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Hybrid vehicles, which run on gasoline and electricity, may be forced out of state's HOV lanes because of conflicting U.S. law. Date published: 8/20/2003 By EDIE GROSS Marque Ledoux's Toyota Prius gets pretty good mileage and it's more environmentally friendly than most. But Ledoux, a Fredericksburg resident who commutes to Washington each day, bought the car for one reason and one reason only: Virginia law allows him to travel in the state's High Occupancy Vehicle lanes without carrying extra passengers because the Prius is a hybrid, or a clean-fuel vehicle. "I bought it exactly for that reason," said Ledoux, who chatted on his cell phone while zipping up I-95 to his office on K Street yesterday morning. "I am passing by the Lorton exit. The main lines are moving, but they're bumper to bumper, and I'm doing 74 in the HOV with hardly anybody in here." But a recommendation from a state task force--and an opinion from the Federal Highway Administration--may be slamming the brakes on Ledoux's morning commute. A state task force created in May to crack down on HOV lane violators issued a long list of recommendations this week designed to improve the flow of traffic in HOV lanes. Issuing higher fines and points on driver's licenses to motorists who use the lanes without the two or three required occupants would free up space for law-abiding drivers, the task force wrote. But the group also recommended that the state no longer allow hybrid drivers to use HOV lanes without the required number of occupants. The state created the exemption for hybrids in the mid-1990s to encourage sales of the fuel-efficient cars and to promote use of the HOV lanes, which were underutilized at the time, said Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic who is a member of the task force. "This may be an incentive that's worked too well," said Anderson, who said the HOV lanes are growing too crowded. "You know, it comes down to we're running out of space in the HOV lanes, and we want to keep the HOV lanes moving. If the HOV lanes become clogged, they're no better than the other lanes, and we lose the incentive for carpooling." Problem is, plenty of Virginians--including several hundred in the Fredericksburg region--have purchased hybrid cars in recent years largely because the state guaranteed HOV access.
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