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Social Norms and Improving HOV Lane Violation Rates

-- By BrandonGe - 26 Feb 2010

Introduction

When I lived in Maryland, I picked up my mom from work everyday. With two people in the vehicle, we lawfully took advantage of the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane on the highway portion of our commute. I observed that on days when traffic was especially bad and the time saved by sneaking in a few miles in the HOV lane was especially great, there would be a high number of solo commuters in the HOV lane; seeing one solo commuter for every multi-occupant vehicle was common. Police officers infrequently patrolled this particular stretch of the highway, and on the occasions when a police officer would be enforcing lawful HOV lane use, he would virtually always be camped at the same exact spot every time. I often saw HOV lane violators (who were presumably frequent commuters with knowledge of the usual checkpoint location) milk the benefits of driving in the lane until they switched back into an unrestricted lane right before the checkpoint.

This first-hand experience with the problem of high HOV enforcement got me thinking as to what makes enforcement so difficult, and what possible solutions are. In this paper I argue that because enforcement is so difficult and costly, creating social norms will be the driving force behind achieving high compliance with HOV lane rules (a theory that has also been described by Professor Strahilevitz).

History and Benefits

HOV lanes were created in the 1960s and 1970s in response to rising foreign oil prices and the subsequent need to lower gas consumption. Creation of HOV lanes has since become popular among city governments as a way of encouraging carpooling, thereby increasing person throughput, increasing road capacity, and improving air quality. However, HOV lanes have been criticized as actually lowering road capacity and increasing overall congestion, while proponents point to the development of "slugging," an organized system of carpooling and taking advantage of HOV lanes, as evidence of effectiveness.

The effectiveness of HOV lanes is a matter of great debate, one that is not the topic of this paper. This paper will proceed under the assumption that increased compliance with HOV lane rules is desirable.

Problems With Enforcement

Lawful HOV lane use is notoriously difficult to enforce, as evidenced by high peak hour violation rates in parts of the country. A commonly proposed solution is to devote more police officer time to checking for violators. This fails as a long-term solution for several reasons. One is that it is difficult to see whether a particular vehicle is in compliance with HOV lane rules. Occupants such as babies (who do count as occupants for HOV purposes; a fetus in a pregnant woman's womb, meanwhile, does not) and people napping in a reclined position can be hard to see with the naked eye, especially when they are inside a fast-moving vehicle. Further complicating matters, some states, such as Arizona, have allowed owners of certain hybrid vehicles to apply for special license plates that let them to use HOV lanes regardless of occupancy. Another reason that devoting more police officer time to enforcement is undesirable is that it can be counterproductive. The draw of HOV lanes for potential carpoolers lies in its faster transit times, but police officers often slow traffic because of the common practice of slowing down when one sees a police car ahead. Lastly, many object to devoting valuable resources to enforcing relatively innocuous HOV lane violations.

Most alternatives are flawed. Barriers between HOV and unrestricted lanes increase the effectiveness of police officer enforcement. However, this may lead to slower transit times in the HOV lane, as the effect of one slow driver would be amplified. Also, the HOV lane would have fewer exits and entries, possibly discouraging use of the lane. Video and photographic surveillance is fraught with inaccuracies as it often cannot detect children and sleeping people. More details about enforcement options can be found here.

Success of the FasTrak? Program

One successful solution has been creation of a high occupancy toll (HOT) lane by allowing solo commuters the option to buy their way onto the HOV lane. San Diego did this with their FasTrak? program, launched in 1996, and it has resulted in an increased number of carpoolers and decreased violation rate.

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