WATCH ABOVE: A Toronto driver was busted trying to pass off mannequins as passengers in order to drive in the hotly contested HOV lanes for the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. Peter Kim has the story.
TORONTO — Toronto police are warning drivers not to be dummies after charging a man Wednesday with using mannequins as passengers in order to drive in the restricted Pan Am and Parapan Am Games HOV lanes.
Police said an officer, who was working specifically on driver compliance with HOV lane rules, spotted a Dodge pickup truck driving eastbound on the Gardiner Expressway, just east of Kipling Avenue at about 8:50 a.m. Wednesday.
READ MORE: Rob Ford admits misusing HOV lanes, calls them ‘a pain in the rear end’
The officer saw what appeared to be multiple passengers in the vehicle, but as it drove past the cruiser the officer noticed that the front-seat passenger “did not appear to be life-like.”
Police said the driver was pulled over a short distance later and the officer determined that both passengers were mannequins, completely dressed in clothing in an attempt to pass them off as real people.
The unidentified driver has been charged with an “appropriate HOV offence” but police said “on a positive note, everyone in the vehicle was wearing a seatbelt.”
Police are encouraging people to carpool, re-route, re-time and take transit whenever possible during the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.
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