What is a HOV lane?

Publish date: 2024-03-20

DRIVING laws can be had to keep track of, especially as they can vary from state to state.

Lane restrictions mean you may end up with a ticket without realising - this includes driving in HOV lanes.

What is a HOV lane?

HOV stands for high-occupancy vehicle, meaning that vehicles with higher number of passengers can travel in the lane.

They are more commonly known as carpool lanes but do not just apply to cars with more than one passenger.

Usually, lanes are marked by diamond shapes painted onto the road surface.

The idea is to encourage people to car share to help cut down on congestion and pollution.

Vehicles such as carpools, vanpools, buses with 16 or more passengers and taxis can use the lanes.

The requirement is that the vehicle contains the required number of passengers, usually two or three, including the driver.

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Some single passenger vehicles are permitted such as motorcycles (except in Ontario) and green vehicles like hybrid or electric cars.

Bicycles and responding emergency vehicles can also use the lanes.

Lower occupancy vehicles can use the lanes if they pay a toll, which can vary in price depending on time and road capacity.

What states have HOV lanes?

Many states have HOV lanes and some have regular lanes which are carpool-only during certain hours.

Rules vary from state to state so check the regulations, but if you are in a fossil fuel powered vehicle with no passengers, you are unlikely to be able to use the lane.

These are the states with carpool lanes:

Some places in Canada also have HOV lanes with differing rules, such as Ontario.

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Can a pregnant woman drive in a HOV lane?

According to most HOV lane laws, pregnant women cannot use them as the fetus is not classed as another person until birth.

One woman in Texas was fined for driving in the carpool lane without another passenger but argued her unborn child counted.

Pregnant Brandy Bottone was stopped by police and asked how many were in the vehicle, to which she replied two.

At 34 weeks, Brandy's unborn baby would be considered a person under Texas law since the overturning of Roe vs Wade.

While Texas' law recognises life at conception - the main argument for banning abortions - the Transport Code disagrees.

The officers apparently told Brandy that the lane rules refer to two people outside of the body but she argued her baby girl should count.

She said to Dallas Morning News: "They still gave me a ticket. So my $215 ticket was written to cause inconvenience?

"This has my blood boiling. How could this be fair?

"According to the new law, this is a life!"

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Roe vs Wade was a landmark legal case in which the Supreme Court ruled the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to choose to have an abortion.

It was overturned in 2022, removing the right to access safe and legal abortions for women across the US and giving states the right to legislate individually.

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