Man Busted With Skeleton In Passenger Seat To Use Carpool Lane

Police found a man riding solo in the carpool lane, with a fake passenger -- a skeleton wearing old clothes -- in the front seat.

The 62-year-old Arizona man had placed the skeleton, dressed in a camouflage bucket hat and swathes of tattered material, in his vehicle's passenger seat.

The skeleton, which appeared to be missing its bottom half, was being propped up on an esky.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety pulled the driver over and publicly shamed him on social media for flouting the law.

The driver received a penalty ticket for breaking carpool lane rules in addition to window tint violations.

The Arizona police department told AP news agency around 7,000 drivers in their state were sprung breaking carpool rules every year.

In the United States, the carpool lane is known as the HOV lane -- high-occupancy vehicle. The lane's normal minimum occupancy level is two or three occupants.

A steady number of American drivers have been recorded going to extreme lengths to beat traffic by faking their way into carpool lanes.

One man was caught driving in a HOV lane with a dummy wearing a fitted cap and shades last April, AP reports.