With over 180 different designs, it’s no secret that Virginia loves it some personalized license plates. There are plates supporting veterans, cancer research, bowling, and even a proposal for a plate supporting “traditional marriage” (which has since been withdrawn). Starting this weekend, if you are a hybrid owner who relies on your ability to drive in Northern Virginia HOV lanes, you will need to get your own personalized “Clean Special Fuel” tags.
The bright blue tags are intended to make it easier for Virginia law enforcement to determine which hybrids are eligible to drive in the HOV lanes, and which are not. However, the system may be excluding any hybrid owners who do not live in state. A D.C. resident who owns a hybrid and works in Shirlington recently wrote us to see if he would still be able to take advantage of the exemption.
“I caught the DCist link to the WaPo story on Virginia HOV lane crackdowns, and it got me to wondering whether it would impact my occasional use of our DC-registered Civic Hybrid from the district to work in Shirlington.”
Turns out that he was right to be worried. Even if a hybrid was bought before Virginia’s exemption expired, if it is registered in D.C. or Maryland, it will not be eligible for HOV privileges. According to the Virginia Department of Transportation:
“In order for a hybrid vehicle to use Virginia’s HOV lanes, you must have Virginia clean special fuel license plates. This is the only way we have to monitor the use of these lanes when there is only one individual in a car. In order for Virginia to honor Maryland plates, we would need a reciprocal agreement between the two states, and no such agreement exists to our knowledge.”
Calls to the Maryland and District Departments of Motor Vehicles indicate that as of now, no such plans are in the works. So until some sort of deal is hammered out to produce similar plates in neighboring areas, it will be “Virginians only” driving hybrids in the HOV.
UPDATE: According to several commenters, we’ve only been deceiving ourselves! Out of state cars have never been allowed in Virginia’s HOV lanes. We have a few D.C and Md. hybrid-owning friends who have made use of the HOV lanes in the past, but we guess they were just missed by the cops. Anyway, there you have it. No out of state hybrids in Virginia HOV lanes. Ever!
