They’re socialist because they push conformity on drivers, specifically making them include two or three occupants instead of one. In Southern California, the lanes are in “full-time” operation, meaning all seven days. Meanwhile, in Northern California they’re in “part-time” operation, meaning they’re in force only during the “peak” hours of 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. And any vehicles can use the lanes on Saturdays and Sundays.
Special exemptions are also made for motorcycles and favored vehicles, such as electric, hydrogen, or hybrid cars, which receive a special “clean air” sticker to slap on their back bumpers.
I’ve also known people who just ignore the rules and take the occasional $490 fine, figuring the savings in time is worth it. But only rich people can afford that.
Zil Lanes
California’s HOV lanes also resemble the infamous “Zil lanes” in the middle of Moscow highways reserved for the Soviet elite. The Zil was the top Soviet limousine of the day.
“These ran straight down the middle of the giant highways, in the place of central reservations, and were only for the use of emergency vehicles and the highest echelons of the Soviet leadership in their grand but ageing Zil and Chaika limousines. ...
“The one to Vnukovo stopped operating when the airport lost its status. But the lane on Kutuzovsky Prospekt survives to this day.
“Every evening, as Muscovites sit stuck in some of the worst traffic jams in the world, they can watch their leaders sweep past to their dachas.
“The Zil and Chaika limousines are gone, replaced by black high-powered top-end German cars with flashing blue lights on top, and accompanied by one of the most hated sounds in Moscow—the squawking migalki, the peculiarly aggressive sirens fitted to Russian official cars.”
Limiting Socialism
Things now could be changing a little. The special clean-air stickers are scheduled to expire on Sept. 25, 2025 on the more than 400,000 cars now sporting them. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, it would take both the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress to pass laws extending the sticker program.That seems unlikely with Republicans controlling the U.S. House of Representatives—also if they control either the House or Senate, or both, after the November election.
In my experience driving around Southern California, the socialist lanes often are just as crowded as the regular lanes. If the sticker cars are booted from those lanes, cars might flow more freely, advancing the original intention of encouraging people to ride together, reducing the overall number of vehicles on the road, not just in the diamond lanes.
Congestion Pricing
With anti-smog regulations already reducing vehicle emissions close to zero compared to 1960s levels, the emphasis ought to be on keeping the traffic flowing freely. Doing so actually would be a help to people. Southern California can’t build the roads much wider. It’s hard to see the 405 or 5 expanding further.The solution is more congestion pricing, as already exists for the toll roads, which I use a couple times a month. Toll prices rise as more cars enter the system. That encourages people who don’t need immediate access, such as housewives going shopping, to wait until a cheaper time.
Such a system would mean making all major roads toll roads. There would be resistance. Civil libertarians would say the use of the toll transponders would increase the power of the Surveillance State. There are two responses to that. One is people concerned about being spied on could take alternative roads. The second is nowadays there are cameras everywhere anyway, easily able to capture and record license plates, and our iPhones track us wherever we go.
Conclusion: Dysfunctional California
Singapore enjoys one of the world’s most efficient governments, while California suffers one of the most sclerotic. Instead of wasting billions on the socialist-lane schemes, or for that matter the high-speed rail boondoggle, setting up congestion pricing would have made a lot more sense—and might have reduced greenhouse gases more.But this is California. Previous generations of politicians, Democrat and Republican, sharply reduced tailpipe emissions to cut smog. Today’s politicians only impose unworkable policies, such as banning all gas-powered cars by 2035. Such policies wisp away like the black smoke from the tailpipe of a classic 1957 Chevy.
