More and more of you Virginia Interstate 95 commuters are complaining that the HOV-3 lanes are getting ever more congested, to the point that traffic in these lanes sometimes moves no faster than in conventional lanes.
That has alarmed the Virginia Department of Transportation, which is blaming the increased popularity of hybrid gas and electric vehicles. Those vehicles are entitled to "clean special fuel" license plates, which have a string of numbers followed by the letters CF, and are allowed in the HOV lanes, even with a single person in the vehicle, for environmental reasons.
"The rapid growth in hybrids has helped push the I-95 HOV lanes beyond the recommended HOV operating capacity," according to a recent VDOT news release.
Vehicles with CF plates amount to 18 percent of the total vehicles in the HOV lanes as of October, VDOT said.
But there are a couple of points the state doesn't mention.
1. How many of the CF cars are legally entitled to use the HOV lanes anyway because they are carrying three or more passengers?
2. How much of the HOV congestion is caused by violators in regular vehicles with too-few passengers? I suspect the number of violators far outweighs the number of CF vehicles.
Would you folks do some counts for me in the coming days? For every 10 vehicles in the HOV lanes, how many are hybrids with fewer than three people, and how many are regular vehicles with one or two people, and thus are HOV violators?
I can see momentum building to make hybrid vehicles the scapegoat without identifying or addressing what I suspect is a larger problem: the violators. I'd like to hear from you.
Backing Into It
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I back into parking spaces whenever I cannot pull through.
One reason, as you have stated, is that it's much easier to see when you head out, but another is that I can center my car more easily.
If a driver is uncomfortable backing up a vehicle, they shouldn't be driving it. Perhaps vehicle buyers should test-drive more models and select what they can actually control. After all, it's not the size, cost or gadgetry of your vehicle but how well you drive it that keeps you safe on the road.
Alan Bratburd
