This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Your Car Is Not a Studio Apartment
Some people treat their car like a second home. Some people take that a little too literally.
Draw the Line at Drapes
If you’ve ever squinted into the sun on a bright morning commute and thought, *I wish I could just hang some curtains,* congratulations, you’re more law-abiding than you think.
A Calgary driver was ticketed on March 15 after police discovered curtains installed inside their vehicle. Officers pulled the car over in the 400 block of 52 Street S.E. and noticed the curtains mounted on the front driver and passenger side windows, obstructing the driver’s view. The driver’s explanation? They had mounted the curtains to block the brightness of the sun. Reasonable enough logic, until you’re steering blind down a busy street.
Police noted that any material limiting visibility through a vehicle’s windows is illegal. The driver was issued a ticket and required to remove the curtains immediately.
Sunglasses exist. Just saying.
The Living Room on the M11
Moving house is stressful. We get it. But there’s a limit to what you can strap to the roof of your Suzuki before things go from resourceful to reckless.
A car stopped on the M11 in Essex was carrying a fridge, a mattress, and a foldable table on its roof, secured by what Essex Police described as a “very thin rope.” The driver was reported for operating a vehicle in a dangerous condition. Essex Police weren’t exactly subtle in their frustration, posting to Facebook that driving on the M11 with a fridge, a mattress and an outdoor foldable table held by a very thin rope is not safe.
Somewhere on that motorway, a complete bedroom set was doing 70mph held together by faith and string. Road safety, apparently, is no joke, though we’d argue this one came pretty close.
Sofa, So Bad
Most people, when warned by police not to do something dangerous, take the hint. Matthew Dummer of West Sussex is not most people.
The UK motorist was disqualified from driving after loading a sofa and a mattress onto his Renault coupe. A roads policing officer had warned him not to drive with the items on the roof after spotting the car parked outside his home in Stedham, West Sussex, but the 34-year-old was later seen driving on the A286 with the same load still on board.
He took it to trial. He lost. He was found guilty of dangerous driving, disqualified for one year, ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work, and pay £95 in court costs. The officer summed it up well: it should be obvious to any competent driver just how ridiculous it is carrying a load like that on a soft top car.
The sofa, presumably, found a new home. On the floor. Inside a building. Like a sofa is supposed to.
If you’re tempted to make your commute a little more comfortable, maybe stick to a good playlist and a travel mug. Your car is a car, not a condo, and the police will be happy to remind you of that.
See you next Wednesday for more of the weird and the wacky.
