Riding the HOV Lane.

Controversy, controversy, controversy. Yes there is more of this going on in the motorcycle world. Motorcyclists have been riding in the HOV lanes for several years in Arizona and all of a sudden I am getting calls, people are coming up to me, emailing me about motorcycles riding in the HOV lanes without a passenger and getting cited.

Keep on riding in the HOV lanes, and I am sure that you will not get stopped for this practice. The lobbyists in Arizona have worked out a fix, and this fix could last a lifetime or who knows how long? The message here is that we are entitled to ride in the HOV lanes for several reasons. So please keep up the practice and if you happen to get cited, please do not pay the citation, do not argue with the nice policeman, just call me please. I really doubt that anyone will get cited again, but if this does happen, please call me. Please pass the word.

The signs are still in place on the I-17 and the 202. ADOT has not removed any signs. You will not find signs in many other places, most of the signs that should be up, never existed, but keep on riding in the HOV lanes all over the state. You should be able to ride in other states one up whenever and wherever the HOV lanes exist also. This does not extend to toll roads, but toll roads do not normally have HOV lanes.

What happened was a simple mistake made by an over zealous, uninformed, Gilbert Police Officer. He stopped three different motorcyclists at three different times and cited them for riding in the HOV lane without a passenger. Don’t ask me what he was doing on the freeways, except maybe………………???
The DPS officers are in tune with our privilege of riding the HOV’s. The rest of the story is that the Motorcycle Rights Organizations were informed of this situation and we went to work. The temporary fix is that the Gilbert Police Officer mailed a letter to all three persons that he cited and told them that he was going to ask the judge to dismiss the citations. I am sure that someone in his department got wind of it and let him know about some of the federal laws all across the country that allows motorcycles to ride in HOV lanes without passengers.

The Arizona Statute that covers this situation is 28-737 for those of you that want to look it up. Basically what it says is; tow trucks, cars with more than one person are allowed to drive in the HOV lanes. It does not say anything about motorcyclists riding in the HOV lanes without a passenger etc. Our buns are covered by the fact that our highways were built with the help of federal highway dollars. Motorcyclists are covered.

So with all of that information at hand, what do you think we should do? Personally, I am thinking that we need some legislation that adds motorcycles to the statute. Legislation will cover us so that whenever or however, we are covered in the future. I am not in this alone; the other 2 lobbyists in Arizona are thinking the same thing. For those of you that don’t know, the Arizona lobbyists all work together on issues relating to motorcycle legislation. We have a one lobby team situation for motorcyclists in Arizona. How is it working for you so far?

The lobbyists are at work helping motorcyclists keep the existing legacy that we enjoy. You can help by joining one of the Motorcycle Rights Organizations in Arizona. Call me and I will point you in the right direction, to be a part of the rights equation, it is cheap. If you want to know what the powers to be are thinking about some helmet law changes in Arizona, call me about this as well. Believe it or not, it is in the works, and we need to keep fighting them off. What are you doing about it??? If all of a sudden we get a helmet law in Arizona, don’t call me, call the other 100,000 plus motorcyclists that do not belong to an MRO.

Learn to be a better rider and ride safe……Ray Huston