Brilliant move by preganat woman in carpool lane

[SleeplessinSoCal]

Pregnant woman given HOV ticket argues fetus is passenger, post-Roe

A pregnant Texas woman who was ticketed for driving in the HOV lane suggested that Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court means that her fetus counted as a passenger and that she should not have been cited.

Brandy Bottone was recently driving down Central Expressway in Dallas when she was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy at an HOV checkpoint to check whether there were at least two occupants per vehicle as mandated. When the sheriff looked around her car last month, she recounted to The Washington Post, he asked, “Is it just you or is someone else riding with you?”

“I said, ‘Oh, there’s two of us,’” Bottone said. “And he said, ‘Where?’”

More at link...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/09/texas-abortion-pregnant-woman-hov-bottone/

[SeattleVet]

1. I guess it'd be OK...

as long as she could get an approved child seat up there!

[Mr.Bill]

2. You win the internet today!

That's one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Some cop should write that ticket. Child in car with no child seat. Let her go to court and explain how that is not a child yet!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Judge'll probably let her off, setting something of a precedent

And are we sure this woman is NOT wingnut i.e. we sure she's someone who's doing this ironically?

BTW this is about 10th time I've seen this story posted on DU

[SleeplessinSoCal]

4. sorry. I checked latest threads and didn't see it.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. You also cannot claim unborn fetus on your tax returns

Link to tweet

[treestar]

6. The fetus could never be driving another car

so that violates the purpose of the rule. But then again, it makes sense. If they want the fetus to be a person, why pick and choose? They'll have to live with this, I would say.

[XorXor]

7. The rules in most places usually allow children & babies to be counted as another occupant

I always found that to be an odd thing, but it seems to be how it goes. If this happened a couple months down the road and it was a baby in a car seat, then she would have likely not been ticketed. Given those rules, then I have to wonder how it's different in a state that considers a fetus to be a full person.

That being said, I totally agree that counting a fetus, baby, or even your own kid as an occupant for the purpose of HOV lanes makes little sense, but that is how they decide to make the rules.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

8. In Virginia

It's two people, regardless of age; there is no age requirement.