The Mythology of HOV Lanes

Every weekday morning is the same. I get up in the morning and dread the hour long grind that is my daily commute down Highway 75 towards Dallas. As I sit in bumper to bumper traffic, watching the cars in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane roll by, I can’t help but wonder how my tax dollars went to pay for such an ill conceived government project. Now, I know that the idea is to encourage people to share a ride, but this is simply not a realistic expectation in today’s world, as I will explain. Not to mention the fact that if HOV lanes really worked, they wouldn’t work, because everyone would be carpooling and the HOV lane would have bumper to bumper traffic. Instead, what we end up with is an HOV lane used mostly by those who would have been carpooling anyway and those individual drivers who simply choose not to follow the law. Either way, the desired purpose of reducing traffic and harmful emissions is simply not being met.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to car pool. In fact, let me take this opportunity to invite anyone who has my schedule and work location to share a ride with me so we can enjoy the wonder that is the HOV lane. Here’s what my commute looks like. I leave for work around 8:00AM heading for downtown Dallas. That is, unless I’m at a remote broadcast that day, which means I will be leaving earlier, and possibly heading to Arlington, or Lewisville, or who knows where else. Sometimes I have meetings after work which means you may have to wait 10 minutes to 2 hours depending upon how long winded my boss is. But that’s ok, because we’ll have access to the HOV lane to make up for lost time. Oh, sometimes I have to pick up my kids after work and run other errands, so I hope you don’t mind that as well. If you match this schedule please contact me immediately. The truth is that very few people in the Metroplex live in the same area, work in the same area, and share the same work schedule.

I have a much bigger concern when it comes to HOV lanes, beyond the fact that the they are not realistic for most of us in this area. Is it just or proper to have a government project or program that is only accessible to the tax payer based upon the choices of other people? In other words, no matter how much I want to carpool and use the HOV lane, I can’t do it, unless another person makes the choice to join me. Yet I’m still required to cough up the tax dollars for a program I can’t use. This is not proper government. Every citizen should have full access to government projects and programs without reliance upon the choices of others.  If our government wants to incentivize good choices it must ensure that the choice can be made by individual tax payers without reliance upon other people. The HOV lane regulations, as currently implemented, do not meet this simple requirement, and therefore, should not be allowed.

If our government is so determined to try and change our daily driving habits, there is a way to do so that might actually have an impact. HOV lanes should be converted to HMV lanes. That is, High Mileage Vehicle lanes. Think about it, if you could have access to the HMV lane and avoid traffic by purchasing a hybrid vehicle instead of a gas guzzler, would you? I would! This idea would be easy to implement and it would have an immediate impact. HMV lanes would go a long way to help our government realize the goal of complete energy independence as well.

The bottom line is that we need to get away from the same old tire ideas, such as HOV lanes, that have no real impact and begin focusing on true incentives for change. Plus, these programs must be available to everyone without the reliance upon the choices of other people. In the meantime, if you have a commuting schedule like mine, please email me immediately.

Jay Mcfarland can be heard on Ernie and Jay Mid-days, Monday – Friday from 10:00AM – 2:00PM on NewsRadio 1080 KRLD. Email comments to ernieandjay@cbs.com or visit krld.com.