Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Infrared enforcement coming to carpool lanes]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/03/infrared-enforcement-coming-to-carpool-lanes/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/03/infrared-enforcement-coming-to-carpool-lanes/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/03/infrared-enforcement-coming-to-carpool-lanes/#commentsFiled under: , ,

We've all been tempted to merge into the car pool lane when driving alone in heavy traffic, but either the shame of other motorists seeing you illegally use it or the thought of the police catching you in the act may have kept you honest. Now there's a way to legally use the lane, but it's going to cost you.

Private companies in the Washington D.C. area are considering building separate lanes for fee-paying drivers, but they'll need a method of differentiating paying solo drivers and carpoolers. One option is to install infrared scanners that can detect the number of people in a car. That means anyone thinking they could get away by putting a fake dummy in the passenger seat had better think again.

It's estimated that one out of every five cars using car pool lanes in Virginia has only the driver inside, which has this scanner idea receiving strong support from both authorities and private individuals. Privacy advocates are wary that the scanners could actually identify individuals' faces and be used by the government to monitor a person's movements, but the makers of the system are designing them so that faces are obscured.

[Source: The Wahington Post via Winding Road]

Infrared enforcement coming to carpool lanes originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I have a brother who spends a good 50% of his time daydreaming about how to make money with inventions no one has thought of yet. Despite my protest that all the good stuff's been invented already, he continues to concoct imaginary money makers. I need to introduce my brother to this guy from San Francisco, who earns $100 to $300 a day from his invention.

This highly lucrative produce is his own ass, which he rents out to San Fran commuters who are willing to pay him to get a pass to drive in the car pool lane. The idea came to him when he was stuck in traffic one day watching people zip by in the far left lane. He decided to rent himself out for $10 to $20 a trip so that other people who didn't want to sit in traffic for two hours could bypass jams in the fast moving car pool lane.

The first time he walked out on to the freeway entrance with a sign that read, "Traffic is bad. Spend 2 hours or pay me $10 and get there in 20 minutes." It worked, and afterward he left his first paying customer, walked to the other side of the freeway, and caught a paying gig back to where he started. With business in full swing, he reportedly makes 2 to 3 roundtrips during the morning commute and 3 to 5 round trips during the evening rush, and if there's an accident that slows traffic even further, he may double his price. Genius, pure genius.

Thanks for the tip, Mike!

[Source: Personal Finance Advice]

The Commute Helper gets you into carpool lane for $10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 May 2007 16:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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