Data shows Hybrids have no effect on HOV traffic

Never saw a study by AAA... was it of our HOV lanes? and didn't contaminate the numbers with I66 data? And shows the incredible rise in the number of CF-plated high-breds in Virginia?

VDOT's number was in the low-to-mid 20's as a percent of all traffic on the HOV lanes. That was last Novemberish when they did the tally.

Now, there isn't even a waiting list for high-breds anymore. Not sure why that is. Are people scared of losing the HOV in a year? Or is the number of people interested in them declining? Or have the manufacturers started sending more to the U.S.?

The woman who sits beside me at work walked into a dealership last Saturday and drove out in a new Civic high-bred. The salesman said, "No law for cars has ever been removed from the books," meaning the exemption will stand, in his opinion. She lives in Herndon and uses I66, not I95, so I forgive her (mostly.)

I no longer count high-breds on the HOV lanes, not individually. What I count now are the number of times that my vehicle is surrounded by high-breds.

If people would count bodies instead of vehicles, we'd be dealing with similar facts instead of dissimilar opinions.

NoSUV,
You are entirely wrong in your assessment. Less people carpooling means slower traffic in the non-toll and HOT lanes. Isn't that the simplest thing ever to understand?

MDC, the obvious, and I do mean obvious, fault with your logic is the evidence you see every day to your right.

Have to admit, if you charted the number of hybrids in the HOV lanes from 4 years to now, of COURSE you will have explosive growth! Same could be said for starting the charts for SUVs from before they were intoduced to 4 years later. Sheesh!

Problem has been and remains getting rid of the traffic jam in the regular lanes. Look to your right as you commute - and on the average, you can see that you are going at least 35 mph faster. In some spots, much faster, in others, barely faster, but the average is about 35 mph. And that's WITH the hybrids sharing the HOV lanes. Without the hybrids in the HOV, the problem is only exasperated. Just shouting that it would be nice if everybody slugged really doesn't solve the overall problem - but tolls will!

If I had a son or daughter that wanted to do a paper on hybrids, the central chart in the paper would be a chart with years on the horizontal axis and number of hybrids on the vertical axis. This would show that the explosive growth of the past 3 years could not have been sustained for more than a couple of more years had nothing been done. The pro-hybrids never speak of the future on this. End of debate.