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L.I. Driver Skates Through HOV Lines With Dummy
Driver Says Wanted To Cut Hour-Plus Commute
POSTED: 2:11 pm EST February 23,
2007
UPDATED: 11:47 am EST February 24,
2007
NEW YORK -- A Long Island man apparently thinks dummies aren't just for crash tests.
Suffolk County police ticketed a driver for propping a first-aid practice mannequin in his passenger seat to fake his way into a highway car pool lane. The yellow, mustachioed dummy was fitted out with a baseball cap and buckled into a seatbelt.
IMAGES: Driver Uses Dummy In HOV Lane
"I was trying to hold back a chuckle, to keep a straight face," said Officer Thomas Daley, who pulled driver Timothy Tietjen over on the Long Island Expressway Friday morning. Daley said he had noticed that Tietjen's passenger "didn't appear to be lifelike."Tietjen, 32, said he had been riding with his inert sidekick -- nicknamed Gilligan -- since October, aiming to cut the hour-plus commute from his home in Middle Island to his job at a manufacturing plant in Farmingdale.Cars have to carry two or more people to use the expressway's high-occupancy vehicle lanes during rush hours, and those drivers can often cruise past clogged commuter traffic.
Tietjen isn't the first driver to bring along a less-than-lively car pool companion on the famously crowded expressway. Police have caught others with mannequins, a baby doll and even a cardboard cutout.Tietjen said he would dutifully ride in the regular lanes in the future, and he took his $90 fine good-naturedly."Everybody is just laughing at me, and I can laugh at myself, so it's no big deal," he said.After putting the dummy away, Tietjen drove to work, police said.SPECIAL OSCARS SLIDESHOWS This Year's Oscar Nominees20 Great Movies Snubbed By OscarFamous Faces At The Golden Globes25 Top-Grossing Movies Of 2006The Sexy Women Of HorrorGolden Globes: What Were They Wearing?Red Carpet Moments At The Golden GlobesLast Year's Oscar FashionsSpecial Oscars Section
Suffolk County police ticketed a driver for propping a first-aid practice mannequin in his passenger seat to fake his way into a highway car pool lane. The yellow, mustachioed dummy was fitted out with a baseball cap and buckled into a seatbelt.
"I was trying to hold back a chuckle, to keep a straight face," said Officer Thomas Daley, who pulled driver Timothy Tietjen over on the Long Island Expressway Friday morning. Daley said he had noticed that Tietjen's passenger "didn't appear to be lifelike."Tietjen, 32, said he had been riding with his inert sidekick -- nicknamed Gilligan -- since October, aiming to cut the hour-plus commute from his home in Middle Island to his job at a manufacturing plant in Farmingdale.Cars have to carry two or more people to use the expressway's high-occupancy vehicle lanes during rush hours, and those drivers can often cruise past clogged commuter traffic.
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© 2007 by WNBC.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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