[edcoil]

Car-pool lanes are taxation without representation.

We pay for the construction and maintenance yet are not allowed to use them.

[Protagoras]

Car-pool lanes are taxation without representation.

Not quite. Politicans who have been elected make these discriminatory laws.

We pay for the construction and maintenance yet are not allowed to use them.

True to an extent. Your money is taken from you (at gunpoint if necessary) and the people who took it told you they would use it to make roads. But they are not required to do so. They also get to make the rules for use of the roads they do make.

Private roads would eliminate the problem. But there are more important problems first.

[3dognight]

Sorry, but its not taxation without representation. Elected representatives created the law. That would be akin to me saying that because I can't fly the space shuttle or an F-16 I shouldn't be taxed for it.

[Finny]

Agreed. Carpool lanes are also highly discriminatory. For some of us, carpooling is impossible because of the nature of our work. Sales reps, freelance writers, salaried or hourly wage folks who have irregular hours, delivery drivers, independent contractors -- those are just a few professions that come to mind of people who are DISCRIMINATED AGAINST with carpool lanes because the nature of their work makes it impossible, or extremely problematic, for them to arrange for sharing rides.

The truth is that a large percentage of those in the carpool lanes are not going to or from work -- they're doing something social, which is why there are two in the car: mother and daughter going shopping, husband and wife headed off to some event, couple of friends going to the beach or the mall -- while hardworking folks are crawling along at half the speed and buring twice the fuel. IT'S DISGUSTING. Carpool lanes are a fraud, a piece of social engineering that has failed but which its supporters refuse to analyze dispassionately.

[antivenom]

18 wheelers pay tons more in taxes and many of them are regulated to only ONE lane of traffic and in many cases not allowed on certain interstates or freeways because of "hazardous loads"...your whining is only a yip compared to the long hualers cries...

[bannie]

Some pigs are more equal than others.

[SALChamps03]

You are allowed to use them. You choose not to.

[NCLaw441]

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.