Fake baby, real fine -- Woman nabbed in HOV lane with phony kid in car

Toronto Sun ^ | 2006-03-23 | Jonathan Jenkins

[Clive]

The astounding sense of entitlement of some GTA commuters has left police shaking their heads after a woman was found sneaking onto the high-occupancy lanes with a fake baby in the back.

"She looked like the cat who swallowed the canary," OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley said of the woman who was pulled over yesterday. "She told the officer it normally works."

STIFF ARMS

Woolley said the cop was patrolling the HOV lanes of Hwy. 404 near Sheppard Ave. yesterday when he spotted an Intrepid whizz by and noticed the baby's arms seemed unnaturally stiff.

Not being sure, the officer decided to take a closer look and pulled the driver over.

The odd-looking child --Woolley likened it to a cartoon character from the show South Park -- was nothing more than a hooded jacket stuffed with clothing and strapped into an old car seat.

"We should have given her another ticket because the fake baby she had in there was too light to be in a forward-facing child seat," Woolley said.

"You can bet we'll be taking a closer look at all the babies we see in the next little while."

In fact, cops had expected to see similar scams turn up as soon as the popular HOV lanes -- which give commuters on sections of Hwys. 404 and 403 a swifter ride downtown -- opened last fall.

$110, 3 POINTS

"We're still writing a few hundred tickets each month," Woolley said of those abusing the lanes.

Cops think the woman ticketed yesterday, a 39-year-old Aurora resident, has children but none who need a car seat.

She faces a $110 fine and three demerit points.

[stuartcr]

It's just that there's no need to shout the obvious.

[xp38]

In Ontario you get demerit points for traffic infraction convictions. If you accumulate 15 you lose your license. I think they call you in for an interview when you reach 10 to see if you can justify retaining your license. Also if you remain demerit point free for a few years your previous ones and wiped off. Most people can live with the points and fines but if you get them your insurance rates skyrocket.

[CobraJet]

Here in Memphis, they added a lane of I 40 and labeled it an HOV lane. There was construction for years and many federal tax dollars spent for this foolishness. Fortunately most Memphians ignore the signs and drive there anyway unless the city cops are lurking. Otherwise there would be a much worse traffic jam every morning.

[BerniesFriend]

Ok.thanks for the info..

[Neville72]

Too funny. About ten years ago I was living in Richmond,VA and the freeway into Washington D.C had the same lane setup during rush hours. To drive in the "diamond" lane you had to have a minimum of three people in the car.

This one doofus was arrested for driving in the express lane with himself and two dressed up manikins in the car.

[Kaylee Frye]

Ah yes, explain to me how no one else can get a bus pass aside from me. There are empty seats on my bus every day. The bus system up here is very complex - you can get most anywhere from the bus. And they allow you to take a bike, so if you need to go another mile or two, you can bring your bike. Sorry, you're not going to make me feel bad about using the HOV lane.

[ThinkDifferent]

Sorry, you're not going to make me feel bad about using the HOV lane.

I'm not trying to. It's there, you might as well use it. But don't pretend that the benefits to you aren't balanced by drawbacks to others.

[proud_yank]

[the OlLine Rebel]

I think people over-react here when it comes to certain pet conservative subjects.

I don't mind public xport at all, would like it to be convenient to me (it was for me once, for a different employer - better than having to drive). But we're so used to LIBERALS making the drumbeat for "HOV" and "public trans" and even more attacking the automobile, that I think some people just knee-jerk against them because they're used to freedom-sucking liberals chastising them about driving cars.

I'm all for trains, especially; if a complete system is planned out and budgeted for. The half-!$%!#@!! "light-rail"/subway system we have in Baltimore is a JOKE. It's useless. Meanwhile DC just 30 min away has 1 of the very BEST subways anywhere.

[Kaylee Frye]

Yeah, that was my feeling. They're building a brand-new light rail system here in Seattle. Boy am I not excited. Problem is that it won't help out all that many people. There are already hundreds of bus routes in place that criss-cross the entire area from Olympia up to Everett. A light link from Seattle to the airport isn't going to benefit most of us very much. VS extending the HOV lane down to Tacoma would help a lot more people. But in general, I think we need more lanes on I-5 out here.

I am looking forward to the day when I can take the train instead... They are planning to expand all the way to my park and ride some day, just not some day soon.

