A Person on His Person

A Marin resident claimed that his corporation was another "person" who qualified him to use the car pool lane:

Jonathan Frieman, a local activist and nonprofit consultant, was ticketed Oct. 2 for driving in the carpool lane during restricted hours; the officer apparently wasn't impressed when Frieman showed him his incorporation papers. A traffic court hearing is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

The fine for such a violation is $478, but Frieman, 59, of San Rafael, says that if the court rules against him Monday, he's prepared to appeal the case all the way to the California Supreme Court in an effort to expose the impracticality of corporate personhood.

The shocking aspect of this episode is that he actually got caught. I witness at least one car-pool violation--and never has anyone been ticketed--every time I've been on the road during rush hour.

[Update: Mr. Frieman lost his case. Apparently, he had been looking to pick this fight but, as the saying goes, couldn't get arrested:

He said he has driven solo in carpool lanes for years, hoping to be pulled over so he could argue about the rights corporations have accrued through more than 125 years of legal precedent.

To assuage the pain of losing, Mr. Frieman can console himself with the knowledge that for years he got to his destination a lot more quickly than the law-abiding saps who didn't use the car-pool lane. ]