Musings: Let's catch HOV violators
HOV signs provide clear directives to drivers. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
I’ve noticed more and more non-HOV cars in the HOV lanes on the Long Island Expressway.
In the morning going west, I would bet it’s close to 50% of the cars in that lane that don’t belong there. The evening is almost as bad. The highway police seem to be looking for drivers who cross the double lines, aggressive drivers, or commercial vans who don’t belong in the left lane.
Nothing seems to be done to keep the non-HOV drivers out of the HOV lane. HOV stickers are missing for solo drivers although some might try to fake it with a mannequin as a passenger sitting alongside the driver.
I remember when HOV lanes first opened. Police on motorcycles were sitting and watching cars as they passed. I think we need that presence again.
As more solo drivers see the risk is zero, they, too, will start slipping into the HOV lane. It’s like anything else in this world — risk versus reward. If there is no risk and the reward is saving a few minutes off your commute, more and more drivers will do this.
I suggest the Suffolk and Nassau police commissioners enforce that the HOV lane be used for what it’s meant to be — reward carpools and hybrid and, now, electric cars. When we see a violating driver in the HOV lane with or without a mannequin, the only dummy in the car is the one behind the wheel.
— Russell Schneider, Ronkonkoma
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