOV-lane cheaters are there, and how many get caught? | The Seattle Times During my carpooling commuter days, when the main line traffic came to a momentary full stop, a cheater starting cutting into the HOV lane in front of me, then stopped when he spotted a patrol cruiser on the shoulder just ahead. He was only half blocking my HOV lane, but had advanced just far enough to be unable to return until his lane started moving again, so we (and the other legitimate carpools behind) were also momentarily halted. The officer apparently observed all this. Once I got moving again, my rear view mirror revealed that the officer flipped on his lights and pulled in right behind the would-be cheater.
And today, figures for left lane campers pulled over this year: king5.com | WSP nabs over 13k left lane campers this year WSP Trooper H. Axtman: Just a little Thursday PSA
I would list the 3 major areas where free HOV helps drive hybrid sales (significant traffic) 1. Northern Virginia (phasing out free HOV for hybrids- going to HOT lanes) 2. Ca. (Plug-ins only) 3. NY LIE (over 45 MPG EPA) Let me know if there if any I missed that you would consider a major.
Last week, we had yet another pre-announced special emphasis patrol for HOV cheaters. This time, 5 days, 1671 tickets issued: State Patrol crackdown on HOV violators snares more than 1,700 drivers in Puget Sound area | The Seattle Times During this special emphasis, 17 drivers were busted twice, and one even thrice: Same driver busted 3 separate times for cheating HOV lane during emphasis patrol | KOMO Elsewhere are picture galleries of some of the more imaginative 'dummy' passengers.
Followed your link here. Wish this was happening in CA. Right thing for justice and fair and generous means of collecting revenue. 1,671 tickets, at $136 a pop. That’s an average of nearly 20 tickets per trooper per day and more than $225,000 for state coffers if everyone pays the fine.
They enforce HOV stickers routinely here. I've even seen them pull over HOV clean pass eligible cars (brand new with the window sticker still on it) just because they didn't have their stickers yet. My stickers are so faded that I wonder if that'll be an issue at some point. NY DMV made it clear they don't issue replacements either. SM-G965U ?
