The police were shocked.
Cadillac has long been the brand of choice for morticians seeking a donor car to convert into a hearse, but with the XTS set to leave production soon, other cars will need to step up and fill this important role. General Motors would like to keep the job in the family with the XT5 SUV, but aftermarket companies have created much more interesting hearses using cars like the Porsche Panamera and even the classic E-Type Jaguar.
As an alternative, minivans are ideal vehicles to use for hearse duty because they already have so much space in the back and don't need any major modifications made to their bodies. In fact, many funerals homes already use minivans as hearses, and one such vehicle was just pulled over by police in Nevada. CNN reports that Nevada Highway Patrol pulled over a Chrysler Town And Country minivan driving in the HOV lane without a passenger and learned that it was an on-duty hearse.
The whole exchange was caught on Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Smaka's body camera after he pulled over the minivan on Interstate 15. "The driver informed me that he had someone who was deceased in the back of the vehicle," Smaka said. He then peeked inside to see the minivan was indeed equipped with hearse equipment and that there was a casket in the back. Smaka warned the driver that police are heavily monitoring the HOV lane and that they needed to move over to the right. Jokingly, the driver responded, "So, he doesn't count in the back?"
"It just threw me off. That was more of the more interesting responses I've gotten," Smaka said. The driver got off with only a warning, but they may face some repercussions from the funeral home or family for trying to use a corpse to drive in the HOV lane. For reference, driving in the HOV lane requires more than one living occupant in the vehicle - pets, mannequins, and cardboard cutouts do not count.
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