Teddy Bear in Carpool Lane Lands Woman $260 Traffic Ticket

One Vancouver resident has a fairly flexible idea of what qualifies as a high-occupancy vehicle.

  • Share
  • Read Later

We’ve all been there: stuck, solo, in gridlock traffic, while the cars in the nearby HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lane whiz by. It can be incredibly tempting to sneak in with the carpoolers — Larry David, for example, picked up a prostitute in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm for that very reason.

One Oregon woman also decided to give in to the temptation, attempting to disguise a giant teddy bear as an additional human passenger. Vancouver resident Scarlett Zibritovsky now faces a $260 ticket for the stunt, Portland ABC affiliate KATU reports.

(MORE: Sometimes There’s a Reward for Not Paying Off Parking & Traffic Tickets)

Now, a few questions come to mind. First: why did Zibritovsky think she could pass an enormous teddy bear off as a legitimate reason to occupy the carpool lane? Second, and perhaps more puzzling: why was she cruising around town with a giant stuffed animal in her car? She told KATU that she’d been cleaning out some of her possessions, and the bear, named Zeff, had been in her car for about a month. She explained further:

“I’ll have him in my car in case I do stop at Goodwill, or maybe give it to a little kid or somebody. He was in the back seat for awhile. I thought it might make my car cuter if he was riding in front with me, so…”

Zibritovsky said she was rushing home to prepare for a camping trip, and genuinely thought she might be able to zip through the carpool lane unscathed. She plans to go to court in the attempts of getting her fine reduced. Maybe if Zeff helps plead her case, she’ll have luck. Otherwise, she’ll just have to grin and bear it. (Sorry.)

MORE: Big Brother Backlash: Citizens Unite to Bring Down Ticket-Generating Red-Light Cameras

We’ve all been there: stuck, solo, in gridlock traffic, while the cars in the nearby HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lane whiz by. It can be incredibly tempting to sneak in with the carpoolers — Larry David, for example, picked up a prostitute in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm for that very reason.

One Oregon woman also decided to give in to the temptation, attempting to disguise a giant teddy bear as an additional human passenger. Vancouver resident Scarlett Zibritovsky now faces a $260 ticket for the stunt, Portland ABC affiliate KATU reports.

(MORE: Sometimes There’s a Reward for Not Paying Off Parking & Traffic Tickets)

Now, a few questions come to mind. First: why did Zibritovsky think she could pass an enormous teddy bear off as a legitimate reason to occupy the carpool lane? Second, and perhaps more puzzling: why was she cruising around town with a giant stuffed animal in her car? She told KATU that she’d been cleaning out some of her possessions, and the bear, named Zeff, had been in her car for about a month. She explained further:

“I’ll have him in my car in case I do stop at Goodwill, or maybe give it to a little kid or somebody. He was in the back seat for awhile. I thought it might make my car cuter if he was riding in front with me, so…”

Zibritovsky said she was rushing home to prepare for a camping trip, and genuinely thought she might be able to zip through the carpool lane unscathed. She plans to go to court in the attempts of getting her fine reduced. Maybe if Zeff helps plead her case, she’ll have luck. Otherwise, she’ll just have to grin and bear it. (Sorry.)

MORE: Big Brother Backlash: Citizens Unite to Bring Down Ticket-Generating Red-Light Cameras