Big Brother is watching your ride

With the concept of High Occupancy Toll lanes becoming more and more in vogue, this idea was bound to come forward:

Are drivers ready to be scanned like groceries at the supermarket?

The answer will help determine whether Washington area commuters use a planned network of high-occupancy and toll lanes, which will start to take shape next year when an expansion of the Capital Beltway is to begin.

The lanes are billed as the salvation of the suffering commuter. Solo drivers will be able to buy their way around congestion, while carpoolers will ride free. But the lanes' success hinges on finding a way to differentiate between paying and nonpaying customers without stopping every vehicle to count heads.

The private companies that will build and operate the Beltway lanes have proposed using technology that would scan drivers and passengers with bursts of infrared light that detect human skin. The technology is so sophisticated that it can distinguish human faces from decoy dummies and shotgun-riding dogs, according to Ken Daley, a senior vice president at toll road operator Transurban, one of two private companies behind the Beltway project.

So, why exactly is it going to require privacy-invading technology to police HOT lanes? Why can't these lanes be policed in the same way that HOV lanes are policed today? And how much is this boondoggle going to cost taxpayers?

HOT lanes are a great idea. But this way of enforcing them is another step forward in support of the nannystate....