Staties caught a real dummy in the HOV lane today
State Police report a trooper monitoring traffic in the inbound HOV lane on I-93 in Charlestown this morning thought the passenger in one car looked a little off:
Trooper [Todd] Glidden motioned for the driver to pull over, but he kept driving.
Trooper Kevin O'Brien, who was working enforcement at the opposite end of the HOV lane, also motioned for the driver to pull over.... he still didn't.
Trooper Glidden located and stopped the driver a short distance away. The driver, a 44-year-old man from Reading, was cited for the HOV violation and failure to stop for a police officer.
Please remember, the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane is for two or more (actual) human beings.
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Comments
The vest
Did the dummy really have a high-viz vest on?!
That's for throwing over the
That's for throwing over the dashboard so police dont cite them for parkinh illegally. People used to drive into our neighborhood from out of town and park in resident parking and throw those vests or a worn out old ticket book on the dash and they never got tickets.
One entitlement program
(the "signals" to parking enforcement not to ticket the car) offsets another entitlement program (reserving parking spaces on public streets as "resident only").
Seems only fair to me.
Rediculous comparison.
Local preference for parking is common and sensible, and it is designed to give a more practical parking situation to local tax payers or residents where they have the most frequent need to parking.
The driver probably did too
You're "carpooling" down to your construction job with your "buddy", is he wearing a suit? No, he's wearing a hoody and a hi-viz like you are. I think it's actually a recreation of Casey Affleck's pal Dewey.
I commute with a high viz vest all the time
On my bike.
Don't usually use it in the HOV lane when headed in with my husband and elder son.
A few years back, when our neighbors worked in the same place, we had a rocking carpool going. The cops would take one look at our minivan with six people in it and smile.
GRRRRRROOOAAANNN...
GRRRRRROOOAAANNN...
How do you put someone on
How do you put someone on UHub on your ignore comment list?
Dear fellow anon
You're an anon. I'm an anon. You give up a lot by not having a log in.
We all need to get over ourselves.
Why would you?
Are you not entertained when Swirly talks? I am. Right up there with John Costello on my drinking buddy wishlist.
I enjoy Swirly
Except for when we're talking about bikes and cars. Boy oh boy does she have some strong feelings around that topic.
Should have kept playing into it
"Dad answer the officer and give him your DPW id. Dad?... OMG officer he's not moving I have to get him to the hospital!"
I'm happy they caught this
I'm happy they caught this guy. Usually around here the dummy is in the drivers seat. I was also happy to see the pick up truck with confederate flag and insane 2nd amendment type stickers all over it that thought the DTX pedestrian zone was his personal parking space also got ticketed this afternoon.
Dummy in the driver's seat, too
Anyone who thinks he's going to get away with ignoring two State Troopers telling him to pull over is not high on the IQ charts.
Ah for the days before the Zakim Bridge
When HOV lane violators that were stopped were not only ticketed and detained for 20 minutes, but were then forced to take the ramp onto the Tobin Bridge.
He's lucky that Boston is a sanctuary city
With all those pieces of flair swearing allegiance to an enemy state, ICE might snap Mr. Jonny Reb right up and deport him to the CSA. Like Ohio Congressman and Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham.
Would you feel the same way
Would you feel the same way if you agreed with the politics of the bumper stickers?
It says "please remember"
I doubt that remembering was the issue here.
It really looks like someone was well aware of the rule, and went to considerable work to defraud.
30-50% of cars in hov had 1 occupant
Was there this afternoon, something like half had driver only.
Which HOV?
The I-93 Southbound north of the city is not in service after 10:00 am.
The one North of the City on
The one North of the City on 93-South.
His Name's Quinn
Manny Quinn.
He don't talk much.
Justin Bieber ?
Justin Bieber ?
HOV LANE BARRIER PADDLES
Now, if the State Police can find a way to ticket the "Barrier Jumpers" who jump from the backed up travel lane into the HOV Lane. This happens in the Somerville - Charletsown area when 93 South is backed up to Assembly Square. It is happening more and more and eventually there is going to be a serious accident. I hope the MSP takes some kind of action. What type? I don't have a clue! But then, I'm not in the traffic enforcement business.
Also, come on Mass DOT maintain that barrier. There are missing paddles, paddles at weird angles, and a long stretch in the beginning of the HOV lane where there are no paddles remaining.
I'm very pleased to see MSP
I'm very pleased to see MSP actually enforcing the HOV lanes... the last time I was on 93 during rush hour (a very rare occurance) I witnessed SIX SOVs pulled over in Charlestown, and nobody pulled over but a Statie actually standing outside of his cruiser watching for them in Braintree.
Hopefully people will get the memo!
I wonder how the trooper
I wonder how the trooper figured this one out from a traveling vehicle; looks very real to me!
I suspect the trooper had been observing
this guy and his "passenger" over several days, and realized something was not right.
In the pre-Zakim days, there was a guy who rode with a female dummy that was smart enough to change the dummy's dress every day. However, at one point, he decided to get clever and rigged the "woman" to wave at the trooper as he passed. That bit was his ultimate undoing.
HOV lanes only work because
HOV lanes only work because of 2 undesirable prerequisites:
1) Most people don't want to carpool, so there (usually) isn't a delay in the HOV lane
2) The general transportation system is a failure. If mass transit was good enough so fewer people drove, there wouldn't be such terrible traffic, and the HOV lane wouldn't provide any benefit.