Carpool Dummy Gets Ticket For Not Wearing Seatbelt

You forgot to buckle up, dummy!
    A commuter who put a homemade dummy in the passenger seat to
sneak into the car pool lane was caught Wednesday near Seattle. But
it wasn’t because a cop realized the passenger was fake.
    Instead, the State Patrol trooper noticed the dangling belt
buckle on the passenger side and suspected a seat belt violation.
    Patrol spokeswoman Christina Martin told The Herald of Everett
that the driver acknowledged trying to beat traffic by using the
HOV lane.
    He created his passenger by draping a rain jacket over plastic
piping, topping it off with a Halloween mask of Gandalf, the “Lord
of the Rings” wizard, a beard and a baseball cap.
    The trooper issued a $124 ticket and confiscated the dummy.