A Bay Area driver’s crafty attempt to dodge carpool lane tolls unraveled when California Highway Patrol officers caught sight of their homemade “passenger” riding shotgun.
Officers from CHP’s Hayward division pulled the driver over after spotting a dummy buckled into the front seat, with the FasTrak Flex transponder conveniently set to multiple occupants in a not-so-subtle attempt to score carpool or express lane perks.
From a distance, the makeshift sidekick — decked out in jeans, a blue hoodie, and a floppy sun hat — might have fooled some, but officers quickly called out one glaring oversight.
“Their partner lacked one important detail… a face,” CHP joked on Facebook.
Hayward officers weren’t fooled and slapped the driver with a toll evasion citation, which probably cost a lot more than the toll itself.
Under Bay Area FasTrak rules, drivers using FasTrak Flex tags must accurately declare how many real people are in the vehicle when using HOV or express lanes, according to Caltrans.
California officials define qualifying occupants as actual human passengers wearing safety restraints — not DIY decoys.
An HOV violation in California carries a minimum fine of roughly $490, with repeat offenders potentially facing steeper penalties.
The dummy bust is just the latest in a string of strange commuter scams. Last year, another Bay Area driver was cited for using a plastic skeleton in the passenger seat to comply with carpool rules, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.
Meanwhile, CHP offered motorists a blunt reminder: HOV passengers “need to be actual people, not your arts and crafts project.”
