HOT Lanes and Tickets

This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.

I thought it was a little harsh for state troopers to be pulling people over on day one of the SR 167 HOT lane program, but reading this report from Susan Gilmore at the Times puts it in proper context:

On Monday, 90 cars were stopped for lane violations, said Washington State Trooper Curt Boyle. He said 60 stops were for solo drivers in the car-pool lanes and all were cited, facing a $124 fine. He said 30 were stopped for crossing a double white line and about 60 percent of them were cited at trooper discretion. That also carries a $124 fine.

In other words, the majority of people who were ticketed were people who were doing something (driving solo in the HOV lane) that’s never been legal.

Also worthy of note: people stopped using it when the toll got above $2.