A View From Outside the Carpool Lane

While driving home the other day on the southbound [Costa Mesa Freeway] toward Newport Beach, the flow of traffic abruptly slowed to a snail’s pace.

My first thought was there was an accident somewhere ahead of me. Little did I know that the reason for the slowdown was work being done on an apparently new carpool lane.

I am crawling along in the fast lane next to the carpool lane and start to take notice of what I really didn’t want to admit was actually happening.

Approximately one-third of the cars whizzing in the carpool lane were solo drivers. I am sure because I kept a vigil to make sure there was no one in the passenger’s side of the car and no one in the back seat.

Not one police car was in sight the whole time I was witnessing this event. How many millions of dollars have been spent and how many more millions are going to be spent on this farce?

I thought things like this were done in the name of public service and rewarding people who honestly deserve it. Laws are designed to govern the masses and regulate the flow of things so that we may live in a relatively safe environment.

But if a good portion of the masses choose to live by their own rules then we either need to do away with the carpool lane, which would free up more driving space, or enforce what we preach and punish these drivers.

Because they are building or adding to the existing carpool lane, even more people will have an opportunity to deviate from the law.

Bill Spitalnick

Newport Beach