High-occupancy Vehicle Lane - Compliance, Enforcement and Avoidance

Compliance, Enforcement and Avoidance

Fines are usually imposed on drivers of non-qualifying vehicles who use the lanes.

In the early years drivers placed 'inflatable dolls' in the passenger seat, a practice that was soon outlawed, but persists. Cameras that can distinguish between humans and mannequins or dolls from humans were tested in the United Kingdom in 2005.

In the United States, a number of methods have used by drivers in attempts to circumvent HOV occupancy rules:

• Store mannequins, blow-up dolls, kickboxing dummies, cardboard cut-outs, and balloons with faces drawn on them;
• Buckling the passenger-side seat belt and pretending to talk to someone reclining in that seat;
• Covering an empty infant seat with a blanket or placing a doll in it;
• Taping a styrofoam wig stand to the passenger headrest and topping it with a blonde wig;
• Strapping dogs, cats or other pets into the passenger seat.

In February 2010, a 61-year-old woman tried to pass off a life-size mannequin as a passenger in order to use the HOV lane in New York State. A police officer on a routine HOV patrol immediately become suspicious when he noticed that the so-called passenger was wearing sunglasses and using the visor on a cloudy morning. When the Deputy Sheriff approached the vehicle, he discovered that the passenger was in fact a mannequin wearing lipstick, designer shades, a full length wig and a blue sweater. The driver was issued a traffic ticket, for using the HOV lane without a human passenger, which carries a fine of $135 and two points on a driver's license.

In early 2006, an Arizona woman asserted that she had been improperly ticketed for using the HOV lane because the unborn child she was carrying in her womb justified her use of the lane, while noting that Arizona traffic laws don't define what a person is. However, a judge subsequently ruled that to qualify as an "individual" under Arizona traffic laws, the individual must occupy a "separate and distinct" space in a vehicle. Likewise, in California, in order to utilize HOV lanes, there must be two (or, if posted, three) separate individuals occupying seats in a vehicle, and an unborn child does not count towards this requirement.

In 2009 and 2010 it was found that non-compliance rates on HOV lanes in Brisbane were approaching 90 per cent. Enhanced enforcement led to increased compliance, average bus journeys times dropped by up to 19 per cent and total person throughput increased by 12 per cent. In 2006 it was claimed that many vehicles had only one occupant.