Washington Post Rips HOV access for hybrid cars and vehicles.

Washington Post rips hybrid's HOV access

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

I try to not get too involved in politics. When push comes to shove, it takes a lot of money to be successfully elected to higher office, and almost as soon as a politician is elected, they are already thinking about their reelection. Thus, I think politics - on both sides of the aisle - are about money. As a result I have little faith in either party and am a registered Independent.

Nonetheless, I thought the Washington Post was a liberal paper, but I guess not when it comes to hybrid cars, the environment, or foreign oil dependency.

Since Sunday the paper has taken an agenda against hybrid cars and HOV lane access. On Sunday, the Post printed an editorial calling for the end of HOV lane access for hybrids because "As plenty of the region's commuters know, hybrid vehicles are the main culprit in the ever-worsening traffic in the region's carpool lanes."

The Post points out that 22% of vehicles in the HOV lane are hybrids, which tops the 15% of illegal users also using the HOV lanes. Yet, does the Post care about the illegal users? No, only the hybrid vehicles, which the post states " Hybrids' environmental advantages have diminished as stricter federal rules have required gas-powered cars to have cleaner engines, starting with 2004 models."

So now the Post believes that current gasoline automobiles solve all of America's problems? According to the Post there is now no reason to worry about pollution, global warming, or foreign oil dependency?

I can't help but wonder what the editors at the Post drive, but I bet its BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus. Gas-guzzling means nothing to this fine group of Americans because the cost of gasoline means nothing to people who make the kind of money editors for the Post make.

On a side note, I also wonder how many editors at the Post have children enlisted in the Military - I'd bet not many.

While I understand that hybrids might cause problems for HOV effectiveness and that is an issue worth addressing, to claim that hybrid's environmental impact is now insignificant because of new gasoline vehicles is a complete travesty - an absolute joke.

Yeah, all the gas-guzzlers idling in traffic everyday aren't really a problem anymore, at least not if they are 2004 or later models - as long as you aren't worried about the billions of barrels of oil they waste every year in traffic. And, oh yeah, in congestion even 2004 gasoline vehicles create significantly more pollution than hybrids, but who really ever drives in congestion? Don't we all drive 55 mph on the highway all the time?

So, hybrids are the problem, I mean they do make up almost 1% of all vehicle sales in America, isn't that already enough? Isn't that enough change for one lifetime? Haven't we almost solved global warming and foreign oil dependency already anyway?

I say if you care about the environment, if you care about foreign oil dependency, or if you care about obscene oil company profits, then you should toast the post. Cancel your subscription.

If everyone in America drove a hybrid, such as the Toyota Prius or the Honda Civic hybrid, foreign oil would not be needed. That's a goal worth striving for and it's far more important than HOV congestion - by far.

Yet, this isn't even an issue for the Post. How pathetic.

Maybe, just maybe, in the short term, the Post could focus on the 15% of illegal drivers in the HOV lane. How much money could be made by fining all of those drivers? Additionally, HOV traffic would be less than it was before hybrids if illegal users were punished and forced to stop using HOV lanes.

But that's not the point of the Post. Instead, let's not focus on people breaking the law, let's focus on hybrid cars - didn't you know, they are America's real problem.

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