Ever get ready for a night out and hop on the freeway in anticipation, only to meet total gridlock … at 10 in the evening?

Yeah. That's L.A. for you. And what's really infuriating is when you look to your left and see a wide open ghost town of a lane. The carpool lane. A bill making its way through Sacramento would open that extra lane for your nighttime enjoyment:

AB 405 by Mike Gatto of Burbank would allow “single-occupancy vehicles to access the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes during non-peak hours,” according to a statement from his office.

Yes, you'd be able to use those lanes your tax dollars pay for — lanes meant to alleviate traffic and encourage carpooling during rush hour, not after-hours — later at night.

The bill passed the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee unanimously yesterday, Gatto's office announced.

While carpool or HOV lanes are open to commuters after-hours in the Bay Area, it's not the case in L.A. You're punished because you don't drive a Prius. And that's not right. Gatto:

Carpool lanes are supposed to provide an incentive for carpooling during peak travel hours, and be good for the environment. I support these goals. But when motorists are stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic at midnight while carpool lanes sit empty, those goals are not met.

Credit: Albert Valles / LA Weekly Flickr pool.

Credit: Albert Valles / LA Weekly Flickr pool.

The bill says no new carpool lanes will be established after July 1, 2014, unless they're open to all after-hours. It also specifies that stretches of the 134, 170, 5, 210 and 57 be open to single motorists during non-rush hours.

Gatto:

There is no reason for drivers to be stuck in traffic when a late-night accident or mysterious slowing clogs the rightmost freeway lanes, while the carpool lane sits empty.

Are you behind this, party people?

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