We all know how enticing that carpool lane can be — but when you’re driving solo, you just don’t belong there. Police in New York say one driver tried to get around the rules for high-occupancy vehicle lanes, as they’re also known, by setting up a wooden dummy as his passenger.

According to police in Long Island, a man allegedly used a wooden figure of a person, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, so he could cruise along in the the Long Island Expressway’s HOV lane, reports NBC 4 (warning, link has video that autoplays).

And from what the officer on the scene says, it’s not like the dummy was fooling anyone.

“I was trying not to laugh at the guy because I thought it was quite silly,” the police officer said, nothing that at first, the silhouette was “realistic enough.”

As for the driver’s reason behind his stiff friend, he told the cop he had just started a new job and traveling in the HOV lane would let him get there a bit faster. He was subsequently issued summonses for speeding and occupancy violation.

NBC 4 spoke to the driver as he pulled up to his house that night after work — with the dummy still sitting inside. He reportedly said he’d been using his friend for months.

“He’s got a sister down in the basement and on special occasions, I bring her out and she wears a tutu,” he told the station.

Driver Used Wooden Passenger to Drive in HOV Lane Because “He Couldn’t Afford to Be Late to His New Job”: Police [NBC 4]

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