Breaking Bad. HOV lane edition

Model S driver unwilling to wait for his decals? Or just unwilling to put them on the car? Either way...better hope for a sympathetic Chippie, or he could be looking at $481 minimum ticket. 'Cause the law is the law!

Fake C-Max Energi? Note that he's running white decals, not green. Why? Well, white sure would be easier to fake than green. But he also made the mistake of installing a fourth sticker on the front.

It could also be that it's a legit Energi with the wrong stickers issued (CNG though, since there are four of them and you only get three for an electric car). Although, I will say that the driver saw me taking this pic and made a bee-line out of the HOV lane very shortly thereafter! I couldn't see the left side of the car to check whether there was a charge door or not.

As someone who's never lived in California, it's always amazed me on how seriously you all take your HOV lanes. Stickers, all kinds of laws, people taking photos of violators. haha

pkulak said:

As someone who's never lived in California, it's always amazed me on how seriously you all take your HOV lanes. Stickers, all kinds of laws, people taking photos of violators. haha

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Unless they can keep a minimum speed of 45mph in the HOV lanes, the State looses Federal Highway funding. And to keep speeds up the first people to get turfed out may well be those who are driving alone (in alternatively fueled vehicles). That's some important **** (to me at least), and a reason people who do violate should be called to task. Though you understand I'm only doing it in a semi-serious fashion, right?

pkulak said:

As someone who's never lived in California, it's always amazed me on how seriously you all take your HOV lanes. Stickers, all kinds of laws, people taking photos of violators. haha

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Spend one day in LA traffic and you'll know why. :lol:

If owned a Tesla, I would be very torn as to whether defacing my beautiful car with those stupidly-large stickers would be worth the convenience of solo HOV access. I was even hesitant with my Leaf.

The emblem looks right for an Energi. If it's a fake, it the guy put some effort in it.

While the thread concept is fun, don't forget that in California, operating your camera phone while driving is every bit as illegal as what these guys are doing.

davewill said:

The emblem looks right for an Energi. If it's a fake, it the guy put some effort in it.

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True. And he would have had to debadge the Hybrid emblem from the other side. So my money is probably on the wrong decals being sent. Wonder if that's going to do him any good when he gets pulled over? I see at least a court appearance in his future, so he can plead his case.

I once saw a gen 2 Prius in the carpool lane with green stickers but was too far away from 'em to check what was up...

And yes we are quite serious about our stickers out here. When I lived up in Sacramento last year it was mostly *meh* but down here they are worth their weight in gold!

JeremyW said:

...they [HOV stickers] are worth their weight in gold!

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Lol. I understood what you meant, but you might want to re-think that one.

mwalsh said:

Unless they can keep a minimum speed of 45mph in the HOV lanes, the State looses Federal Highway funding.

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Really! At all times? 24/7?

That must be a federal regulation that would apply to all states. Wednesday, I spent a fair amount of time in the HOV lane (two in the car) at way less than 45 mph on I405, and I understand it happens every week day. It appeared that all the opposing lanes were really creeping.

ebill3 said:

Really! At all times? 24/7?

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No. I think it's an average time.

mwalsh said:

ebill3 said:

Really! At all times? 24/7?

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No. I think it's an average time.

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That would make sense. Interesting.
As you might know, we have one HOV section that you can pay to use. Rate varies with traffic density.

ebill3 said:

As you might know, we have one HOV section that you can pay to use. Rate varies with traffic density.

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We've had those here on various freeways in SoCal for nearly 20 years, and the Bay Area and Sacramento will be getting them soon if not already.

RonDawg said:

ebill3 said:

As you might know, we have one HOV section that you can pay to use. Rate varies with traffic density.

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We've had those here on various freeways in SoCal for nearly 20 years, and the Bay Area and Sacramento will be getting them soon if not already.

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Yeah, we got "HOT" lanes - a.k.a. "Lexus Lanes". (Sunol Grade, I-680).

In NJ & NY you don't need any stickers!

ebill3 said:

mwalsh said:

Unless they can keep a minimum speed of 45mph in the HOV lanes, the State looses Federal Highway funding.

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Really! At all times? 24/7?

That must be a federal regulation that would apply to all states. Wednesday, I spent a fair amount of time in the HOV lane (two in the car) at way less than 45 mph on I405, and I understand it happens every week day. It appeared that all the opposing lanes were really creeping.

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There has to be some additional trigger requiring the lanes in the first place. I had never seen anything like that until I visited CA back in 2000. Of course rush hour here is actually only an hour long. You leave before rush hour and it takes 30-40 minutes to get home. You leave during rush hour it takes an hour to get home.

You California drivers are so lucky. EV drivers don't get to use the carpool lanes at all in Washington, unless or course, they have 2 or more people in the car! Motorcyclists don't get to split lanes either.

Frankly, I'm a motorcyclist and I'd like to see lane splitting go away (CA is the only state where it is legal). There are way too many stupid motorcyclists doing it, at way to high a speed, and it is simply dangerous. The reason for why it was legal (cooling) has long ago gone away.

johnrhansen said:

Motorcyclists don't get to split lanes either.

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I was in California once and asked a CHP officer about lane splitting. He said it not legal, but they don't enforce the law. He also said that if you get into an accident splitting lanes it's automatically your fault. That was in 2002 and he may have been wrong, I don't know, but that's what he told me.

I don't ride motorcycles anymore.. like my brother says, we are soft shelled critters!

TomT said:

Frankly, I'm a motorcyclist and I'd like to see lane splitting go away (CA is the only state where it is legal). There are way too many stupid motorcyclists doing it, at way to high a speed, and it is simply dangerous. The reason for why it was legal (cooling) has long ago gone away.

johnrhansen said:

Motorcyclists don't get to split lanes either.

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johnrhansen said:

I was in California once and asked a CHP officer about lane splitting. He said it not legal, but they don't enforce the law. He also said that if you get into an accident splitting lanes it's automatically your fault. That was in 2002 and he may have been wrong, I don't know, but that's what he told me.

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It's neither legal nor illegal. It's a gray area in the law. That's why it's not enforceable in this state.

If you are lane splitting and hit the car whose lane you were sharing, then yes you would be held at fault. But if a car comes over into your lane and "squashes" you into another car (and some jerks will do this intentionally) then technically the other driver is at fault for making an unsafe lane change.