Delivering a judgment in 2006 on a case relating to a law designed to ease traffic congestion, a judge in Phoenix, Arizona ruled that unborn children do not count when it comes to car occupancy.

The case arose when a pregnant woman was fined $367 for "improper use of a High Occupancy Lane".

Candace Dickinson appealed against the fine on the grounds that Arizona traffic laws don't define what a person is, so the child inside her womb justified her use of the lane.

Judge Dennis Freeman said that his ruling was based on a common sense definition in which an individual occupies a separate and distinct space in a vehicle.

"The law is meant to fill empty space in a vehicle," he said.