Photo: Twitter / NHP Southern Command
Along the years, drivers have used a lot of props to fool the cops into thinking they were transporting a passenger and were thus allowed to use the HOV lane, but this one is (probably) a first.
Nevada Highway Patrol will have you know that transporting a corpse doesn’t give you the right to switch lanes and use the HOV one because, believe it or not, both occupants of the car must be alive for you to do that.
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Smaka was on duty on Interstate 15 at the beginning of the month when he noticed a single man driving a Chrysler minivan in the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane. Nevada law says that, in order for you to be able to use it, you must be transporting one or more passengers. Break it and you’re liable for a $250 fine.
Smaka pulled over the minivan and was shocked to find the reason why it was in that lane, CNN reports. The minivan was actually a hearse and there was a dead body inside. Apparently, the driver thought the corpse qualified as an “occupant” and was genuinely shocked to be informed otherwise.
“The driver informed me that he had someone who was deceased in the back of the vehicle,” Smaka says for the media outlet. “It just threw me off. That was more of the more interesting responses I've gotten.”
NHP also tweeted about the incident, using it as a means to warn drivers that all occupants of the vehicle must be alive in order to count. While we’re on the topic, pets don’t count either, even though they are alive.
“Today we stopped a local funereal home hearse in the HOV lane,” the message on the official Twitter page reads. “The driver had the dearly departed in the back, he thought the deceased could be counted as two people. I guess we should clarify this, living, breathing people count for the HOV lane.”
This time, the driver was let off with just a warning, instead of a fine.
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Smaka was on duty on Interstate 15 at the beginning of the month when he noticed a single man driving a Chrysler minivan in the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane. Nevada law says that, in order for you to be able to use it, you must be transporting one or more passengers. Break it and you’re liable for a $250 fine.
Smaka pulled over the minivan and was shocked to find the reason why it was in that lane, CNN reports. The minivan was actually a hearse and there was a dead body inside. Apparently, the driver thought the corpse qualified as an “occupant” and was genuinely shocked to be informed otherwise.
“The driver informed me that he had someone who was deceased in the back of the vehicle,” Smaka says for the media outlet. “It just threw me off. That was more of the more interesting responses I've gotten.”
NHP also tweeted about the incident, using it as a means to warn drivers that all occupants of the vehicle must be alive in order to count. While we’re on the topic, pets don’t count either, even though they are alive.
“Today we stopped a local funereal home hearse in the HOV lane,” the message on the official Twitter page reads. “The driver had the dearly departed in the back, he thought the deceased could be counted as two people. I guess we should clarify this, living, breathing people count for the HOV lane.”
This time, the driver was let off with just a warning, instead of a fine.
Today we stopped a local funereal home hearse in the HOV lane. The driver had the dearly departed in the back, he thought the deceased could be counted as two people. I guess we should clarify this, living, breathing people count for the HOV lane. The driver was given a warning pic.twitter.com/OQms0ktl8t
— NHP Southern Command (@NHPSouthernComm) July 1, 2019
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