Posted by williamsvaughn at 5/7/08 11:40 a.m.

Oh, great. You're in the HOV lane (the privilege for which you may have paid $9 if you're a solo driver) when general purpose lanes are at a standstill, and you have to move to the right for an emergency vehicle, and then:
1. You have to risk getting a $124 fine for pulling back into the HOV lane, or
2. Stay stuck in traffic until you creep back to a dotted access point.
Are you kidding me?

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 12:01 p.m.

As a former Seattleite (from Auburn, so I know the 167) who has lived in LA for the past 5 years, all I have to say to the complainers is: GET OVER IT. The lanes take some time to get used to, but they're there, and they're not going anywhere. They will become routine, but until then, the laws are laws, so deal with it. Only having far apart entry/exit areas for the HOV lanes work very well, and I'm surprised it's taken this long to get the Valley Freeway to be less of a nightmare. So you have to wait half a mile to get back in the HOV lane. DEAL WITH IT.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 12:05 p.m.

If I understand this correctly, it means that drivers who have paid to use the HOT lane can be immediately thrown out of it by emergency vehicles, and have to forfeit the payment if they can't get back in legally before their intended exit.

This raises a couple of questions:

1. Will the money the ejected drivers have already paid to use the lane be automatically credited to their accounts?

2. Is there even a way to dispute a charge from this system, or is this another case of "the computer says so, and it's always right"?

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 12:17 p.m.

In response to 126130, these lanes were approved for and paid by Washington state tax payers to be HOV lanes, not HOT lanes. I take issue to our state taking my vote, and tax dollars, and twisting it to allow the well to do to violate my vote. This is not what I voted for, did you?

Posted by Bob-o at 5/7/08 12:25 p.m.

Yeah, thats about what I expected from this state's traffic regulations. (given the State Patrol spokesman's response).

Its about right for Washington: the law is you can cross a solid white line, but you cannot cross a double white line, unless it is to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle with lights/sirens going, but then its not legal to cross to get back in to where you just were.. to do that, you will have to enter at the next access point and PAY ANOTHER TOLL if you are a toll paying user.

Did I leave out something... oh, and you can cross double-white lines on full moons on Wednesdays, except when its a leap year.

Sheesh. No wonder drivers in this state cannot do the right thing - it requires a friggen paragraph to explain the proper use of the road for these sorts of things.

How about - you are not allowed to cross a double white line - EVER. After all, for an emergency vehicle - isn't it the case that vehicles are supposed to pull over and stop? So why not just pull to whichever side of the road the shoulder is on (the left divider, on 167) and have the ambulance then go around you on the right... that way the emergency vehicle does all of the double-white line crossing and us lowly motorists don't have to try and remember a convoluted system of rules and exceptions.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 12:55 p.m.

Move to the right but not completely out of the HOT lane. Move back to where you were.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 2:56 p.m.

Must a vehicle have a transponder installed to use the HOT lanes? Supposing a person were driving with passengers, but no transponder: could he/she use the HOT lanes? How would the system know that this was a legal action, or just a single driver?

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 3:11 p.m.

people driving with a passenger (like a carpool), can use the HOT lane without a transponder. State Patrol is there to enforce and verify if 2 in the car

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 3:35 p.m.

Oh boy another cost to taxpayer for HOT lanes, more WSP to police it. When will it stop??

Posted by barking_lobster at 5/7/08 4:20 p.m.

Some people think their HOT fee (.50 - 9.00 dollars) is worth more than an ambulance getting to the hospital quickly. That's sad. Get your priorities straight.
...and what's with the 'deal with it' attitude?

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 4:21 p.m.

If you read the DOT web page about the HOT lanes, you'll see that part of the toll $ for the project is for added State Patrol.

BTW crossing a solid white line is illegal, too. We just do it here and it's not enforced.

Posted by kittenpah at 5/7/08 4:24 p.m.

You guys are really missing the sport of this. Emergency vehicle comes up from behind with lights flashing? You're going too slow! Nail it! ;)

Posted by unregistered user at 5/7/08 5:04 p.m.

So people are complaining about moving over for an emergency vehicle? It could mean the difference in someones life. I guess having to pay another $9.00 is not worth someones life unless it is theirs or a relative of theirs.
As for more State patrol officers in the area ,if people played by the rules they would not be necessary.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/17/08 2:58 a.m.

it is more illegal to force one to pay to use the HOV as you have paid twice allready to use it. state/federal highway taxes. the states just out to rip you off.