Posted on 07/08/2005 8:30:36 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
ARLINGTON, Va. – Instead of crawling out of bed at 4 a.m. to beat the morning rush, Frank Murphy sleeps late these days. He says he owes it all to his hybrid car – and a law that has some of his fellow commuters upset. Drivers of the environmentally friendly cars are allowed to cruise solo in Virginia's car pool lanes, slicing Murphy's daily two-hour commute in half. And since buying a hybrid 18 months ago, Murphy is leaving his home as much as three hours later.
"The quality of life has gone up tremendously," he said.
But Murphy's joy is a source of irritation for his co-worker, Kristine Johnson, who does not own a hybrid. To travel in the car pool lane, she lingers at a commuter lot until two strangers agree to ride with her.
The inconvenience pays off less than it used to: Johnson complains that hybrids are making car pool lanes as congested as regular lanes.
"It's not fair," Johnson said. "In the afternoon it's all hybrids around me. I used to be able to go home in 30 minutes. Now it takes 45."
So goes the debate between Virginia's car-poolers and hybrid owners. Lawmakers say the hybrid rule wasn't meant to clog the car pool lanes, but to encourage people to buy the cars, which run on a low-polluting combination of electricity and gasoline.
Normally, the federal government would withdraw highway money from a state that gave hybrids commuter-lane privileges. But Virginia has a special waiver while Congress considers allowing the states to make their own rules for hybrids. Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia and Florida are poised to move ahead with similar incentives if the Senate passes a long-delayed highway bill.
California Assemblywoman Fran Pavley wrote legislation to open her state's car pool lanes to single-occupant hybrids. She said the bill contains "numerous safeguards" to avoid replicating Virginia's woes.
For example, California's Department of Motor Vehicles would limit the number of hybrids in the commuter lanes by issuing only 75,000 special decals. State transportation officials would review the law periodically, and it would only apply to hybrids that get at least 45 miles per gallon.
Brian D. Taylor, director of UCLA's Institute of Transportation Studies, argues against linking hybrids with car pool lanes, which he says exist for an unrelated purpose: taking cars off the road.
"It would be sort of like saying you should allow nurses and school teachers to exceed the speed limit because they contribute positive things to society," Taylor said.
Joe Waldman, general manager of northern Virginia's Landmark Honda, said officials should not be so quick to blame crowded car pool lanes on hybrids. He noted that solo drivers in regular vehicles continue to violate the rules, despite stepped-up enforcement and a new state law doubling some fines to as much as $1,000 for a fourth offense.
But Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Joan Morris said, "Even if we got rid of all the violators tomorrow, we'd still have a capacity problem."
In April 2003, about 2,500 hybrid drivers in Virginia registered their cars and asked for "clean fuel" license plates, allowing them to use the car pool lanes, Morris said. By May of this year, the number had more than tripled – to about 9,000.
Meanwhile, Murphy, the Virginia hybrid owner, continues to sleep late, while Virginia transportation officials consider compromises such as letting hybrids use the lanes only at times when traffic is less congested.
Murphy said it would be ridiculous to end the hybrid exemption altogether, but agrees something's got to give.
"I do have to admit, there are a lot of (hybrids) out there," he said.
That is not typical. Generally, these cars do about as well as the Jetta TDI.
Incidentally, I got 50 mpg twenty years ago with a Nissan Sentra Diesel.
Buying a motorcycle did the same for me back in 1996. It is actually FUN as well.
Use toll roads. There are already toll roads in Florida and other states where the car just needs a simple electronic tag. The toll lanes automatically deduct the toll fee from an account. The car just slows down to maybe 30 MPH without stopping. (It will get better.) HOV lanes would have higher tolls. Let the market control traffic congestion. Also, it's the people that use the roads that pay for it.
"How is this any different from allowing single-rider motorcycles in carpool/HOV lanes"
Simple. A motorcycle takes up very little space. It may not sound like it would matter but it does. As a motorcycle commuter I can tell you it most definitely does.
HELLO Sailor! Wanna ride to work together? (wink, wink)
Sounds like a darwin award candidate.
You are allowed to use them. You choose not to.
I thought bikes were assumed to take up the same space in a lane as a car. Granted, bikers tend to reduce the following distances, but I wouldn't think that would make all that much difference in a single-lane environment.
On a slightly-related subject, do you happen to have any stats showing the relative safety of bike commuting vs. car commuting? I haven't been able to find anything specific to that, and don't really have the patience to plow through the raw DOT/NHTSA data to reconstruct it into a meaningful (read: unbiased) picture of motorcycling.
she lingers at a commuter lot until two strangers agree to ride with her.
This sounds like a bad idea.
Motorcycling is much more dangerous than driving. The thing is, almost anyone can drive a car without getting into too much trouble if they are careful. That is not enough for handling a motorcycle.
In a few years I put over 40,000 miles on my bike and I can tell you that it not only requires your constant attention, but even that is not enough for many people. It really is an aptitude thing. Many people simply should never own or ride a motorcycle, no matter how careful they are. They are quite literally an accident waiting to happen.
The size thing matters because a motorcycle can pass between cars if necessary. It can also easily use the shoulder for an escape route when it would be impractical or impossible with a car. Motorcycles also compress following distance when following other motorcycles. Without riding side by side, one can take the left rut and the other take the right. Although one is following the other technically, they are in separate "motorcycle lanes" within a single car lane.
Also, I am able to exploit gaps in traffic that even a tiny hybrid could not navigate without hitting something. I do it several times per commute.
not to insult truckers but i can't stand them on the freeway. they always seem to be in the way, blocking multiple lanes of traffic here. i have almost been in countless accidents because of them, due to the fact that they are always slower moving than the rest of traffic.
however, my solution is different than most peoples, i'd rather they be allowed to run at the higher speeds as everyone else, its the speed differential that causes most problems and backup around here (55 for trucks, 70 for the rest)
And braking energy, that's usually dissipated in friction and heat in a gas-powered car, is used to recharge the batteries in a hybrid. That's the "free lunch" benefit of hybrids.
Then why not a diesel hybrid?
Buy a riceburner, then reward people driving those ugly things. Yea right.
I am aware of the necessity for awareness when riding, as I have been riding since I was 9 (starting on dirtbikes, obviously). I have owned 5 different road bikes, the last being a zx-11. The only two "accidents" I ever had both occured under 5mph, with only me on the bike, and involved the bike simply going over (once because of a patch of soft dirt on a back road, and once due to a puddle of oil in a parking lot). I am mostly looking for ammunition to help educate my wife that motorcycles aren't the guaranteed death warrant she has come to see them as. I am not entirely sure how she came to that conclusion, since I had a bike when we met, and she actually enjoyed going on rides, but even if it doesn't result in my being able to get another bike, I'd like to help her change her attitude.
I drive a hybrid, the Prius. Here in NC there aren't that many HOV lanes, and I don't think single person hybrid cars can use them, but I don't get the fuss. This sounds like the libs crying because some people earn more because they work harder. If you don't like it, or want to drive in the HOV lane, get a hybrid or a passenger. Sheesh.
I have a Prius, too. At highway speeds I think both the gas and electric motors are running, but it still takes less gas....
Yeah, I got in the 40s with an old 89 civic hatch, 87 unleaded gas. I get 30 plus in my 02 protege 5, and 30 in a 91 prizm. Not too far from the hybrids really, without the battery/power issues. I use synthentic oil in the cars, use torque and momentum rather than overshifting, and throw in a bottle of lucas fuel additive once every 4 or 5 fillups.
Very true, but that it the concept. In a modern locomotive, the diesil engine is purely a generator.
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