Colorado is currently working on legislation that could open lanes previously reserved for High Occupancy Vehicles to hybrids. This special legislation has been stalled since 2003, but lawmakers are picking it back up as hybrids become more popular. It is hoped that opening these lanes will give drivers more incentive to make the switch.

However, before this plan can come to fruition, the EPA will have to get on board. This is necessary due to concerns that thousands of hybrids using these lanes could clog roadways even further. The EPA never came to a decision on this subject before but it is hoped that they will make their move now.

Currently, the only vehicles allowed to use High Occupancy Vehicle lanes or HOV’s are carpools, motorcyclists and toll payers. With the added burden of hybrid vehicles, many worry that these special lanes will become as congested as regular lanes. This may anger those who rely on these lanes to get to work quicker and avoid the usual traffic congestion.

There are also concerns over which hybrids will be allowed to use these lanes, since not all hybrids are created equal. For example, you really cannot compare the Honda Insight to the Toyota Prius, since they function in different ways. However, they both are technically hybrids and the Insight enjoys the ranking as one of the most fuel efficient vehicles in existence. It will now be up to the legislators to determine which hybrid vehicles will be allowed in these lanes, if they are in fact opened up.

“The law currently states that a hybrid is fuel-efficient if it gets 50 percent more miles to the gallon than its counterpart,” said Stacey Stegman, the Colorado Department of Transportation’s director of public information. “You could have a Hummer that gets 10 miles to the gallon, and then they come out with a hybrid model that gets 15. But still there’s the normal Honda Civic that gets 30 mpg. It just doesn’t make sense to exclude the Civic over the Hummer.”

In order to keep things fair, the state is proposing creating a lottery for 2,000 hybrid vehicles. This will allow officials to test the efficacy of opening up the lanes to hybrids while avoiding over congestion. This has been proposed as the fairest means of creating a trial to see how conditions would be affected by the new law.

The state will also need to determine whether or not hybrid cars are actually environmentally friendly. Studies on this matter are still out, particularly for hybrids that still rely on gas engines for part of the time. As more trucks are converted over to hybrids, this problem may become even more severe.

One thing is clear that current incentives for switching to hybrids may not be enough, but opening up special lanes may also be counterproductive. More studies and trials are needed to determine how to increase reliance on hybrids while maintaining quality road conditions.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Hybrid Cars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.