Metro to change HOV and HOT lane policies after mistaken traffic stop

Metro is going to change its policies and procedures concerning HOV and HOT lanes after an officer wrongly stopped a Metro Board member.

The officer stopped Lisa Castaneda who had gone into an HOT lane before it had switched over to being an HOV lane.  

“I could see him looking in my back window and I realized he thought I was an HOV lane violator.” She said. Even though it was just a warning, she demanded and got a review. It turns out she was right, she had beaten the cutoff time. Three other drivers had been wrongly stopped too.

At today’s Metro Board meeting members decided a review of all their policies, procedures and training needed a review. That includes reviewing HOV lane violation tickets.

“The last thing you want to do is send innocent people to a collections agency.” She said. “It’s  part of the progression of maturing the system. You learn from a few gaps and correcting it and you don’t do that again.”