Car-Pool Lanes

* I’m a small business owner who must use the freeway to service clients. There is no way that I can car-pool. Why can’t I obtain a certificate or license to use car-pool lanes? During the gas crunch in the ‘70s business persons requiring the use of their car to survive could obtain a certificate to get gas during any day of the week.

Many top government officials use limousines, which means that they can use a car-pool lane. If they were an independent business person, they wouldn’t get a chauffeur and could not use the car-pool lane. In other words, a government official that is dependent on our taxes to survive not only has the privilege of using our tax dollars to have a driver but can use car-pool lanes as well. However, as a taxpaying citizen I cannot.

Vacationers can use the car-pool lanes during rush hours, yet they could easily schedule their travels during other times. Persons going to entertainment and shopping centers use the car-pool lanes in a likewise fashion. Yet as a hard-working, taxpaying business person that has to travel alone, I cannot use the car-pool lane because I don’t have someone in my car.

As I see it, the car-pool lane is only a another form of state-sponsored discrimination. It is only another obstacle thrown in the face of someone trying to earn a living.

DANIEL BOWMAN

San Clemente