Carpooling…Babies don't count!

I was driving to work the other day and paid attention to the carpool lane, since I was rolling along at 10 mph in morning traffic.  I was annoyed to see a few cars go by with what clearly seemed like one person in the car.  I thought about chancing it, but I already got one ticket in the last 6 months and got it cleared through traffic school.  Besides, the early morning meeting I was headed towards was going to be a snoozer.

As I approached my exit I noticed a minivan merging away from the carpool lane and headed towards the same exit as me.  We ended up side by side at a red light.  I rolled down my window and actually asked her if she gets nervous about driving alone in the carpool lane.  She had a confused look on her face and pointed my attention to the back seat.  “I have my baby in the back seat, so I am carpooling.”  The light turned green and she drove off leaving me there with my mouth wide open.

Since when does a baby count for carpooling?  It doesn’t, right?  Carpooling should be the pooling of 2 potential drivers.  A baby doesn’t count, because it would never drive on its own, in the first place.  One would think with California’s budget issues, police (CHP) would be out in full force ticketing to fill the deficit.  So watch out lady.

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