Small victories

I have written from time to time about driving the casual carpool.  This happened yesterday.

I had a full car, and was on the carpool only on-ramp.  A few car lengths ahead I saw someone stop, and try to force themselves into the left hand (the on-ramp has two lanes, that merge at the very top) lane.  It held up traffic for a bit, until the driver managed to stick his nose between two cars, and make everyone wait until the lane change was accomplished.

There is no good reason to be changing lanes there, they are going to merge soon anyway.  Except, it was a solo driver on the carpool on-ramp, and a highway patrolman was parked near the top of the ramp.  The driver was trying to make it more difficult to be seen.

Shortly after, the highway patrolman was walking between the lanes of traffic.  This was not a dangerous maneuver, the traffic was stop and go.  He signaled to the right hand lane to stop, creating a gap.  He pointed to the solo driver, signaling for him to turn into the hole created by the stopped traffic, and pull over.

We passed the car as the patrolman was at the car window, explaining to the driver the error of his ways.  We all cheered as we drove by.

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There is something you can do

When I commute into the city, I drive the casual carpool. I pick up riders at the Park and Ride in the morning, and on Beal Street in the afternoon. On the return trip I use the carpool on ramp, and it is one of those ramps with two lanes that merge into one. It also has three lanes feeding into two at the beginning of the ramp. So those of us coming from the Beal Street pickup point have to merge twice.

Every now and then some asshole in the lane to my right will tailgate the car in front of him, making the merge impossible. They refuse to let a car merge in front of them. Yes, this is rude behavior, and I try to never reward rude behavior, but in these circumstances there is nothing I can do. The key word of the phrase is 'I', there is nothing that I can do. That does not mean there is nothing to be done.

As we were approaching the entrance to the freeway, I noticed it happening again. Not to me this time, but to the car to my left. The car following me was right on my ass, doing everything they could to prevent the car in the other lane from merging. So I did something about it.

Although the white line was gone, the lane was still wide enough for two cars. I moved to the right, as far as I could. I slowed down (hard to slow down much more, it was stop and go already). I did that until the car on my left realized I was making space for them, and they pulled up beside me.

They were not even with me, they were about a third of a way from parallel. It was enough. I slipped in front of them and they followed me onto the freeway. There was nothing that they could have done about it, but there was something I could. So I did.

You could too.

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The effect wears off after a while

Each work day morning I stop at the Park and Ride.  If there are a line of cars waiting for riders I pick up two riders.  If there are line of riders waiting for cars I pick up three.  I drop them on Howard, before proceeding to my parking garage on Polk.

In the afternoon I stop on Beal Street and repeat the process.  Two riders when there are more cars than riders, and three riders where there are more riders than cars.  The on ramp I use is the last east bound entrance on the south side of the bridge.  During commute hours, it for is trucks and carpools only.  Except that lately, that has not been true.

Every now and then, one or two CHP cruisers will stake out the on ramp, directing drivers off to the side and issuing tickets for those using the ramp without at least three (two for two-seater vehicles) occupants.  The tickets are not cheap, they are going to cost something move than $300.  An afternoon of catching HOV cheaters could put someone through one of our state colleges.

It has been a long time since I saw anyone on that on ramp writing tickets, and apparently the lesson needs reinforcing.  Today as I got onto the bridge, traffic was very slow, so I looked around a little.  The car in front of me, and the three cars to the left of me (it is a two lane on ramp for most of the length, so the one next to me and the ones in front and behind the one next to me) all had single occupants.  And none were 'exceptions', with the HOV lane stickers.

So, if any CHP read this blog, it is time to get back there and start writing tickets.
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