Eating for two doesn't mean driving for two

Why use your unborn baby in the carpool lane when you could just go to a flea market, buy a mannequin, stick it in the passenger seat and no one could tell the difference? Sure would have saved this chick $300

 

Yeah. Before carpool lanes, 2 people never EVER rode in the same car together. It was a very novel concept

 

The fact that there are people using the carpool lanes doesn't mean that overall the amount of traffic has been reduced one iota - I sometimes drive into the city by myself and at other times when our schedules coincide I drive in with one of my sons. That's without a carpool lane and would not change if there were a carpool lane. The only difference it makes is I get a lane to myself if I have a passenger who would be there even if that special lane didn't exist.

Moreover, as nevetS suggests, the evidence that it reduces commute times is also debatable:

All in all, I think it has more to do with political window dressing and political correctness than reality.


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Exactly, lorien - I didn't see your post when I was replying.
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When I was 8 months pregnant, I got pulled over for speeding. I was having an extremely hormonal day and I was in tears before the cop ever laid an eye on me. I didn't try to get out of the ticket - I was speeding, I just wanted to get home and cry in peace. The cop made me get out of the car - he was very gruff - a motorcycle cop, thought he was shit on wheels I bet.

He had a look of surprise on his face when I got out of the car. (still don't know why he made me get out) and he did write me a ticket.

But he didn't show up in court and the ticket was dropped.

 

I really have no respect for C.O.P.s (Cups Of Piss). I'm sure there are plenty of good ones but most of them are real douche bags!

Especially the ones in the suburbs!!

 

When I carpooled to/from work for 3 months (about 2 years ago) my travel time (during rush hours) went from 1.5 hours a day to 30 minutes max. So the evidence that it reduced my commute time is an undeniable fact .

Since I haven't been able to use the carpool lane (except once in a long while) in 2 years and I've had to sit in rush hour traffic - i know how frustrating it is to see those guys go riding by. So I got smarter and stopped working 8-5 and now I never have to deal with rush hour and the carpool lane makes no difference to me.

Quoted for Emphasis

 

We weren't talking about YOUR commute times. We were talking about overall commute times. SO maybe half a dozen people in car pool lanes get to work a little faster but that leaves the majority of vehicles squished into the regular lanes who are now taking even longer to get to work - overall commute time increases.

 

Well of course a carpool lane isn't going to make commuting faster for people who aren't carpooling... that's the whole appeal of a carpool lane.. you get there faster

Here in Az (I cant speak for other places) even the carpool lanes get full/backed up...

Again, I'm not sure about other places, but here in Az they didnt take a regular lane away to have the carpool lane, they actually made 2-3 new lanes and designated 1 as the car pool lane. Traffic is sill stop-n-go for 6 hours of the day ... our city growth rates are just to demanding for the existing amount of freeways and roads.

 

Well, duh...

I'm really having difficulty figuring out whether you're truly obtuse or just like pointless debates. The concept of overall commute time is a question about on average does traffic move more quickly with or without car pool lanes and secondarily is there overall a reduction in number of cars on the road with the introduction of car pool lanes.

If 5-10% of cars using car pool lanes have shortened commute times and the remaining 90-95% have increased commute times, it helps neither traffic flow nor vehicle emissions into the atmosphere.

 

They're the ones who don't have anything serious to deal with. Let them spend a week in an urban environment and most of them would probably quit.

 

Really? I didn't know carpools lanes were supposed to make traffic quicker for non-carpoolers..

Like I said above, HERE in Az no lanes were taken to give a carpool lane, so it couldn't possibly increase regular traffic commute times

 

Well, I guess that answers my question, yo-yo

 

One of my friends is a Chicago (narco) cop. He, at least, gets to do cool stuff...like shoot dogs, empty mace down people's throats and beat up crackheads and drug dealers.

Cops in da burbs are just lazy and bored. They're basically like fishermen- sitting at a stop sign waiting for someone to not come to a 100% complete stop. Or hiding behind buildings zapping cars with their radar/laser guns, just hoping they can pull someone over. It's just like fishing. Lazy C.O.P.s!

 

What gets me about the suburban cops is that you can miss the stop line by an inch, stuff like the left light on your license plate being out ... they will stop you. Nothing better to do. And no matter what exactly it is they stopped you for, they always ask you how much you've had to drink

 

Here's something really strange I've encountered. When I was a poor student driving a bug - always under the speed limit - I got pulled over non-stop. Now that I'm driving nice and fast cars, I don't get pulled over nearly as much - even though my driving habits are much worse. My last two speeding tickets, the cops were giddy that they actually caught up with me, and I even got out of two tickets - something that would never have happened in my bug.

I can tell you - don't get pulled over in Colorado with a California driver's license. They hate us out there.

 

I've been pulled over twice in the last 8 years or so. Before then, I had 30+ speeding tickets.

The Passport 8500 X-50 is the greatest!

Mike, they never ask me if I've been drinking. You must look drunk or something.

 

*Self conciously looking into the mirror*

 

No, that's not your cop friend, C_R. Your confusing him with your Mom again...

 

hmm I've done some radical driving in Oregon and experienced quite the opposite over there. Soon as they saw my cali license, they've asked me "So when are you going back to California?" and when I said "Tomorrow!" (lie), they let me go and seemed relieved

 

okay, maybe I should have clarified my statment there...what i meant was that using the carpool lane is dumb if you use it as an excuse...in a way that non-pregnant people use the "expecting mothers" parking spots