Every
weekday morning is the same. I get up in the morning
and dread the hour long grind that is my daily
commute down Highway 75 towards Dallas. As I sit in
bumper to bumper traffic, watching the cars in the
High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane roll by, I can’t
help but wonder how my tax dollars went to pay for
such an ill conceived government project. Now, I
know that the idea is to encourage people to share a
ride, but this is simply not a realistic expectation
in today’s world, as I will explain. Not to mention
the fact that if HOV lanes really worked, they
wouldn’t work, because everyone would be carpooling
and the HOV lane would have bumper to bumper
traffic. Instead, what we end up with is an HOV lane
used mostly by those who would have been carpooling
anyway and those individual drivers who simply
choose not to follow the law. Either way, the
desired purpose of reducing traffic and harmful
emissions is simply not being met.
Don’t get me wrong, I would
love to car pool. In fact, let me take this
opportunity to invite anyone who has my schedule and
work location to share a ride with me so we can
enjoy the wonder that is the HOV lane. Here’s what
my commute looks like. I leave for work around
8:00AM heading for downtown Dallas. That is, unless
I’m at a remote broadcast that day, which means I
will be leaving earlier, and possibly heading to
Arlington, or Lewisville, or who knows where else.
Sometimes I have meetings after work which means you
may have to wait 10 minutes to 2 hours depending
upon how long winded my boss is. But that’s ok,
because we’ll have access to the HOV lane to make up
for lost time. Oh, sometimes I have to pick up my
kids after work and run other errands, so I hope you
don’t mind that as well. If you match this schedule
please contact me immediately. The truth is that
very few people in the Metroplex live in the same
area, work in the same area, and share the same work
schedule.
I have a much bigger concern
when it comes to HOV lanes, beyond the fact that the
they are not realistic for most of us in this area.
Is it just or proper to have a government project or
program that is only accessible to the tax payer
based upon the choices of other people? In other
words, no matter how much I want to carpool and use
the HOV lane, I can’t do it, unless another person
makes the choice to join me. Yet I’m still required
to cough up the tax dollars for a program I can’t
use. This is not proper government. Every citizen
should have full access to government projects and
programs without reliance upon the choices of
others. If our government wants
to incentivize good choices it must ensure that the
choice can be made by individual tax payers without
reliance upon other people. The HOV lane
regulations, as currently implemented, do not meet
this simple requirement, and therefore, should not
be allowed.
If our government is so
determined to try and change our daily driving
habits, there is a way to do so that might actually
have an impact. HOV lanes should be converted to HMV
lanes. That is, High Mileage Vehicle lanes. Think
about it, if you could have access to the HMV lane
and avoid traffic by purchasing a hybrid vehicle
instead of a gas guzzler, would you? I would! This
idea would be easy to implement and it would have an
immediate impact. HMV lanes would go a long way to
help our government realize the goal of complete
energy independence as well.
The bottom line is that we need
to get away from the same old tire ideas, such as
HOV lanes, that have no real impact and begin
focusing on true incentives for change. Plus, these
programs must be available to everyone without the
reliance upon the choices of other people. In the
meantime, if you have a commuting schedule like
mine, please email me immediately.
Jay Mcfarland can be heard on
Ernie and Jay Mid-days, Monday – Friday from 10:00AM
– 2:00PM on NewsRadio 1080 KRLD. Email comments to
