HOV lanes are an effective instrument for regulating and decongesting traffic on highways and highways at the entrance to large cities. Unlike the additional lanes and the lanes enabled for driving in the opposite direction to the usual direction, these are fixed lanes, which do not appear and disappear, although the conditions for driving in them may vary depending on the needs of the traffic. Requirements such as the number of lanes, the hours of use and the minimum number of passengers allowed are warned to drivers through signs and electronic panels.
By their acronym, High Occupancy Vehicle lanes are intended for use by passenger transport vehicles. According to article 35 of the General Traffic Regulations, HOV lanes are reserved for motorcycles, passenger cars and adaptable mixed vehicles with three or more occupants (sometimes two or more). Vehicles for the transport of goods with a maximum authorized mass of less than 3,500 kilos can also circulate through them. But is there any case in which a vehicle in which only the driver travels can circulate in an HOV lane?
In the case of private drivers, you can drive on a HOV lane, even if you are traveling alone in the car, if your vehicle has the Zero Emissions environmental badge granted by the DGT. Even in some HOV lanes you can circulate vehicles that have the 'ECO' or 'C' label, for gasoline vehicles manufactured after 2006, as is the case of the one located on the C-58 highway in Barcelona.
The other exception corresponds to the drivers of vehicles that display the V-15 sign, which indicates that a person with reduced mobility or physical limitations is traveling in them. Other vehicles that can circulate on a HOV lane, regardless of the number of occupants, are buses with a maximum authorized mass greater than 3,500 kilos and articulated buses.
Except in these cases, passenger cars with trailers, cycles, mopeds and animal-drawn vehicles are prohibited from entering the HOV lanes. Violating the access and circulation rules on this type of lane is considered a light penalty and carries a fine of 200 euros, without loss of points.
Priority emergency vehicles, such as healthcare, police or civil protection vehicles, can circulate in an HOV lane whenever they need to and without the need to justify the number of occupants. Even if the driver were traveling alone, they would not be penalized.
As a general rule, the maximum speed allowed within HOV lanes is 90 or 100 kilometers per hour. However, in special situations such as, for example, episodes of high levels of pollution, the limit could be reduced to 80 km/h in some sections.
