05 February 2007

HOV

HOV--for those not familiar with the term it stands for High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes. These special lanes require that you have 2 or 3 people in the car depending on which highway you are going to drive on. The benefit is that the speed limit is higher and the traffic moves faster. So what does this have to do with my picture?? Well, in Virginia these lanes switch directions depending on the time of day. In the morning there are 3 regular lanes and 2 lanes separated by concreate barriers (HOV) going into Washington D.C. In the evening it is the same except the HOV lanes are now only for traffic leaving Washington D.C. If you are in a hurry but don't have the correct amout of people to drive in HOV you may want to avoid it, the fines range from $50 US Dollars to $1000. The State Troopers will sit and just count people in cars and wait to bust that one person trying to be sneaky!!

2 comments:

Dsole said...

In Spain it's the VAO, for "Vehiculos de Alta OcupaciĆ³n", the exact translation for HOV, that's funny uh?

angela said...

These don't exist here yet but our local radio is advertising a car share scheme for people going to Monaco. It can be a nightmare getting down into Monte Carlo in the morning.
I think it's an excellent idea.
Angela