The HOV Lane

The HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane should be renamed the ICT (I cause traffic) lane because that's really what that lane does. Think about it....HOV lanes are in effect during the busiest traffic times of the day to reward all the carpool people for sharing a ride (some HOV lanes are for 2 people, some for 3) but in essence, all it does is take away a lane during the time of day where the most number of cars are using the freeway. Hence, the HOV lane actually causes traffic jams. For all of you crunchy-granola-environmental-hippies reading this who like HOV lanes because it provides an incentive for people to share rides and reduce our "carbon footprints", stop and think about it for a minute.....HOV = cars condensed to fewer lanes = major traffic jams = cars sitting idle on the freeway much longer = increased carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. So, the HOV lane does not promote ecologic friendliness but rather causes people to spend an hour longer getting home from work every day, which is one hour longer cars run than if the HOV lane didn't exist and people were free to drive in any lane, thereby reducing travel time.

I have just solved the global warming problem. Do away with all HOV lanes and the environment will thank you. Next on my list of things to do: meet with Al Gore about this problem.