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Utah Highway Patrol Officer Rod Elmer says it never takes long to find violators in the carpool lanes on Interstate 15.
After all, state studies show that about 1 of every 5 cars there is breaking the law.
He entered the freeway Thursday morning at the 400 South entrance in Salt Lake City, which is supposedly just for motorists who qualify to use express lanes either with two riders, a toll transponder or a "C decal" for relatively clean-fuel cars.
"A lot of single-riders," he says, "take that entrance" illegally.
Sure enough, after Elmer enters the freeway, the officer sees a car zip out of the carpool lane, illegally crossing a double-white line — and without signaling. As he pulls it over, he sees the young driver quickly putting on her seat belt.
She does not have the car registration, proof of insurance or her driver license with her. A check on Elmer's computer shows she has recently been warned twice for failing to wear her seat belt. As he is looking up this information, the driver takes a selfie in her car, photographing the Highway Patrol vehicle behind her.
"I gave her a ticket for not wearing a seat belt, and for traveling [illegally] in that [carpool] lane," Elmer tells a reporter riding with him. "I gave her a warning for crossing the double-white line."
Utahns will see a lot more of these kinds of stops during the next week.
The Highway Patrol — using $10,000 in funding for extra shifts from the Utah Department of Transportation — is staging a blitz next week in Salt Lake, Utah and Davis counties to enforce express-lane rules.
"Express lanes only work if people are obeying the law," UDOT spokesman John Gleason says. "We're teaming with the Highway Patrol to get that message out."
Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce says officers will focus especially on drivers who cross the parallel white lines illegally.
"It's a big hazard," he says. "As traffic slows in the morning commute, you often see someone who thinks he is late to work and will jump across that line."
If fast traffic in the express lane doesn't anticipate that, "it can cause some serious problems."
He adds, "Another thing we are going to be looking for is trailers in the HOV [high-occupancy vehicle] lane." They are banned there because they tend to back up traffic behind them.
Also, "We'll be looking for the single-occupant drivers who are there. Fines range up to about $175."
Following too closely is another common express-lane violation, Royce says, and officers will be looking for that. "HOV lanes are general-purpose lanes. Some people think they are supposed to be a fast lane and others should yield to you if you are going fast. That's not the case."
Carpool lanes carry about 30 percent more people per hour than regular lanes, and speeds average about 10 mph faster, UDOT studies show — which helps reduce congestion in other lanes.
Utah can face loss of federal highway funds if too many violators use carpool lanes or if average speeds fall too low. A UDOT study released in August shows 18 percent of all cars in those lanes are violators — so the department pays for occasional blitzes to help lower that rate and preserve federal funding.
Besides such blitzes, Rep. Dean Sanpei, R-Provo, a constant user of express lanes, suggested during an August legislative hearing that the state should consider boosting fines for violators, as some other states do. He said even if few violators are caught, the fear of big fines would help reduce problems.
The UDOT study said that in a recent 12-month period, the Utah Highway Patrol issued 1,616 tickets for violating carpool lanes, plus another 2,000 warnings.
UDOT told legislators that one reason relatively few tickets are issued is because left shoulders adjacent to HOV lanes are not wide enough to safely pull over violators there, and it is difficult to get people to cross the freeway and pull over in right lanes.
Elmer says enforcement can be tricky. But he used rear flashers Thursday to slow the traffic behind him as he spotted a violator, then switched on his front flashers to pull over that car.
"When they see there is room to pull over to the right," he says, "they usually do that."
With completion last month of new carpool lanes in southern Davis County, Utah now has 72 miles of express lanes on I-15 from Spanish Fork to Layton — the longest such stretch in the country.