Future Freeways

A modest proposal: The right-hand lanes of our freeways should be designated as Digital Occupancy Vehicle (DOV) lanes, or perhaps as Workers on Wheels (WOW) lanes. These re-designated lanes also would have their top legal speed lowered to a fuel-efficient 50 or 55 mph.

In these lower-speed lanes and in these lanes only, cell phone use, Web-surfing and other office work would be legal. The benefits would include increased safety for information-super-freeway and regular drivers alike, increased fuel efficiency for this segment of traffic and reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, a greater ease of merging from onramps and exiting onto offramps and the enhanced productivity of an increasingly mobile Information Age work force.

Gregory Wright

Sherman Oaks