How’s this for a crazy business idea: Form a corporation, and then rent it to commuters who want to drive alone in the carpool lanes. After all, if corporations are people, then shouldn’t then count as riders in the car? A carpool lane is two or more persons per vehicle. The definition of person in California’s Vehicle Code is “natural person, firm, copartnership, association, limited liability company, or corporation.â€
Don’t worry, someone is going to test the argument for you.
When Jonathan Frieman of San Rafael, Calif., was pulled over for driving alone in the carpool lane, he argued to the officer that, actually, he did have a passenger.
He waved his corporation papers at the officer, he told NBCBayArea.com, saying that corporations are people under California law.
Frieman doesn’t actually support this notion. For more than 10 years, Frieman says he had been trying to get pulled over to get ticketed and to take his argument to court — to challenge a judge to determine that corporations and people are not the same. Mission accomplished in October, when he was slapped with a fine — a minimum of $481.
Let’s just hope the ticketing officer shows up in court.