🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <25191@oasys.dt.navy.mil>, gotimer@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Gene Gotimer) writes...
>rdc00a@nmrdc1.nmrdc.nnmc.navy.mil (Kelly Pedersen) wrote:
>>In which other countries are HOV lanes standard.  I have never found them
>>in any other country.
> 
>I believe I have seen them in countries in Europe, but I
>can't gaurantee it so I won't mention any there.
> 
>However, when I lived in Singapore in Southeast Asia, an entire
>section of the city (actually all of the commercial sector
>of the city) was HOV-4.  You had to have a permit to drive 
>there during certain hours (I think 8AM-4PM, most of the day anyway)
>with 4 people in the car.  This permit was quite expensive.
> 
>It was enforced, and fines were quite stiff.  On the other hand,
>the bus system was excellent, and the country isn't big enough
>to make for long bus trips between any two points.

There's also a *major* difference in views of personal freedom and personal
rights between the different societies.  After living in Europe for a 
couple of years, I can't imaging U.S. citizens putting up with the powers
given to even the local gendarmeries... but neither can I imagine European
drivers putting up with lane restrictions.  As for Singapore, we're talking
about a society in which chewing gum -- even bringing it into the country!
-- is illegal; I suspect that a Singaporean's view of personal rights vs.
the individual's responsibility is different from ours.

As for the HOV mess on the Dulles road... I live in Maryland, but if someone
told me I had to pay both taxes and tolls for a road but could only use a
specific part of it, I'd do my best to both change the ruling _and_ vote the
guy out of office.  It's not a matter of being environmentally nasty or of
being so devoted to my personal car that I can't or won't carpool, but the
requirements of my job make it _very_ difficult, and I just don't relate to
the idea of paying public funds for something that's only semi-public.

-- Brian

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