Traffic Camera Captures Dog at the Wheel of a Speeding Car
A man in Slovakia has been fined after a traffic camera captured a dog behind the wheel of his speeding vehicle.
Slovakian police took to Facebook to announce the unusual incident and they included the incriminating picture of the dog at the wheel with its eyes firmly fixated on the road ahead.
Despite the fine, Slovakian police saw the funny side and wrote out an imaginary traffic stop conversation between a dog and a police officer on Facebook.
“Mr. Dog, you exceeded the speed in the village: Your driving documents,” so goes the conversation translated from Slovakian.
“‘Please, I don’t have…’ barked the dog. ‘Well, you’ll pay extra for that. Do you have anything, please?’ ‘I have no…'”
Slovakian police insist that there is no Photoshop or AI trickery involved with the image. Adding that police officers “could not believe their eyes.”
“Instead of a photo of the driver, a brown hunting dog was smiling beautifully into the camera, obediently sitting behind the wheel of a Skoda and peering through the windshield at promising young deer,” write the police officers.
“We thwarted his hunting plans for the hairy boy and ended his wanderings around the farm.”
Jokes aside, Slovakian police condemned the “irresponsible driver” who was stopped for speeding in the village of Sterusy.
According to Business Insider, the vehicle was 6.8 miles per hour (11 kilometers per hour) over the speed limit and the 31-year-old driver explained that his pet pooch — whose name is Havino — suddenly jumped on his lap.
But when officers played back the footage, they did not see any sudden movements in the car so the driver received a fine for violating traffic regulations.
Slovakian police advised drivers transporting dogs to take great care of them. “Even a small animal can endanger your life and health while driving,” adds the police.
According to a 2019 Volvo Car USA study, drivers who don’t restrain their dogs in cars are considerably more likely to lose concentration while driving because of their pet’s behavior.
Researchers found the number of instances where the driver’s attention was diverted from the road rose 137 percent when dogs were not properly secured in cars.
