Ontario Provincial Police say they charged a driver after he allegedly dressed up a mannequin in an attempt to pass it off as a passenger so he could use the carpool lane.
Sgt. Kerry Schmidt tweeted the photo with the hashtag #CarPoolFail Thursday afternoon after the driver and his unusual passenger were stopped on Highway 404 Thursday afternoon. The driver was then charged with an HOV violation.
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“We certainly see HOV violators pretty regularly,” he said. “But people with dolls? We don’t see that as often.”
Schmidt said he couldn’t comment on the driver’s “artistic ability” but added he had clearly put some work into the attempt.
“She had a seatbelt on, she was wearing sunglasses, and so obviously someone went to enough effort to try to evade the police,” he said.
“But it’s pretty hard to miss if you actually look at it — anybody sitting beside the vehicle looking into the window would recognize that something’s amiss with that passenger.”
Schmidt said drivers are allowed to travel with mannequins or dolls in their vehicles, but it’s against the law to try to use them to take advantage of HOV lanes. The offence carries a fine of $110 and three demerit points in Ontario, according to the Ministry of Transportation’s website.
“You can haul whatever kind of cargo that you want,” he said. “You just can’t use that to your benefit.”