• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

Passing in HOV Lane

Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Messages
150
Reaction score
0
Location
Norman, OK
Ok guys and gals, I have been resisting posting on this subject for almost a year and a half. But, this morning it happened again, for the fifth time I have had a bike pass me in an HOV lane! All of the passes have been on my daily commute (on my bike) up I35 in Oak Cliff. The passes have been at speed as I am going +5. This morning the bike was going at least 75. After he passed me, he passed two cars and a city bus in another pass. Then, we all bunched up due to traffic. Bottom line, he got no where for all of the risks taken and bad PR for bikes.

Ok, I feel better…let the fire begin.
 
Was it an unsafe pass? Did it harm you in any way? Take away any of your liberties? No? Then I say no worries.
I have been passed and I have passed others. The HOV I ride is a single wide lane divided from the general traffic by concrete barriers. Once in, there is no way out until you reach an access point. It bugs the heck out of me to come up behind a cager with no one in front of them and going slower than the traffic out in the mainlanes. I am not in the HOV to be in a traffic jam. Sometimes these cages move to the edge of their lane and give me room to pass, sometimes they appear to actually want to block me, like me getting by them is going to in some way ruin their day. Like I am cutting in line or something.

Edit to add... just add this crime to the list of other crimes I commit everyday I ride... speeding, failure to come to a complete stop at each stop sign, changing lanes without a signal, and I'm sure there are others I just don't care enough about to know I commit them.
 
I've been guilty of it from time to time. I only do it in the sections where there is LOTS of room, IE, almost an extra lane or more. I also won't do it unless the person is going very slow, usually slower than the main lanes as stated above. I have on more than one occasion gotten behind someone going 40-45mph in the HOV with no one in front of them. Once had someone who couldn't handle the walls and would slow to 25mph for any change in direction of the road.
 
I have passed in HOV but like others if they are only doing 40 I am not going to hang back there and take the chance of getting hit from behind from someone not seeing me.

I have pass someone on the 35 HOV, there are a few spots that its more then safe to do so, is it right no?? but If they are afraid of the road they do not need to take it.

I more concerned more about forgetting the 3 gaps in the road and getting my tire stuck in one and flipping me then passing someone there..
 
Guys, thanks for your post. First, I should have explained that all five were different riders.

As for passing slow vehicles, maybe that is ok? But as I explained in my original post I was going +5. You have all mentioned vehicles going well below my speed.

Also, several of the passes that I have experienced were very close to me. In fact in one case the came by me so fast I didn't even know he was there (he came by be just after the I35/67 meger) until he was even with me - yes I was endangered by that behavior. In another case, I heard the guy behind me. I looked for him in my mirrors. Not seeing him I moved right because I thought he was passing left from the sound. Well guess what? He passed on the right and we were inches apart!
 
I have been passed and I have passed others. The HOV I ride is a single wide lane divided from the general traffic by concrete barriers. Once in, there is no way out until you reach an access point. It bugs the heck out of me to come up behind a cager with no one in front of them and going slower than the traffic out in the mainlanes. I am not in the HOV to be in a traffic jam. Sometimes these cages move to the edge of their lane and give me room to pass, sometimes they appear to actually want to block me,
If txrebel hadn't written that, I would have said the exact same thing regarding my rides down the I-45 HOV between Spring and Downtown.

And even if they are running +5, if the mainlanes are running +15 the HOV folks need to hustle it along a little more. Yep, that's my selfish opinion and I'm sticking to it! :clap::rider:
 
I generally ride to the right in the HOV lane, thus it does not bother me when a fellow cyclist passes me on the left. On the right, however....:eek2:

I guess this falls under lane-splitting, which a lot of us hope to do someday in the state of Texas. :rider:
 
A cager once got so angry when I was passing by him in nearly standstill HOV that he tried to run me down. He nearly slammed his car into the concrete barrier trying to do it.

