Nevada Highway Patrol stops hearse traveling in HOV lane

As Southern Nevada drivers adjust to the 24/7 enforcement of HOV lanes, one rule might be obvious: At least two people need to be in a vehicle.

One rule might not be obvious: All people in the vehicle need to be breathing.

A hearse carrying a dead person was pulled over Monday in the HOV lane by the Nevada Highway Patrol on southbound Interstate 15 near Spring Mountain Road.

Today we stopped a local funereal home hearse in the HOV lane. The driver had the dearly departed in the back, he thought the deceased could be counted as two people. I guess we should clarify this, living, breathing people count for the HOV lane. The driver was given a warning pic.twitter.com/OQms0ktl8t

— NHP Southern Command (@NHPSouthernComm) July 1, 2019

When NHP Trooper Travis Smaka explained to the driver why he was stopped, the driver asked, “He doesn’t count?” referring to the deceased individual.

“The driver was dead serious,” NHP Trooper Jason Buratczuk said in a news release.

Smaka chuckled, gave the driver a break and advised him to move out of the HOV lane, according to Buratczuk.

“We don’t want to beat the rules of the HOV lanes to death, but you must have a living, breathing human occupying the seats in the vehicle to be in compliance with HOV lane rules,” Buratczuk added.

Contact Tony Garcia at tgarcia@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307. Follow @TonyGLVNews on Twitter.