Gentile says feds should allow disabled veterans to use HOV lanes
Council resolution calls for special license plates to be issued
Disabled war veterans should be permitted to drive in High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on the city’s highways, even if they are traveling alone, according to Councilmember Vincent Gentile, who is mounting an effort to change the rules of the road.
Normally, HOV lanes on the Gowanus Expressway, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and other highways are reserved for vehicles with three or more occupants.
Gentile (D-Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bensonhurst) introduced a resolution in the council on Nov. 10 calling on congress to approve the HOV change. It would take federal legislation to change an HOV designation because New York receives transportation funds from Washington D.C., Gentile said. If the city made the change on its own, it could risk losing millions of federal transportation dollars, the councilmember said.