There comes a time when a reader can no longer swallow the propaganda and media campaign put out by the New York State Department of Transportation. The final straw was the article on page three of your June 15 issue entitled "Road Construction Intensifies," etc., etc., etc.

The quote from the DOT Outreach Office representative, Winny Ragan, that "The HOV lanes are working well. They carry 50 percent more than any other lane on the LIE," has to ascribe to the theory that if you tell a wild story long enough and strong enough people start to believe it is true. The figures being put out concerning HOV lanes belong in the category under "Figures do not lie, but liars figure."

My wife and I often travel on the LIE from the beginning to the end of the presently finished HOV lanes. Many times during the nonrestricted hours ours is the only car in sight either in front of us or behind us. The three regular lanes to our right going east or west are crowded with automobiles who ignore the HOV even though it is empty. Drivers do not want to drive on a restricted entrance and exit lane when the regular lanes are moving normally. However, when the right regular lanes are slow many drivers cross the double lane illegally and stay on the HOV until they get behind a slow driver going only 65 mph, then they go back across the double line illegally.

The largest percent of the time daily the HOV is virtually deserted. During restricted hours the HOV looks to be used about the same as the other nonrestricted lanes. The DOT considers my wife and me to be a "car pool" when we are on the HOV and when we are on the regular lanes we are listed as a single occupancy vehicle, same two people, two different titles.

Almost any regular driver on the LIE will have observed how wasteful the HOV is, so much land being used so little! If nothing else, allow drivers to move in and out of the HOV, at will, during nonrestricted hours. At least the HOV will serve some purpose in allowing regular lane drivers to increase their lanes by 33 percent.

I love being the only car on the HOV for miles, but such a waste. The DOT of New York does not seem to care about the cost; it is almost all federal money anyway. In closing the national HOV program started as a save the environment program. It will take decades or more to restore the environment they have destroyed giving us a semiprivate lane for our driving pleasure.

Leonard J. Rautenberg