I'd like to see a bike- only lane carved out. I mean shouldn't there be some reward for taking up so little roadway space? If even a third of those SUV and pickup truck drivers got on bikes we wouldn't have a rush hour problem.
 
I will pass at the inbound / outbound split just north of Keist Blvd. Otherwise , I stay put most of the time, unless a Dart bus is smelling up the HOV lane and I have the opportunity to pass.
I especially enjoy riding in tandem with another motorbike in HOV.

Be safe,

James
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Interesting toopic...I have never passed on HOV as it would generally get me nowhere unless I committed to pass cars all the way down the I45 HOV. I'm ok with being passed by others if they do it safely, but guys flying by multiple cars & buses at high speed is bad form (imo) & as driscollms originally pointed out, more bad pr for bikes & there are enough jealous cagers running around already. All of that said, if I were to come up on someone who was driving drastically slow with no one in front of them in sight I'd pass them & go on my way.
 
My concern about passing in the HOV is that if you get caught I am not sure what they would charge you with.

I would be afraid of a Class B reckless driving charge.

With a Bar Card, a CHL and a job with HPD I can not afford a Class B.
 
My concern about passing in the HOV is that if you get caught I am not sure what they would charge you with.

I would be afraid of a Class B reckless driving charge.

With a Bar Card, a CHL and a job with HPD I can not afford a Class B.

Please tell me they would have to prove a class B charge with more than an officers word against mine as to it being reckless.
 
Please tell me they would have to prove a class B charge with more than an officers word against mine as to it being reckless.

Not sure. Here is the statute -

Sec. 545.401. RECKLESS DRIVING; OFFENSE. (a) A person commits an offense if the person drives a vehicle in wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.

(b) An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by:

(1) a fine not to exceed $200;

(2) confinement in county jail for not more than 30 days; or

(3) both the fine and the confinement.

(c) Notwithstanding Section 542.001, this section applies to:

(1) a private access way or parking area provided for a client or patron by a business, other than a private residential property or the property of a garage or parking lot for which a charge is made for the storing or parking of motor vehicles; and

(2) a highway or other public place.

(d) Notwithstanding Section 542.004, this section applies to a person, a team, or motor vehicles and other equipment engaged in work on a highway surface.

And that "Safety of Persons" includes the person being charged.
 
That's kind of my point. By riding a cycle, I am already in wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of person. The mere fact that I pass someone who is holding up the flow of traffic should not be upgrading to a class B offense. The lanes are very wide. We are separated from the main lanes and everyone is moving in the same direction of travel. I would 'hope' an officer would have more judgement for the situation that that. Now if while passing I bump the passee, then maybe there is room for an upgrade of some kind. Those 'crazy' cali riders are splitting with far less room.
 
I don't think the Houston LEOs worry about much about motorcyclists taking advantage of being narrow. Motocops frequently pass me and cages on the HOV when they are obviously commuting. I've passed several LEOs on the I45 HOV when traffic was crawling. Once traffic was stopped on the HOV and as I was passing the cagers, I came upon a K-9 LEO in a SUV. I stopped and talked him into turning on his lights, moving up to the stalled car, and using his SUV to push the stalled car 1/4 mile to an exit. Yesterday I was doing my usual thing of passing the stopped cages on a long 610 entrance ramp, passed a LEO in a cage doing maybe 10 MPH...no issues, no lights, no PA.

I was stopped once by two motocops on a VERY hot July day after I had ducked into a stalled line of cages on the I10 entrance ramp off 610 about 2 inches before the solid line. I had just passed the motocops about 6 cars back baking in the sun. They didn't even ask to see my license and insurance, just wanted to discuss how my taking advantage of riding a bike may PO some cagers.
 
Was passed by one of Houston's Finest today in the HOV. I was +10, but no one in front of or behind me for half mile. Was keeping pace with those cagers in front and just barely faster than the main lanes. He had to pass a few cagers to get behind me, but he did not pass anymore once he passed me. I have seen them do this b4, so I spose it is ok. But wait, I was pulled over by a precinct 3 moto for passing in the HOV, when I did not. He was in front with two cars between that exited. Now since he "did not witness" the pass in his mirrors, he did not ticket. So...Legal or not???
 
