Title: DWI, “Driving While Ingesting”? – Man Pulled Over and Cited For Eating a Burger While Driving Source:
Free Thought Project URL Source:http://thefreethoughtproject.com/ma ... ou-cant-road-eating-hamburger/ Published:Jan 20, 2015 Author:John Vibes Post Date:2015-01-20 11:11:09 by Deckard Keywords:None Views:1020 Comments:2
Cobb County, Georgia Alabama resident Madison Turner was recently pulled over and ticketed by police while driving through Georgia for eating while driving, but legal experts say that he wasnt breaking any laws.
Turner ordered a double quarter pounder with cheese from McDonalds last week, and began to eat it in the car as he was driving down Canton Road in Marietta, Georgia.
Turner was not breaking any traffic laws or driving erratically, so he was surprised to see the flashing red and blue lights of a police car in his rear-view mirror. When the officer approached the vehicle, he informed Turner that driving around and eating is unacceptable.
The officer explained to me that he observed me eating a burger for 2 miles, he said specifically three times, you cant just go down the road eating a hamburger. Maybe I was enjoying the burger too much I needed to tone it down. I was certainly willing to do so but I didnt expect to be fined or punished, Turner said.
On the ticket, the officer cited turner under Georgias distracted driving law, which is written so vaguely that it is entirely up to the officers discretion to decide if a driver is distracted or not. In the comments section of the ticket, the officer wrote eating while driving.
The law says that A driver shall exercise due care in operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state and shall not engage in any actions which shall distract such driver from the safe operation of such vehicle.
Local news affiliate WSBTV went to a legal expert in the area, for clarification on the loosely written law.
William Head, a longtime traffic and DUI attorney, who is not representing Turner, but is well versed in the areas laws, said that eating while driving is not a crime.
If this was the law, Id have to hire more attorneys because everybody does it including me. Ive only seen something like this charge when theres an accident. There was no accident here so the fact that this man was charged with eating and driving is a first for me. Maybe if you had a giant pizza in both hands and you werent holding the wheel or maybe if you had a watermelon, half watermelon and you were just diving into it holding it with both hands, maybe that would be something, Head said.
Turner intends to fight the ticket when he appears in court on February 3rd.
" DWI, Driving While Ingesting? Man Pulled Over and Cited For Eating a Burger While Driving "
Let me guess? The officer in question is known as "Barney Fife". LOL
Back in the day, this would be like issuing a citation for driving 2 miles over the speed limit. After doing that, the issuing officer would be really slammed, & ridiculed by the Post Commanders, and the rest of the troops. The issuing officer's working life would become hell.