I have been commuting into Vancouver along Highway 1 and have noticed that the HOV lanes have an unacceptable percentage of single occupant vehicles. My estimate is that between 25% and 30% of vehicles are single occupant.
If are not going to enforce this rule than maybe it should be abandoned, certainly while Highway 1 through Burnaby remains under construction. This level of drivers disregarding the law is not fair to those of us wh do.
The HOV lane from Maple Ridge through to Vancouver is much better. However there does not seem to be a huge need for an HOV lane here as the traffic moves very well except for Barnet Highway. If the HOV lane were removed on Barnet than everyone could move close to the speed limit. This would reduce fuel consumption and polution.
I for one am glad to see they have significantly reduced the enforcement of the HOV on Highway 1. All they accomplish while doing it is cause major backups on the highway. Depending on where they setup they could easily add 30 minutes to my commute in either direction and I was not a cheater. All this to enforce a Section of the MVA which has no safety connection whatsoever.
In fact the enforcement tactic used is a major risk to traffic safety as a result of all the people trying to suddenly avoid being caught by ducking out of the lane. The RCMP acknowledged this fact shortly after the HOV east of the Port Mann opened. I wonder if there is a correlation with any increase of rear end accidents and enforcement times.
The Highway 1 HOV lanes are a waste of pavement. Any empty pavement adjacent to a lane with stopped traffic is bad for the environment. The HOV restrictions should be removed (Never going to happen as you may recall, when the Pattullo burned the Minister was not prepared to open it to accommodate the increased traffic). Overall they are not good for the environment. People have to accelerate rapidly to get into them, they obstruct traffic crossing over getting in and out of it causing slowdowns in HOV lane and the regular lanes and every brake application is fuel wasted.
Most people who are doubled up are likely doing so for economy and would continue to do so without an HOV benefit. I wonder why motorcycles are allowed in it as single occupant vehicle. My little gas miser gets pretty good mileage and I wonder how many larger bikes get the same or worse and do so without the same emission controls my car has.
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The police in BC write twice as many tickets for improper use of the HOV lane as they do for following too closely.
The former is, essentially, a victimless crime (so long as those single drivers do their thing safely).
The latter is the commonest cause of collisions in this province.
There is little attempt on the part of the police in BC to tackle the most important road transgessions, instead of the easiest to prosecute.
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Remove HOV restrictions