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Hybrid perk drives car poolers to tears

A Toyota Prius, front, zips along during rush hour in the car pool lane of the southbound 405 Freeway in Los Angeles, thanks to a state law allowing hybrids to use the high-occupancy vehicle lane. (Los Angeles Times / The Spokesman-Review)
Amanda Covarrubias Los Angeles Times
A Toyota Prius, front, zips along during rush hour in the car pool lane of the southbound 405 Freeway in Los Angeles, thanks to a state law allowing hybrids to use the high-occupancy vehicle lane. (Los Angeles Times / The Spokesman-Review)

LOS ANGELES – When California allowed solo occupants of hybrid cars to use car pool lanes last year, many thought they were merging onto a narrow strip of car culture heaven.

But increasingly, hybrid owners say they feel like the victims of road rage.

Carpoolers accuse them of driving too slowly in order to maximize their fuel efficiency and clogging lanes that were once clear. Hybrid motorists even have a term for the ill will: “Prius backlash.”

“There’s a mentality out there that we’re a bunch of liberal hippies or we’re trying to make some statement on the environment,” said Travis Ruff, a real estate agent who drives a Toyota Prius. “People are a lot less friendly than when I drove a Mercedes.”

The California Department of Transportation, which has issued car pool lane stickers for about 50,000 hybrid cars, plans to study the effect of hybrids on car pool lanes in Southern California. “There’s not enough excess capacity to absorb the hybrids,” said James Moore, director of the University of Southern California’s transportation engineering program.

A debate over car pool lane congestion also is occurring in Virginia, which like California allows solo hybrid drivers to use the lanes. Last month, the Virginia Legislature placed restrictions on hybrid drivers using the lanes in peak hours.

The California Legislature approved the hybrids in car pool lanes as a way of encouraging the use of the low emission, high fuel mileage vehicles.

The law grants car pool lane access to hybrids that get at least 45 mpg. So far, only the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic and Honda Insight qualify. The vehicles use small internal-combustion engines in combination with electric motors to increase gas mileage and reduce air pollution. Larger hybrid SUVs and luxury sedans with solo drivers are not allowed in car pool lanes.

From the beginning, the law has prompted complaints from car poolers. But in recent months the criticism has grown louder as car poolers accuse hybrid drivers of clogging the lanes, also known as high-occupancy vehicle lanes.

“Prius drivers tend to drive slower, and it makes the HOV lanes slower,” said Theresa Poprac, who commutes on the Interstate 405 Freeway every morning from her home near Los Angeles International Airport to her at an educational software company in Costa Mesa.

The chatter is more biting on Internet car chat rooms, where some car poolers have declared themselves “hybrid haters.”

“These (drivers) barely go 65 mph and allow no one to pass them on the right,” fumed one driver on the Edmunds.com car town hall. “Talk about road rage!”

“Go with the flow, or get the heck outta the way!!!” wrote another in support.

But Los Angeles hybrid owner Jan Strnand said he has not been impressed with the program.

“Much of the time, the HOV lanes and standard lanes are going at the same rates, so there’s no advantage,” said Strnand, a television writer. “You do the math. … How many can you add (to the carpool lane) before it’s more of a deterrent than it is a help?”