Should HOV lanes be disallowed?
Here in Seattle we have the #2 Worst Traffic in the country according to some Analysts. This is not because of an immense amount of people but rather VERY poor road design IMO. I have noticed that HOV lanes do not help overall traffic and in many ways they encourage too many lane changes as people "rush" to the HOV lanes(they're pretty damn aggresive). I'm beginning to think HOV lanes are useless and more trouble than they are worth. Most people work varying shifts and live in distant neihbhorhoods from each other. The HOV "concept" is not working here. Should it be disbanded? Of course I mean in YOUR locality...we already know Seattle sucks!
Comments
Here in SoCal, even during non-rush hour, things can be a bit clogged and congested. And if it's 10:00pm and I'm by myself, I look over and there's an entire lane not being used, except for the occasional car with 2 or 3 people in it.
I don't know. I do know this: SOMETHING has got to give, and soon.
It's just getting ridiculous out here (as in most major metro areas, I would imagine). So many people moving into the same little patch of the planet. I freak out sometimes at how long it takes me to travel a couple of miles...between traffic lights every 20 feet and a gazillion people all fighting for the same off-ramp, jeez...
I'm basically for ANYTHING that improves traffic flow and reduced congestion and will eliminate the instances of sitting on the interstate and doing a blazing 17mph.
at least where i've lived, the problem is absolutely poor road design. savannah is the worst, with our road engineering done apparently by some cracked up georgia tech students (i'm not kidding).
(edit: lane...not line...)
[ 04-05-2002: Message edited by: poor taylor ]</p>
[ 04-05-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
It's fun travelling on them during peak hours, flying down the highway watching everyone else sit in traffic.
I'm more in tune to the idea of "Lexus Lanes" though. Being a die-hard capitalist, that is to me the best way to equalize road demand.
<strong>sorry, i'm from the rural south. what's a hov lane?</strong><hr></blockquote>
High Occupancy Vehicle Lane
The lane is reserved for vehicles carrying at least two people ? a driver and a passenger of any age ? plus buses and motorcycles.
Realy? Seems like there's a fair amount of people using the slug lines. For example when my father used to wait for the bus people would drive up and offer to drive him to the Pentagon. Find two guys in uniform (not hard where I lived) and you had HOV on 395. My father in law car pools all the time and started a slug line where he lives.
[ 04-05-2002: Message edited by: Scott H. ]</p>
pscates, sounds like you're FOR HOV lanes...
Cities have a responsibility to have viable, speedy, inexspensive, comprehensive public transit. It can really make or break a city. I mean look at LA.
We have them here in Southern Calif. The HOV lanes are located in the far left lane of the freeways. When people first enter a freeway, they quite often make an mad dash to the left side of the freeway so they don't miss the 1st HOV lane entrance. These unsafe actions tend to slow down the people in the regular lanes as we try to avoid hitting their cars.
Having HOV lanes results in less regular lanes for everyone else and you end up with more traffic moving slower in the regular lanes. This problem though, is not a mistake. Its a way to get more people to carpool by making driving more unpleasent so that you carpool. Its called social engineering.
Liberals look at cars as evil, a plague on the planet. So they are doing whatever they can in the name of the enviroment to make driving a misery and more expensive (by expensive, I'm referring to them wanting gas to cost > $5.00 per gallon).
<strong>Yes.
We have them here in Southern Calif. The HOV lanes are located in the far left lane of the freeways. When people first enter a freeway, they quite often make an mad dash to the left side of the freeway so they don't miss the 1st HOV lane entrance. These unsafe actions tend to slow down the people in the regular lanes as we try to avoid hitting their cars.
Having HOV lanes results in less regular lanes for everyone else and you end up with more traffic moving slower in the regular lanes. This problem though, is not a mistake. Its a way to get more people to carpool by making driving more unpleasent so that you carpool. Its called social engineering.
Liberals look at cars as evil, a plague on the planet. So they are doing whatever they can in the name of the enviroment to make driving a misery and more expensive (by expensive, I'm referring to them wanting gas to cost > $5.00 per gallon).</strong><hr></blockquote>
While I like to make fun of liberals as much as anyone, HOV lanes are not part of an entirely liberal concept. If people do take HOV seriously, then that's a 50% reduction of vehicles on the road. Even a 10% reduction helps to some extent. And it's not about cars being evil for me, it's about taxes being evil. If I can do something so simple as carpooling that will. . .
1) reduce my gasoline budget
2) reduce the need to divert more tax money to highway maintenance and expansion, eventually contributing to raises in taxes.
. . . then I will be interested. HOV lanes act as an incentive to carpool, which will reduce the cost of (2).
Of course I'm all for the eventual privitization of the road system.
[ 04-06-2002: Message edited by: Splinemodel ]</p>