View Full Version : white diamonds in road
tezz7628
05-07-2004, 02:33
one meaning of these is cars in this lane must have multiple occupants in the vehicle
on the news this morning was this might be coming to uk
they call it the car pool lane in the uS and are about to try it in this country, the idea is you can only travel in the lane with 2 or more in the vehicle,in a bid to cut conjestion.
steph_goodrum
05-07-2004, 02:52
On the I4 it is only at peak times that you must have more than 1 occupant to use the car pool lanes. There are signs telling you the times.
I'm not sure how quickly they will introduce it over here, the report I heard said that it would be a new lane on the motorway, which obviously isn't an easy / cheap or quick process to install.
the trouble with us is we dont have the space to create extra lanes, well in london we
dont so cant see it being done round here. the M4 might be a good start, but its already
got that stupid bus lane and the problems that causes
News is that the UK will trial it on M1 and M3. Not sure whether it is in places or the whole length of the motorway. I understand the plan is to use an existing lane and not to add a new one. So it will be a bit like the bus/taxi lane on the M4 going into London I guess.
I'm told it works well in San Francisco !
We have it around Washington D.C., btwn Northern VA and D.C. I use it every day. But here it is a HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane and it is for 3 or more people at certain hours (6 til 9 a.m. inbound towards D.C.; 3:30 til 6 pm outbound towrds VA). At othet imes, the restriction is lifted and you can drive no matter how many in the car. This has created a whole culture called "slugs". Slugs are people who park their car in a lot in VA close to one of the entries to the HOV lanes (we have a parking lot at a small mall that provied alot of space for people to do this, probably 300 cars park there every day) and then cars line up that want another one or 2 people to make them legal to get in HOV lanes (in my case, the slugs have to walk across a road to get to a lot of a place hat went out of business, and they line up there to get in the cars).
Fines are big for violators- if you are caught in HOV w/less than 3 people, it is $500 and "points" go against your license, meaningyour insurance rates go up.
And also once you get into HOV lanes going towards town, you can't get out til you are almost in D.C. However, in the afternoon when they switch the directional gastes and you are going outbound, there are several exits you can take so you can get close to where you live...
And also once you get into HOV lanes going towards town, you can't get out til you are almost in D.C. However, in the afternoon when they switch the directional gastes and you are going outbound, there are several exits you can take so you can get close to where you live...
oops, sorry about that, hit the button twice.
BTW- when I saw the title of this post, I thought someone got lucky and found something of value in the road. I once found a $20 bill while on my morning walk, but never diamonds.