RIP EV HOV Lane Use (CA Residents: CHP Giving 60-Day Grace Period for Citations; End 11/30)

[GrayWolf]

I stay in the "burbs" for work. Only go downtown if necessary to a sporting event/concert. Unsure how people do it daily....

My office is in Midtown... I never claimed to maintain my sanity when I must commute. I still want to throttle whoever thought that merging 316 onto I-85 in the -Peachpass- lane was a good idea (narrator voice: It really, really, really is not smart).

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[BatteriesIncluded]

A couple of points.

First CHP is at the state level but there are a variety of HOV lanes not under CHP jurisdiction (e.g. county). I haven’t seen any press stating a grace period for non-CHP HOV lanes. There may be none. The CHP grace period probably still requires stickers.

Next rather than ending the EV HOV perk I think a more elegant solution would have been to enforcement to stop the ICE cheats. The lanes would be less clogged, the perk for carpooling increased, and the incentive for people to drive green cars retained. In my areas it appears 25+% of the HOV lane drivers are cheats.

 

[atllauren]

Here in Georgia we need to have the special Alternative Fuel plate to enjoy our free access. When I got my Mach-E in the Spring, I opted against it because I think it is an ugly plate and I wanted to keep my UGA plate (plus my plate number is easy to remember and includes 777 which is fun). Makes me glad I didn't get the EV plate...would have been a bummer to make that change and lose access only a few months later.

 

[Mr. Toejam]

2 month grace period?!?
Now I need to put those stickers back on. Might need to pull out my sheet of PPF. The carpool lane really helps my commute (to the golf courses).

I am off the 57 and there is always a jam (7 days a week, practically all day long) at the 60, the 91 and the 5. Such is life near the Orange Crush Interchange (aka “The Crush”).

 

[GrayWolf]

Makes me glad I didn't get the EV plate...would have been a bummer to make that change and lose access only a few months later.

My neighbor shared that his boss bought a Cadillac Escalade EV with the idea that he'd get the AFV plate to use the Peachpass lane for free in late August. Imagine that person's surprise and disappointment...

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

There was a woman in the company I used to work for who had a life-like dummy in her passenger seat. She claimed it was to lessen the chance of, as a single woman, being hassled by others, though we all suspected it was really to use the carpool lane. AFAIK she never got pulled over, but once our security department panicked when there was an unresponsive "person" slumped over the dashboard in her car. I don't think they broke the window, but it definitely caused a stir!

 

[Brent@ANParts]

Wow that's a generous window! The privilege just ended here in AZ, too. Fortunately the traffic is manageable enough that it's not a big downside (of course I say that before the snowbirds roll in).

 

[Mr. Toejam]

I look at it a bit differently. Basically, the goal was to get people to carpool. This has two affects, cut down on the need for constructing more highway lanes and cleaner air. And clean air was at least in California one of the major concerns. Maybe even more than the having to construct more lanes. Afterall at one point LA was getting to the point where it was looking like some of the really bad places that are around the world right now before they enacted the stricter requirement on cars emissions. This is also a "temporary exception" to the federal laws that Trump has been trying to repeal. And no matter what people think it has worked. Look at pictures from the worst of it, to today, and look at pictures from countries/cities that haven't had those policies in place, and you will see that it is night and day different.

But now it has been in place for 20 years and between hybrids, BEV the percentage of people that have these cars (or even monster truck!) I do believe it is about time for the policy to change back so that the forcing of carpools part of it can do its job.

Today:

The "Smog Alert" days, but don't forget the acid rain.

I remember flying into LA in the summer of 82 and the smog was so thick you could not see any houses until we were passing the LA Coliseum area. That was only about 2-3 miles out and maybe 2000-3000 ft up. And in the 80s, things were already improving.

When you have such a high population density that is very car dependent, things like CARB and EV push, etc does help, whether we like it or not.

