Driver’s ruse in carpool lane doesn’t fool trooper pulling her over, WA photo shows

Helena Wegner
·3 min read
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A driver was caught speeding in a carpool lane on a Washington highway with a fake passenger, authorities said.

When a trooper pulled her over, they saw quite the ruse in her backseat: a mannequin with long hair, officials said.

The driver had been going 80 mph in a 60 mph zone on Interstate 5 in Kent, Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson posted to X, formerly Twitter, on July 14.

Once the trooper stopped her, they discovered a dummy’s head in the backseat with long hair, Johnson said. It was propped on a cooler with a jacket placed around it, a photo shows.

She told the trooper it was her “training aid.”

“And the reason it was positioned this way was to properly dry the hair,” Johnson said.

The driver was ticketed for speeding in the carpool lane.

“That’s an expensive way to try and make up 5 minutes,” one person wrote on X.

Kent is about a 20-mile drive southeast of Seattle.

Other drivers caught in carpool lane

This isn’t the first time a trooper has pulled someone over for using a fake passenger in the carpool lane.

In June, Johnson shared a photo of a driver caught with a dummy in the passenger seat on Interstate 405. It’s dressed in a blue jacket and glasses, a photo shows.

The driver told the trooper he used the mannequin “due to carpooling being so screwed up.”

Another driver used a Halloween clown prop as a “passenger” to drive in the carpool lane in October, Johnson posted on X.

They were stopped on I-405 and ticketed, he said.

What’s a carpool lane?

In Washington, HOV lanes are “reserved for carpools, vanpools, buses, and/or other vehicles carrying multiple people,” according to the state transportation department.

Typically, a vehicle must have two occupants to drive in the lane, but three occupants may be required depending on the area, officials said.

The lane is designed to give vehicles with multiple people inside an advantage on roadways.

If a driver uses the lane incorrectly for the first time, they could get a $186 fine, transportation officials said. But an extra $200 can be added to the ticket if a driver uses a dummy or mannequin as a passenger.

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