It Takes Two, Baby

In case you are unfamiliar with the Baltimore/DC area, most of the highways here have one or two lanes reserved only for HOV traffic. And no it's not an acronym, please pronounce it H-O-V!

It stands for High Occupancy Vehicle, and means that as long as you have 2 (or 3, depending on the area) people total in your car, you can slide into the restricted fast line and zoom by everyone else. Signs that say HOV-2 mean that you need two people to qualify for the hotness.

While driving to work today (from Fairfax near Fair Oaks Mall, to McLean) I saw a string of 5 motorcycles zoom by me in the HOV lane, and each one only had one rider. I started grinning deep inside of me because I saw a cop way up in the median about 400 yards away, and knew they were going to get busted.

But the cop just looked at them while they flew by, and continued staring at cars going 15 mph in other lanes like myself. So, what gives?

Comments

[Honus]

Must not be that time of the month. I'm not trying to say this was his thought process, but those little bastards would be tough to catch up to. Not just that, but trying to bust a motorbike than can just weave in and out of traffic can be dangerous for everyone.

Certainly no one likes seeing goofballs like that ticketed more than I do (especially in the Rev way, where the officer counts the number of cars you illegally passed and writes you one ticket times X number). But in this instance it may have been just as dangerous to try to get them.

Then again, he may have been eating his donut.

[Scott Kidder]

I live in Baltimore... unfortunately, we don't have many HOV lanes down here, but there are a ton in the 95 corridor.

Perhaps it wasn't the right time of day? Often they're only active during rush hour... or in some cases, only morning or evening rush hour.

Maybe the cop was lazy?

s

[Nicole]

Scarier to me are the people that don't abide by the doubly bold white stripe separating the HOV from the regular lane. That scares the crap out of me -- from either lane. I want to personally call up the highway patrol and report any dumbass that crosses the line.

On the same tangent, I usually avoid the HOV lane in unfamiliar cities. I'm afraid I'll get in it, and my exit will come before the HOV lane ends.

Montana, of course, doesn't have any such lanes. :)

[Sean Devine]

HOV lanes are always OK for motorcycles (as far as I know) because motorcycles reduce traffic congestion due to their size and ability to ride side-by-side or in short groups.

[Honus]

Oops, I was wrong.

http://virginiadot.org/comtravel/hov-rulesfaq.asp

More specifically:

Exemptions To The Rules:

1. Motorcycles are permitted to use HOV lanes throughout Virginia during HOV hours.

So maybe the cop was eating his donut, like he should have been, because they weren't doing anything wrong.

[Mike]

Damn, good call y'all. Makes sense to me now.