Commuter: I love your column and read it every time. Experts say that driving slower will significantly increase your gas mileage. I've noticed more people driving slower than usual on the freeways. Is there a minimum speed limit on California freeways? My wife says no, but I always thought there was a legal minimum.

By the way, I concentrated on driving slower (60 mph) and smoother last week and increased my mileage by 12 percent.

Bruce Locke, cyberspace

Queen: Sorry, Bruce, but your wife is right.

"No person shall drive upon a highway at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, unless the reduced speed is necessary for safe operation, because of a grade, or in compliance with law," according to California Vehicle Code Section 22400(a).

"There isn't an actual number," California Highway Patrol Officer Scott Yox said. "You could be cited if you're impeding traffic based on the current traffic flow and the predominant speed of the traffic around you, but it leaves a lot to the officer's discretion."

Queen: On Sunday, "Vanpool Ron" wrote the Queen to ask whether "special sticker hybrids" could use the car pool lane on the Bay Bridge with only one occupant.

I answered yes, based on information from the Bay Area Toll Authority's Web site. Apparently, the answer should have been something more like "maybe."

The Queen received an e-mail Monday from Jeff Gerbracht of

the Bay Area Toll Authority. "If their vehicle is truly an ILEV, like an electric car, then they wouldn't pay a toll," he wrote. "However, the overwhelming majority of vehicles with hybrid stickers are not ILEV and therefore do pay the toll."

Vehicles with the white Clean Air sticker meet California's super ultra-low emission vehicle (SULEV) standard for exhaust emissions and the federal inherently low-emission vehicle (ILEV) evaporative emission standard. They are allowed to cross the Bay Bridge toll-free in a car pool lane with only one occupant.

However, solo drivers in a vehicle with a yellow Clean Air sticker (meaning they are a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle that meets California's advanced technology partial zero-emission vehicle standard and gets 45 miles per gallon) must pay the toll.

Gerbracht was kind enough to clarify the text on the BATA Web site to prevent such misunderstandings.

The site now says: "Inherently-low-emission vehicles (ILEV) with DMV-issued decals, such as electric cars, may also cross toll-free in designated lane(s) consistent with the above referenced hours of operation. Note: This does not apply to qualified single-occupancy hybrid vehicles permitted to use dedicated High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) car pool lanes in the Bay Area with the passage of Assembly Bill 2628 on August 10, 2005."

Got questions about your commute? Write the Queen at The Commuter Page, c/o The Times, P.O. Box 8099, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, or ccncommuter@bayareanewsgroup.com. Visit the Queen online at ContraCostaTimes.com/queenoftheroad.