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If you’ve ever seen a driver flying in traffic on a California highway flying in one of the many HOV carpool lanes, sitting in traffic jams on a California highway, it could have hurt your head. Does the carpool lane actually work? Also, at what cost does it work for other drivers in regular travel lanes?
After all, California HOV lanes must meet certain federal standards. A vehicle in HOV lane can maintain a speed of at least 45 mph for at least 90% of the time during weekday travel, or is considered “deteriorating.”
If you’ve ever seen HOV lanes stuck like everyone else, that might be the case. These lanes are given grades of “slightly degraded”, “very degraded”, or “severely degraded”.
Findings from the 2025 Caltrans Hov Degradation Action Plan show highways in many areas that have deteriorated at different times of the week. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Caltrans says it’s seeing a number of lane cheats. Sneaky drivers in the wrong lanes have not properly documented how many people there are in the car.
It is called “misrepresentation of occupancy” and is the main reason why HOV lanes are slowing down.
In fact, in District 7, which includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the survey shows that average occupancy violations have doubled since 2022, with violations approaching or rising by 50% on some local highways. that’s right. Peak travel times, almost half of users are lane violators, etc.
The 2023 high worker travel lane violation rate was studied, according to data reviewed by the KTLA for Caltrans District 7, which oversees highways throughout the Los Angeles region.
42.4% of interstate 405 drivers 43.5% of interstate 5 drivers 48.6% of interstate drivers 43.3% of interstate drivers 43.3% of interstate drivers 43.3% of interstate drivers 43.3% of 14 highway 605 drivers 44.4% of drivers 14 highway 32.7% of drivers 43.3% of interstate drivers
However, the winner was LA’s legendary 101 Freeway, and Caltrans data shows that 57.5% of drivers in 2023 who used HOV lanes when the data was collected were offenders.
Caltrans told KTLA “Maybe not surprising, due to the high traffic period, many drivers try to use HOV lanes even though they don’t meet the occupancy requirements to save time.” The data shows snapshots for a particular day, and Caltrans says these numbers are “influenced by a variety of factors, including traffic flow, enforcement levels, and seasonal patterns.”
And catching those drivers is not easy. In statewide HOV lanes with tolls (hot lanes), Toll operators are testing new AVOD “automobile occupancy detector” systems, but Cartalan notices changes in visibility, window tints, and vehicle length, affecting the system’s accuracy and preventing its use in law enforcement agencies. These lanes include 10/110 Expresslanes managed by Metro.
Caltrans is enabling pilot programs to study real-time occupancy, particularly in these high-solvent regions. 10/110 Expresslanes, Metro is preparing to deploy a camera-based roadside “occupying detection system” to prevent misrepresentation of occupancy. This causes an increase in crowding by Caltrans, calling it the main cause of Toll avoidance violations.
And how effective are they when it comes to those Expresslanes? Caltrans itself admits that traffic slowed down when these HOV lanes became Hot Express lanes for all single drivers currently using the lanes. KTLA has learned that 75-86% of vehicles are “single-occupied vehicles” using 10/110 Expresslanes, according to Caltrans’s own data. This means fewer passengers will be riding in cars using the Carpool Express Lane. In addition to that, Caltrans says that between 30 and 60% of occupancy offenders on these roads do not properly set up their transponders.
According to Caltrans, the LA area is facing a rapid expansion of public transport in preparation for the 2028 Olympics, and we hope that the average traffic speeds for HOV and hot lanes will improve as more commuters use public transport. Also, Caltrans has set aside $30 million to deal with the worst HOV lane in the state, and only time can tell if things are moving further.
To read the complete Caltrans report:
2025 CA HOV Facilities Deterioration Action Plan 2024 HOV Facilities Deterioration Report
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