55 Freeway’s Car-Pool Lane
A more apt description of the new car-pool lane on the 55 Freeway could be “Blood Alley.” I’ve seen more accidents since its inception than in the past 10 years of driving from Orange County to Riverside County.
It’s scary to be traveling on the freeway at 20 m.p.h. with the car-pool user passing you at 60 plus and then suddenly squeezing to get off in the next few hundred yards. A good many of its users deem it a passing lane!
A couple of weeks ago I counted eight out of 10 vehicles using the lane that were car and driver only. A good guess would place less than one in 10 of the users as actual car-pool-qualified.
Traffic would probably move faster for the majority of the drivers if the added land was opened to all. Most of us, for one reason or other, find it nearly impossible to work a car pool but would like to for many good reasons.
Other attempts to force a car-pool lane on drivers have not been successful. Most commuters, to be sure, would favor opening it to all.
EDWARD J. BEITZ
Corona del Mar
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