5 years ago I was in Nanjing China on business. I was on the 30th floor and you could not see the ground because of the smog. In my room, the sky was clear and sunny but on the ground it looked like a cloudy day with no sun visible. I think the AQI was pushing 300. My throat and lungs were irritated for about 2 weeks and another coworker had skin issues because he went for an evening walk in a light rain. The doctor said it was acid rain "burns".

 

[ChrisO]

A couple of points.

First CHP is at the state level but there are a variety of HOV lanes not under CHP jurisdiction (e.g. county). I haven’t seen any press stating a grace period for non-CHP HOV lanes. There may be none. The CHP grace period probably still requires stickers.

Next rather than ending the EV HOV perk I think a more elegant solution would have been to enforcement to stop the ICE cheats. The lanes would be less clogged, the perk for carpooling increased, and the incentive for people to drive green cars retained. In my areas it appears 25+% of the HOV lane drivers are cheats.

It would have been nice if they had done that all along (ticket the cheats), but they chose not to and now that the federal exemption has expired the states have no choice. It isn’t like the current administration is going to consider any discussion on anything that benefits EVs or clean energy, even if it hurts their own states.

 

[devmach-e]

2 month grace period?!?
Now I need to put those stickers back on. Might need to pull out my sheet of PPF. The carpool lane really helps my commute (to the golf courses).

I am off the 57 and there is always a jam (7 days a week, practically all day long) at the 60, the 91 and the 5. Such is life near the Orange Crush Interchange (aka “The Crush”).

I'm guessing they'll give you a warning, but note somewhere that they gave you a warning. The second time you get pulled over they'll see you got a one time pass and then I'm guessing you get a nice big fat fine.

 

[devmach-e]

As a freeway driver in California, I never liked the idea of letting EVs with one person enter the HOV lane. The ONLY purpose the HOV lanes were built was to reduce the cars on the freeway. Many years later when politicians wanted to promote their political agenda EVs were added. It did NOTHING to reduce the number of cars on the road and its only purpose was to get people re-elected.

The purpose of the HOV lanes is to reduce pollution. A major source of pollution in urban areas is lots of cars stuck in traffic. Reduce the number of cars idling in traffic and you reduce the pollution. How to reduce the number of cars on the road? Get people to carpool. How do you to get them to carpool? Give them a designated lane on the freeway that only they get to use because they have the required number of people in the car. Over time this idea has evolved to encourage people to embrace emerging technology that reduces pollution from vehicles in other ways: hybrids that get double the gas mileage of normal cars, EVs with no running emissions, natural gas vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, etc.

Over the last 20 years I've owned 4 different vehicles that qualified for a CAV sticker. It's been a good run, and the CAV program has certainly encouraged the widespread adoption of vehicles that pollute a lot less. Time to find a new incentive...

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

My office is in Midtown... I never claimed to maintain my sanity when I must commute. I still want to throttle whoever thought that merging 316 onto I-85 in the -Peachpass- lane was a good idea (narrator voice: It really, really, really is not smart).

Oh, I know!!! That merge blows!!!

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Here in Georgia we need to have the special Alternative Fuel plate to enjoy our free access. When I got my Mach-E in the Spring, I opted against it because I think it is an ugly plate and I wanted to keep my UGA plate (plus my plate number is easy to remember and includes 777 which is fun). Makes me glad I didn't get the EV plate...would have been a bummer to make that change and lose access only a few months later.

My friend, you are Incorrect.....It is your UGA plate that is offensively UGLY.....GO GATORS, well maybe 1st fire Napier....then "GO GATORS" again!!!! LOL

 

[kbaybob]

Is this a Federal law? Honolulu is doing the same thing. Maybe if your car runs on coal you will be able to use the HOV lanes under this administration...

 

[macchiaz-o]

Is this a Federal law? Honolulu is doing the same thing. Maybe if your car runs on coal you will be able to use the HOV lanes under this administration...

Explained on page 1: https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...od-for-citations-end-11-30.49512/post-1017803

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