Spooky scary skeletons sneaking smoothly down the HOV lane

Someone hoping to sneak into the HOV lane by propping a decorative skeleton up in the passenger seat learned the hard way that he should have considered using something a little more believable — like a mannequin or blowup doll.

ABC affiliate KTRK reports that a man in Houston, Texas, thought he could fool police by throwing a baseball cap on top of the plastic skeleton riding shotgun in his car as he drove in the HOV lane.  He even buckled his “passenger” in.

Unfortunately, skeletons kind of stick out and police eventually took notice. Harris County Constable Ted Heap said the man’s attempt at making it look like he was carpooling didn’t fool anyone and he was pulled over and reminded that HOV lanes are meant for cars carrying two or more living people. Not that the cops didn’t get a kick out of the whole thing.

“Bony Express,” the Harris County Constable Precinct 5  Facebook post began. “We know Halloween’s just around the corner, but when Constable Ted Heap’s Toll Road deputies saw this vehicle in the Katy HOV lanes, they had a feeling in their bones that something wasn’t right.”

“Our deputies saw right through the ruse and issued the driver a bone-afide citation. After a sternum lecture, deputies wished him bone voyage,” the post concluded.