It’s Thanksgiving, and you’re driving to a relative’s house for turkey dinner. If you’re going by yourself, stay out of the car-pool lanes during car-pool hours.

Yes, car-pool lane hours are in effect Monday through Friday regardless if Thursday happens to be Thanksgiving or if another holiday falls on one of those days.

John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, said state regulations on car-pool lanes don’t differentiate between a work day and a holiday, so the hours are enforceable throughout the Bay Area on car-pool lanes.

But he said MTC leaves enforcement up to the CHP.

Officer Jon Sloat, spokesman for the local CHP, said that in some areas of the state car-pool lane signs might say “enforced mon-fri, sundays/holidays excluded.” But not here.

But Sloat noted, “Officers always have the discretion based on the circumstances, whether to issue a citation or not.”

And he added: “It is unlikely that an officer would write a carpool citation to someone on Christmas Day.”

This year, Christmas falls on a Sunday, but next year it’s on Tuesday (leap year). Let’s hope the CHP will be forgiving on Thanksgiving too.

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