Hey southwest Americans! I’m sure some of you are going to be hitting the road for some much needed R&R. But I have some bad news for you: If you planned on giving your late grandma one last road trip before a final goodbye, we regret to inform you that corpses don’t count towards the HOV lane.
We were reminded of this when Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Smaka pulled over a black van in the carpool lane on Interstate 15 near Las Vegas on Monday. The van seemed to only have the driver in it, and when asked where his carpooling buddy was, the unnamed driver simply thumbed towards the back as proof of his high occupancy. The driver in question was transporting for a local funeral home and his occupant was on their way to a more final destination.
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper and Public Relations Officer Jason Buratczuk told the LA Times that a body in the back of a vehicle certainly does not count towards your passengers. And if you decide to prop up your former person in the passenger seat to pull a Weekend at Bernie’s?
“The HOV violation is the least of your concerns,” Buratczuk said.
Drivers have been trying to scam carpooling lanes since they were dreamed up, some of the ideas are more clever than others. One particularly brilliant case involved a nonprofit activist in California who brought incorporation papers on board, arguing that, since corporations are considered people by the Supreme Court, he shouldn’t get a fine.