Toronto police charge man with HOV offence after finding mannequins instead of passengers

Toronto Police charged a man for driving in an HOV lane with two mannequins as passengers. Photo: Toronto Police.

Toronto Police are warning drivers to make sure they’re not riding with any dummies, especially in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes which are in effect for the Pan Am Games.

In the morning rush hour of Wednesday, July 8 a Toronto police officer checking HOV compliance spotted a Dodge pick-up truck traveling eastbound on the Gardiner Expressway just east of Kipling in an HOV lane.

As the truck passed the marked police car the officer noted the passenger didn’t look exactly life-like.

The driver was stopped a short distance away and when the officer approached the vehicle he saw that the front seat and back seat passengers were dressed mannequins.

The driver has been charged with HOV offense, though as police noted in a press release, “on a positive note, everyone in the vehicle was wearing a seatbelt.”