A driver trying to get around the Interstate 93 gridlock Thursday morning was busted when a Massachusetts State Police trooper noticed that his passenger was kind of a dummy.
Trooper John Carnell was working a detail near the HOV lane on the Expressway at about 6:30 a.m. when he noticed a driver enter the carpool lane with what appeared to be a counterfeit passenger, police said.
The trooper pulled over the driver and found that he’d affixed a mannequin head to the top of a work jacket that was propped up in attempt to create the illusion of a second passenger, state police said. Cars must carry at least two people in order to use the HOV lane.
The driver was cited for operating on an excluded way.
It is far from the first time a person has used any means necessary to avoid the dead stop that is Expressway traffic. State police said Carnell also caught a woman last year who was using a full-size doll in an attempt to use the HOV lane.
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