Captain Jason Berry
Government and Media Relations
(360) 596-4010 – office
(360) 596-4015 – fax
http://www.wsp.wa.gov

*** For Immediate Release***

Date: January 5, 2012
Contact: Trooper Julie Startup
Phone: (425) 766-0812
E-mail: Julie.Startup@wsp.wa.gov

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Aggressive Driver Has "Life-Like" Passenger

A High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) violation was added to the ticket for an aggressive driver using a plastic skeleton as a passenger.

On December 20, 2011, just after 7:30 a.m., a silver Mazda was stopped for driving 82 miles-per-hour and making several unsafe lane changes on northbound I-5 near 272nd street.  When stopped, the trooper noticed what he originally believed was a passenger, was in fact a seat-belted plastic skeleton wearing a sweatshirt.  One of the lanes the driver had used as he aggressively worked through traffic was the HOV lane.

The driver did not have any comment for the trooper concerning his “passenger” and received a ticket for speed, unsafe lane change, and the HOV violation.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines aggressive driving as, "the commission of two or more moving violations that is likely to endanger other persons or property, or any single intentional violation that requires a defensive reaction of another driver."

In an effort to locate and arrest those drivers who drive aggressively, the Washington State Patrol makes use of marked patrol officers and the Aggressive Driving Apprehension Team (ADAT).  The ADAT program uses unmarked/unconventional police vehicles equipped with mobile video cameras to detect and apprehend aggressive drivers.

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