HOV lane etiquette and the law

The in basket: Dan Wierman writes, “Today I made a round trip from Bremerton to Seattle and back. My dad was with me and since there were two of us in the car, I chose to drive in the carpool lane on I-5, even thought the traffic was not too heavy. I rarely get the opportunity to drive in the carpool lanes.
“Even driving at or slightly above the speed limit, cars would catch up with us. Some would just go around to the right of us and many would stay on our tail.
“So my questions are:
– Are we bound by the same congestion rules – I believe it (forbids) holding up five cars or more – while driving in the carpool lane?
– Is it considered ‘camping’ if you stay in the carpool lanes like it is if you drive in a left lane without passing cars?
– Any other insights on how to manage driving in carpool lanes?
“I apologize if these questions have previously been brought up,” he said in conclusion.
The out basket: I have addressed this before, but there’s no need to apologize. It’s been over seven years since I dealt with it directly.
It hasn’t been that long since I addressed his second question, though. About a month ago, I quoted State Trooper Russ Winger in saying that the HOV lane is not considered the left lane for enforcement of the law that requires staying out of the left lane unless you’re overtaking and passing other traffic, leaving room for a freeway merger or preparing to turn left.
The “don’t delay five cars or more” law wouldn’t apply to HOV lanes or any multiple-lane highway. It reads, “On a two-lane highway where passing is unsafe because of traffic in the opposite direction or other conditions, a slow moving vehicle, behind which five or more vehicles are formed in a line, shall turn off the roadway wherever sufficient area for a safe turn-out exists, in order to permit the vehicles following to proceed.”
Seven years ago, I wrote, “If in the HOV lane next to stop-and-go traffic, it’s not smart to be doing even the speed limit, as one of the crawling cars in the next lane might try to move into your lane at any moment, giving you little or no chance to react. Any driver behind you in such traffic should be grateful to be making steady progress, even if well below the speed limit.
“If all traffic is moving at highway speeds, I usually move out of the HOV lane to avoid frustrating a driver behind me wishing to go faster. But it certainly would be within a driver’s rights to stay put and make the speeder make the lane change. It would probably be just one of many lane changes such a driver will make that trip.”
No experience I’ve had since then would change that advice, except having found double white lines separating some big city HOV lanes from the next lane over. It’s illegal to cross over double white lines into or out of an HOV lane except in the gaps between those lines.
Trooper Winger has his own perspective. Though neither of the laws Dan asked about requires moving out of the HOV lane, “motorists using this lane should consider that one of the purposes of the HOV lane, besides reducing the number of vehicles on the road, is to promote the flow of traffic,” he said. “Stacking vehicles behind you, just because you can, is not a good strategy. It promotes ‘bad feelings’ between motorists which can lead to erratic lane changes and road rage.
“I would suggest that drivers occupying the HOV lanes be aware of their speed and the traffic behind them. Move out of the way and let the vehicles by and then reenter the lane. Be considerate and think about the big picture, which is the safe and efficient flow of traffic,” he said..