This has nothing at all to do with medicine, but I have to ask.
We were in traffic yesterday, and decided to use the carpool lane. It
got me to thinking: What makes people NOT use the carpool lane? I see
all kinds of one-person cars out there – what makes them not just kind of
scoot over a little for a few miles or so?
I rarely see police cars around. When carpool lanes “came out,” were
there stiff penalties for using the lane alone? Does riding solo in the carpool lane elicit ridicule from other drivers? Being newish to the area awhile back, I
was driving in the carpool lane one night by myself during the posted times,
and no one seemed to notice or care.
Anyway – not a pressing topic for sure, but one I’m curious about nonetheless. In a society where the road becomes a parking lot for hours every day – why aren’t more people tempted to break free and use an
almost completely empty lane?
I have been an Intensive Care nurse for 11 years. This blog is about my experiences as a nurse, and the experiences of others in the healthcare system - patients, nurses, doctors, paramedics. We all have stories!
Comments
People get cited for this often enough. It’s a $280 fine or something like that. I don’t do it because I’d feel extremely self-conscious doing it, and it would bother my conscience besides.
added by K on 05.17.03 9:49 pm | Permalink
You’re credibility in the “That Honest Girl” department is definitely beginning to crumble… :)
added by petehed on 05.19.03 2:06 pm | Permalink
How so? I said that I used the carpool lane right when I was new around here and wasn’t paying attention. As soon as I realized what I was doing, I moved over. So there. Nyah. :-)
added by geena on 05.26.03 7:25 pm | Permalink
Geena, here in California, it’s a hefty fine if you’re caught using the carpool lane in a car…by yourself.
There is, fortunately, a special pass you can buy here that allows you to use the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes as a lone driver. The fees are used to help maintain the HOV lanes and to pay the meager salaries of the people who sit in the monitoring stations.
added by Da Goddess on 05.28.03 10:05 pm | Permalink
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>