[-YYZ-]

You're right, HOV lanes are about the only way to make longer-distance mass transit feasible. I lived in Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) for a while and the transit system there was fantastic. In the city the buses had sunken transit routes used only by buses that they could travel around on very efficiently, not having to mix with other traffic. Since my commute was a from a ways out of town the bus used the QueensWay (local expressway) to get into town, and if not for the transit lanes on the QW it, again, would not have been feasible. But in that case the transit lanes were basically part of an extra-wide shoulder and were not used by other traffic. HOV lanes for car-pooling are, IMHO, a poor use of a lane.

[Kaylee Frye]

It works pretty well here, though I know it would be better if it were buses only and separated off like that - that must have been nice! But really, the other carpoolers don't clog up the lanes too badly. When there's an accident or something, though, the lanes clog up bad everywhere. But the HOV lane is still faster, usually.

[the OlLine Rebel]

This is why trains and the ilk are superior to buses. Buses are the worst of everything. They're slow as cars, get impeded in the same traffic as cars (AS A RULE), have the lovely clientele of all mass-transit, and no comfort at all as well as only limited size (not that in-town trollies would be much better in size). Plus they impede cars in town - don't you just love it when they cross in front of you every block and stop? Sunken roads for buses is just the same idea as tracks - it's where only they can travel, and everyone can see where they travel and avoid it. (Trains are better here, too, because one could still drive ON the trolley tracks when the thing's not there, but one knows generally where to avoid driving at all and where to move when it's coming.)

[Eastbound]

Again? LOL!

[HEY4QDEMS]

and post in accordance with the rules of the web site

Did I call you a disparaging name, make a demeaning reference to your race or gender? I don't think so.

However, you are more than welcome to engage the abuse system and have my post pulled.

If you can't handle objective personal opinion......you should leave

If you can't handle valid rebuttal, perhaps you should leave.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Carpool lanes are elitist and cause more traffic problems than they solve. Anyone who drives during rush hour knows this without being told or running a "study" on it. I want to ask you and anyone else who beieves carpool lanes actually do any good

That is a good point, but it is not the crux of my position.

I often wonder if HOV lanes would really do any good if more people car pooled, it is after all only a single lane where I drive.

My point is that if the laws allow multi passenger cars to use it and I have multiple people in my car and the traffic is light in that lane, I'm using it period.

As for Charlie, who can see by the way, but will never be able to get a drivers license, why should he be punished even more. Instead of sitting home and collecting welfare and SS which he is entitled to do, he chooses to go to work, pay taxes, and make his own way.

He always paid me for the gas which by the way is taxed by the state and fed supposedly to pay for maintaining the roads and highways that some people here feel he shouldn't have the right to use, not to mention the ADA violations that such a position would cause.

But, no we must have even more laws and rules to restrict freedom from someone who although they paid the gas tax, and or taxi fare, might not have a drivers license.

[HEY4QDEMS]

when a car in the lane is pulled over for speeding ask for the drivers license of the passenger.

That's a frightening position.

[Flyer]

I support PB's position.

HOV lanes are there to reduce the number of cars on the road, not as a convenience.

Technically, yes, you are allowed to use them when you have your blind passenger in te car, but there is not one less car on the road because of it.

HOV lanes weren't conceived as a transit idea. They are a product the EPA, to reduce the total number of cars on the road.

At a minimum they should be restricted to licensed drivers.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Technically, yes, you are allowed to use them when you have your blind passenger in te car, but there is not one less car on the road because of it.

How so, if he isn't riding with me, then I'm sharing the road with the taxi that he's riding in.

Eight years ago, during Christmas break, my wife took my daughter and four of her friends into Boston to see the Nutcracker at the Boston Ballet. It was a weekday morning show, and she drove in during rush hour and took the HOV lane. Surely you couldn't possibly prefer to have five parents driving kids in five separate cars in general traffic over one parent driving five kids in the HOV lane.

I really think you are being short sighted, the purpose is to provide incentive to take passengers in your car to reduce the need for additional vehicles on the road not to cart licensed passengers exclusively.

[HEY4QDEMS]

The only exception would be for parents carpooling tykes to little league, etc...

Case closed, especially the "etc.." part.

Your passenger does not have to have a drivers license to effectively reduce traffic.

I'm amazed how many people here can't get a handle on this.