Car Pool Lane Cheaters
Date: April 22, 2009
What is it with some people thinking they are above the law? My commute to work takes me up the Nasty Nimitz into Oakland. Many times I am on my Harley and therefore allowed to use the Diamond Lane. I'll be going pretty quick - 75 or 80 - and then it happens. Someone is bearing down on me because they want to do 100 or so...and I move over.
And then I see it...7 times out of 10...they are SOLO MOTORISTS! CHEATERS! I am going to start counting how many of these I see per day. Today I saw 3, starting with this morning. The traffic bunched up and slowed in Hayward (it always does) and some woman, alone in her car, got in the Diamond Lane ahead of me for about 2 miles. Sheesh.
This afternoon, I got onm as I always do, heading Southbound at 98th Avenue. There is no carpool lane on 880 i this stretch, but there is a diamond lane at the onramp at the metering lights; give carpoolers a quicker entrance on the freeway. Every day I see a solo motorist abuse this. I am serious - every day! Today was no exception. Once I was on the freeway and a few miles south, the diamond lane kicked in again and I got in it, and once again - another cheater. That made 3 today. I wish they had some sort of hotline or cameras or something to nail these people.
Between car pool lane violators and the drivers who insist on talking on their cell phones without their hands-free devices, there should be more stringent enforcement. California was given a year and a half heads up for that law to go into effect and I see more people violating it than obeying it. I never see anyone get cited!
If it were me, I'd get caught in an instant. If I ever do anything remotely on the edge of the law, I get it. For instance -- about a month ago, I guess I didnt' come to a full stop on a right turn, got a camera ticket about a week later and a hefty fine...this after not having a ticket since 1994. Where is the justice anyway?