The rider gets a free ride to work with no need to pay for gas or public transit, and the driver gets to ride in the HOV lane. Paul Williamson, a regular VA slug driver picks up slugs on his way to and from work at the Pentagon. According to him, Slugging “changes my commute time from 1 ½ hours to 50 minutes.”
Beyond just saving time and money, more people in less cars means less CO2 being spewed into the atmosphere. The Virginia DOT estimates that Slugging takes approximately 3,000 cars off the road. Further mitigating those emissions is the fact that those cares are running for less time. Rather than idling for hours in traffic, they reducing their carbon emitting runs down to minutes.
The System of Slugging is actually rather old and there are rules…
This doesn’t seem like a very safe thing to do to me! It’s the same as picking up hitch-hikers, isn’t it…and you KNOW what mom always said about THAT!
This is a great idea, but I’ve always liked the idea of hitch hiking and if you end up getting to know the people ’slugging’ at the same place as you do then at least someone will know you’ve gone missing! And if you don’t end up knowing the people to see every day then you should get out of yourself more frequently.
Anyone see the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry picks up the hooker to use the HOV lane to make it to the Dodger game on time? Well it results in his friend Harvey Funkhauser (formerly “Super Dave”) getting caught with weed and Larry’s dad getting high with the whore.
If this much hilarity ensues as a result of slugging, I’m GAME! (Awesome post, by the way!)
I love that episode, and that entire show!
@Susan S
I see where you are coming from but slugging’s been going on for 30 years and thousand of people do it everyday in the DC area (which isn’t the safest place in the US btw) and it’s been safe so far, knock on FSC certified wood!
@Greenpointer
I’ve seen it, it’s a classic!
Sluggin? Death to your concept!!! This has been going on forever in DC and in the SFBay and probably elsewhere. The name is “Casual Carpool”. Slugging is for parro-mong dongs. Behold thine truth.
Shokotto is crazy but correct. This phenomenon is called “Casual Carpooling”. Slugging sound’s like a baseball term to me.
@SHOKOTTO, did you read the article? It’s not our concept and we acknowledge that it’s over 30 years old.
@TERRY DUNN, we should have included the term “Casual Carpooling” too.
@TERRY DUNN
Oh, I forgot to mention, this is what I think of when I hear “Casual Carpooling”…
http://images.loqu.com/photos/308/810/is-this-car-pooling.jpg
This is not a great idea….unless you re HEAVILY ARMED!