Drivers in Arizona have been going to unusual lengths the reap the benefits of the state’s High-Occupancy-Vehicle lanes this month.
HOV lanes are reserved for cars carrying at least two occupants. The lanes are supposed to promote car-pooling and more efficient commuting, and generally traffic moves faster in HOV lanes.
On Sept. 7 officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, caught a woman in an HOV lane on the Loop 202 Red Mountain outside Phoenix with no one else in the car—except a plastic mannequin in the passenger seat.
While the driver might have earned high marks for creativity, he also earned himself a $400 ticket.
Four days later, a woman driving through Chandler, Arizona, took the same trick one step smaller.
The woman was in the eastbound HOV lane of Loop 202, which wraps around a set of suburbs southwest of Phoenix.
This 48-year-old woman had what appeared to be an infant strapped into a car seat in the back seat—but it was not real.
DPS spokesman Trooper Kameron Lee told AZ Central that a trooper was a little suspicious of the driver and pulled her over and asked her to roll down the back seat window. When she did the trooper could see that the supposed child was actually made of plastic.
The driver tried to explain that she was actually on her way to pick up her grandchild—but the trooper gave her a citation anyway.
“HOV Lane restricted hours coincide with the busiest times of day for troopers in metro Phoenix, rush hour. While troopers remain very busy investigating 35,000 collisions annually and responding to a multitude of other emergencies, they still cite over 4,000 HOV Lane violators every year,” it said.
“It is unacceptable and unfair and you will find yourself with a court date when we catch you,” DPS tweeted.
The minimum ticket is $400. Apparently the convenience of the HOV lane is a luxury worth considerable risk to certain drivers.
