Man dresses up skeleton to drive in car-sharing lane

A man has tried to disguise a toy skeleton as a passenger in a bid to drive along a car-sharing lane, according to authorities.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety shared an image of a skeletal dummy wearing a bucket hat while strapped into a passenger seat.

The driver was reportedly trying to use a HOV lane, which is restricted for vehicles with multiple passengers.

“Think you can use the HOV lane with Skeletor riding shotgun?,” the department said.

“You’re dead wrong.”

The 62-year-old motorist was given a traffic ticket, according to authorities.

HOV lanes are designed to cut down congestion on roads by encouraging car sharing, however some inventive drivers have tried to travel on them while alone.

In 2015, a man was caught driving down a restricted lane on a New York highway with a fake passenger made out of wooden blocks and dressed in a zip-up hoodie.

He reportedly told officers he used the dummy because he wanted to get to work on time.

Raul Garcia, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesperson, told Associated Press that around 7,000 people are given tickets for violating HOV rules in the state every year.