Driving slow in the carpool lanes, even driving the limit, is very rude as since it is a single lane, peopel don't have the option of (legally) passing until they get to openings, as a result, a single slow driver can cancel the entire advantage of the lane for everyone behind. I have no right to force the drivers behind me to be more fuel efficient by driving slower than the flow of traffic in the single-lane carpool lanes, or in the passing lanes.

The biggest offenders I see though are not hybrids (and there are many I've seen in the lanes near here, always going with the flow of traffic) but rather slow buses and vans from Mexico that decide to go 10 under the limit in the carpool lane...

Whenever I have used the carpool lane, I've simply followed the car in front of me at a reasonable distance, as everyone should do in a single-lane environment like carpool lanes. If those drivers are going too fast for my taste, and the regular lanes are moving, I need to stay out of the carpool lane. When traffic is moving though, I don't generally like the carpool lane as it makes it more difficult to move over to exit the freeway. At times when traffic in general is congested, the carpool lane is crowded enough that it's going below the limit anyway. That's a situation where it's vastly more fuel-efficient ot be in the carpool lane, as it's a steady, efficient speed, rather than an erratic, slow speed with lots of stop and go.

Another fuel-economy benefit of the carpool sticker is bypassing the metered onpams which release cars one-at-a-time. This means I don't have to stop then accelerate up to highway speed on the ramp, I get a "running start" which saves a lot of gas.

 

I got a ticket 1 1/2 years ago for doing 75 mph on the 210 east of the 57 for those of you who know So. Cal. The officer pulled 6 of us over. That is right he took six of us out of the carpool lane. ticketed everyone single one of us. As I conversed with him I explained that on that stretch of fwy driving slower than 72 can get you killed. I told him to try it some time with out his patrol car. He told me that regardless of how other people are driving, that I should drive no more than 65 mph no matter what the lane and that if someone doesn't like it that they should pass me.
I have never groaned about a ticket in my life as much as I did on that occassion. They have really cracked down on that stretch of fwy, but everyone is still speeding.
I thought that officer needed a dose of reality.

 

Anyone know someone who can make these?

 

LOL, it's a good idea.

 

I know that stretch of freeway. Great for driving to/from Vegas and it's usually not too crowded (i.e., encourages 70+ mph)

The problem there is a month later you could get pulled over by a different cop for impeding traffic!

If I'm ever going to just go 65mph (usually ~60), unless there's a traffic jam, I will be using the far right lane, not the carpool lane. But on my commute there are a minimum of 4 lanes and I'm never the only one at this speed. In fact, before Katrina I started to see more and more cars and SUVs driving slower and in the right lanes, and since then those numbers have gone up. Not a *huge* amount, but enough that I could notice it.

Rick