I have been given a ticket for passing in the HOV lane on I-10 before the rebuild. It was a Metro officer that wrote the ticket. He wrote Passing in HOV lane as the offense. It was dismissed because it did not match up to any law or statute. That is what the judge said anyway.
 
I have been given a ticket for passing in the HOV lane on I-10 before the rebuild. It was a Metro officer that wrote the ticket. He wrote Passing in HOV lane as the offense. It was dismissed because it did not match up to any law or statute. That is what the judge said anyway.

If he'd wrote you for passing in a no passing zone, that might've stuck.

I've seen signs in the HOV near the park-n-ride confluences that state "No Passing". But is that for that specific spot, or the HOV in its entirety?
 
Of all the laws that I'm pretty sure I've broken while riding motorcycles, passing in the HOV lane isn't one of them. I just look at it like it was my choice to get in there, and if I wasn't observant enough to look ahead and see someone moving slowly, then it's my own darn fault. Sometimes you win by taking the HOV, and sometimes you don't.

But I do have a hard and fast rule for never EVER taking the HOV lane on the weekends. It's full of families that have no business being on the freeway, taking the HOV lane because "it's neat". So on the weekends, I just stick to the main lanes and be done with it.
 
I never have done it and never will do it. And that's my perogative. ;-)

All the HOV lanes I've ridden in are too narrow to allow any room for error.
 
....But I do have a hard and fast rule for never EVER taking the HOV lane on the weekends. It's full of families that have no business being on the freeway, taking the HOV lane because "it's neat". So on the weekends, I just stick to the main lanes and be done with it.

Although I understand your "no business being"......isn't the purpose to the HOV lane to move traffic smoothly and to reward people who ride-share or ride MCs? Isn't the posted speed limit the same? I've been in the HOV lane in the DFW area and at 10+ over the speed limit, I thought I was committing a sin with people crowding me from behind.

It's like the old toll road in DFW. Folks acted as if "I've paid to be on this road, I'll drive like I own it". Therefore, I spent very little time on the toll road up there.

Sometimes the elitist attitude gets folks killed. :(
 
Although I understand your "no business being"......isn't the purpose to the HOV lane to move traffic smoothly and to reward people who ride-share or ride MCs?

Yes, it is to reward people that ride-share. However on 635 on Saturday morning there are 4 lanes in each direction with almost no traffic on them at all. However if you get in the HOV lane, I give it a 99% probability that you will encounter a vehicle loaded with 4+ kiddos traveling 5-10 under the limit. Really? They can't just be in the far right lane where they will still be the slowest thing on the roadway?:rofl: Like I said, I don't really mind, they have every bit the same right as I do to be there. They just have no business being there. The only thing it is doing is holding up other traffic, or forcing people to either go their speed, or make an illegal crossing of the double whites.

So how is that making traffic move smoothly?
 
Yes, it is to reward people that ride-share. However on 635 on Saturday morning there are 4 lanes in each direction with almost no traffic on them at all. However if you get in the HOV lane, I give it a 99% probability that you will encounter a vehicle loaded with 4+ kiddos traveling 5-10 under the limit. Really? They can't just be in the far right lane where they will still be the slowest thing on the roadway?:rofl: Like I said, I don't really mind, they have every bit the same right as I do to be there. They just have no business being there. The only thing it is doing is holding up other traffic, or forcing people to either go their speed, or make an illegal crossing of the double whites.

So how is that making traffic move smoothly?

I'm with ya 100%, my man. I've taken the HOV on Central on the weekend and the main lanes were moving faster than the HOV. It does take special skills to drive the HOV lanes.....skills the casual user just doesn't have.

I guess my point was for those who get in the HOV lane and then get :rant: when folks in the HOV lane in front of them aren't teetering on warp speed. :doh:
 
Back
Top