If I drive a 2-seater, am I allowed in the carpool lane intended for 3 or more passengers?

Question

I live at Southern California. I take the 10 freeway headed to Los Angeles. There's about a 10-mile stretch of carpool. A requirement in the carpool is that between the hours of 4AM - 9AM and 4PM - 7PM between Mon-Fri, only 3 or more passengers are allowed in the lane.

Since I drive a 2-seater, does this mean I'm never allowed to use the carpool when I need to? (Please cite a source for your answer) Thanks.

Answer 1

The number of seats in the car is irrelevant.  Since you can't (legally) have 3 people in the car, you can't satisfy the requirement and therefore you can't use the carpool lane.

When they made the carpool lanes, they thought about this  and made an exception for motorcycles.  But apparently they didn't think enough.

Answer 2

I bet if you have two people sitting in the passengers seat you could.

Answer 3

NO! Three or more people....................the law is very clear. d**n, put someone in the trunk!

Answer 4

Dear SC Genius:

No, if your car wasn't designed for 3 people then why do you expect to drive in a carpool lane? My point exactly.