Rules allowing solo HOV use for drivers of electric cars leave senior in the slow lane
Posted March 3, 2016 10:48 am.
Last Updated March 3, 2016 3:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
UPDATE: After we shared Jim Dallas’ story, he was contacted by the province and will now be allowed to drive in the HOV lane.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Imagine hearing you’d get to drive your electric car in the HOV lane alone, and then learning your vehicle isn’t eligible. One senior tells us his car falls one year short of the cut-off.
When Jim Dallas bought his 2013 Chevy Volt, the 74-year-old thought he was doing his part for the environment.
Word this week that he’d get to drive in the HOV lane without another passenger came as a nice reward, until he learned this only applies for 2014 to 2017 models.
Dallas tells NEWS 1130 he tried to make the case to a government worker.
“I asked them, ‘It’s an electric car — what should the difference be? Why the discrimination on years on a vehicle?’ She said, ‘We’ll look into it… Don’t hold your hopes too high.’ I thought that’s kind of ridiculous.”
“But I believe an electric car is an electric car is an electric car. Really, it shouldn’t matter what the vehicle is or the year it is. It’s still conserving energy and we’re still doing our bit for the air system,” he argues.
Dallas is writing to the province in the hopes it will eventually give him the green light.
