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UHP says violating express lane laws could result in hefty fine

Posted at 5:24 PM, Nov 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-02 23:49:54-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Highway Patrol says it is cracking down on HOV express lane violations.

Sgt. Mercadez Barrett of UHP says that troopers are seeing drivers cross double white lines, which is illegal, more often.

"An excuse that we get all the time is that they just didn’t know," Barrett said, "and there’s signs everywhere, so that's not much of an excuse."

This is why they are cracking down this week on a law that could cost violators almost $350 or worse.

"They tend to cut off cars," said Barrett, "and they end up slamming on their brakes and causing additional crashes."

Troopers say wait to approach dotted lines. That's the only area where drivers can both enter and exit.

"I’m probably just going to give him a warning today; kind of let this be an education time for him," said trooper Greg Hollingsworth after pulling over a driver who broke the HOV lane laws.

Those folks got lucky, but UHP says don't expect a similar outcome this coming week when more troopers will be out on the road.

"Don’t plan on seeing a lot of warnings for that," Barrett said. "We’ve been dealing with that for a long enough time and trying to educate the public for quite some time on that."

Troopers say the situations where it is acceptable to crossover the HOV divider is when they’re behind you with their emergency lights on or when you're abiding by the move over laws.