It’s time we acknowledge the HOV lanes are not a good idea for metro Atlanta.
It is pretty easy to notice that, except in the case of a traffic jam, the HOV lanes are underutilized. They are much less utilized than the ordinary lanes. Often regular traffic moves at a faster pace. There is no minimum speed for the HOV lanes that guarantees a greater return in terms of time spent in travel than the ordinary lanes.
In many places in metro Atlanta, there are four to six regular lanes and one HOV lane. Yet the HOV lane gets one entrance lane to the interstate and the numerous other lanes also get just one entrance lane.
No one thinks before getting in their car to go somewhere: “Hey, I’ll take someone along so I can use the HOV lane.” People who car pool do not do so to be able to use the HOV lane.
Query how many people from outside the metro area understand what “HOV” means? While ignorance of the law is no excuse, why couldn’t it say “two-plus passenger vehicles”?
Many times I have seen commuters getting pulled over on the northern entrance to I-75 on Northside Drive for entering the highway in the HOV lane. I’ve always felt sorry for them. Unfortunately, I never did anything.
Recently, after leaving a meeting downtown, I traveled east to access I-75. I came to an entrance where the only means to access I-75 south was via the HOV lane. I saw no I-75 south non-HOV entrance (and a return to the scene confirmed this). I thought to myself: “I’ll just get on and then immediately get out of the HOV lane.”
Upon entering the lane, I found five state trooper cars, lined up, giving out tickets. I got one, and I asked the trooper what the fine would be. His reply: $75.
I saw seven cars lined up at once. The tickets were being handed out in a fast-and-furious manner. I estimated the clip was a ticket per minute, meaning $4,500 of revenue per hour (i.e., $75 times 60). If the average trooper makes $30 per hour in total compensation, the hourly net is $4,350 (i.e. $4,500-150). Not a bad take.
But it is a bad take. Police are supposed to serve the people by protecting them and their property. There is nothing about entering the highway in an HOV lane that endangers people or their property. In fact, HOV lanes are a money machine designed to help the government to the detriment of the people.
The night the incident happened, I called my state senator and left a message, asking that he call me about changing the law to allow entrance at HOV lanes or regular lanes without ticketing, while allowing a reasonable length of road (e.g. one-quarter mile) for non-HOV commuters to leave the HOV lane. I did not receive a return call.
I called my state House representative and was asked to send an email specifying my complaint. I did so, and received a reply email stating that he would think about it. I waited a week and a half for a reply.
I contacted him again. We traded emails, and he said he was unwilling to do anything about it at the time, but he’d think about it more.
I hope there is at least one lawmaker in Georgia who will act to stop the injustice.
While I asked my state representatives to change the law to allow access to the interstate at any place with a reasonable distance to exit the HOV lane, the better solution is to eliminate these lanes altogether.
Many tax-paying Georgians are hurting. Police ticketing people for entering the interstate at the wrong entrance simply adds insult to injury.
It’s time to stop the nonsense.
Allen Buckley was the Libertarian Party’s U.S. Senate candidate in 2004 and 2008.
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