Driver’s skeleton passenger gets him a ticket on the ‘Bony Express,’ Texas cops say

It wasn’t a lack of a seat belt that caught the attention of Texas deputies in this not-so spine-chilling situation. Rather, it’s “who” was wearing that passenger seat belt.

A life-sized skeleton, that is.

Deputies had a “feeling in their bones that something wasn’t right” when they noticed the spooky Halloween decoration in a man’s car. That man was driving in the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in Katy, according to a Facebook post from Constable Ted Heap with Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 5.

Those carpool lanes are meant for vehicles with two or more people, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. And as this driver learned, skeletons don’t count as a person.

“Our deputies saw right through the ruse and issued the driver a bone-afide citation,” Heap wrote on Wednesday.

The purpose of express lanes is to reduce congestion and vehicle emissions with a more efficient commute, but in this case, deputies called it a “Bony Express.”

So, in addition to the ticket, Heap said deputies gave the driver a “sternum lecture” and wished him “bone voyage!”

This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 10:50 AM with the headline "Driver’s skeleton passenger gets him a ticket on the ‘Bony Express,’ Texas cops say."