You see lanes that are called HOV on some of the multi-lane highways all over Canada. People from other countries would recognize them as Car Pool Lanes. Here the official name from the government is High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes. Come again!! That is quite a mouthful! Say that three times, fast! Besides, it is not intuitive, you have to think about it for a moment to get the meaning. Why can’t we just called them Car Pool Lanes like everyone else. Oh, I get it, we Canadians have to be different, we can’t just follow the Americans. Not sure how that serves the citizens of this country of which more than half are non native and don’t speak English as their primary language. Plus, all the poor tourists!
When they were first introduced, you had to have three persons, or is that occupants, to use the lanes. Since, most of Canada either rains or snows for the greater part of the year, people would just prefer to jump into their cars in the garage and drive to the underground parking of their work to avoid being outside. Subsequently, the HOV Lanes were way under used. So they lowered the number to two. It was still under used so they allowed motorcycles, with only the rider, to use them as well. Still under used! Ah, our brilliant bureaucrats came up with the idea that electric cars should be allowed to use them as well. This will fill the lanes a bit more and also provide the image that they are pro-environment. Hey, self-drive cars are coming. Maybe you can allow them too. Didn’t you also tell us that in the not too distant future, all cars will be electric. Then everyone can use them. After all, isn’t Inclusion a great Canadian virtue? In the meantime, allow dogs to be counted as occupants in cars. You did call it High Occupancy Vehicles. Ruff, Ruff!
Beau Talks 