Motorist stopped by police for laughing

[Clem Rocks]

Continuing the trend of threads about laws and police goings on, i saw this this morning and just had to share it with you

A motorist has revealed that he was stopped by a police officer for laughing at the wheel of his car.

Gary Saunders told The Daily Telegraph that he was pulled over in Liverpool after being spotted chatting with his brother-in-law using his hands-free kit.

"I couldn't believe it when he told me I'd been pulled over for laughing," he said. "I was driving very safely... [My brother-in-law] said something funny and I was laughing - simple as that. I never took my eyes off the road and was in full control of the car."

Saunders, who was questioned for half an hour, claimed that he was told "laughing while driving a car can be an offence".

"The officer accused me of throwing my head back in a dangerous way... It went from ludicrous to unbelievable," he said.

The company director said that he was allowed to drive on after the officer "admitted that he had nothing he could accuse me of", but was told that he still had to present his documents at a police station.

Supt. Kevin Hagger, of Mersey Tunnels Police, said that there was "no record of the incident in the system so it seems the gentleman was just spoken to by the officer and the matter not taken any further".

A representative for the Association Of British Drivers called the incident a "shocking example of police harassing innocent motorists", adding: "What next? Can we expect to hear of people being stopped for sneezing or coughing while they are at the wheel?"

Source

 

[Perny]

That's just stupid!

Police is meant to make people follow the law...not make 'em up themselves

 

[Silum]

As soon as I saw the title I knew this would be a UK story. US have the stupid citizen stories, we have the stupid police stories.

 

[JenniferAlice]

UK is becoming a fascist state, it's disgusting.

 

[Fusions2]

Oh dear next someone will be pulled over for blinking! lmao!

 

[Harm]

ahahahahahhahaha I hate pigs.
So ridiculous it's what they are like around here.

 

[Cohen]

That's alright. I got stopped for speeding today. First ticket ever. But.. I wasn't as scared as I thought I would be. Like, it wasn't that bad. And the guy reduced it for me. I guess cause I was probably one of the few people who wouldn't sit and argue with him. He was like "liscense and registration". And while he looked it over, he was like "Do you know why I stopped you?"

"..i was going fast?"

"Yeh, you were going 81 in a 65."

(Oh, it's 65? Doesn't it turn 70 around here?)

"Oh, I'm sorry. I knew I was going a little fast.."

"I'll just be a few minutes." He walks back to the car and writes it out and everything.

I text my best friend. "I just got pulled for speeding." She responds: "Are you getting a ticket?" I go "I don't know.. I think he's writing one right now."

He comes back a few minutes later. "Your court date is April 9. It's on East Maine in Lexington."

"Okay. Look, this is my first offense.."

"Yeh, I reduced it to a 74, so it's only $88.98." (oh, that's nice!)

"..instead of $140." (that's REALLY nice!)

"...and it's 2 points instead of 4." (i LOVE you, man. But.. not like that.)

"Okay. Thanks. Uhm.. about the court date?"

"Oh, you can pay the ticket beforehand. Unless you want to go to court. It's just in case you want to explain to the magistrate your reason, to lower it. But I pretty much got it as low as it's going to go."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Thank you, sir. Drive safely."

I thought I handled it well. My heartrate was up. But that's expected. It wasn't too bad.

..Now I just have to talk to my mom when she gets back in town. That's gonna be the bad part.

 

[itsxpaperdoll]

Oh, this is a strange story. But I'm not sure how believable the guy is (or the police, I don't know). I mean, the guy said that the officer questioned him and all that, while the Supt. Whatshisname said there was no record of him, and that the officer only talked to him. It's a bit dubious, I'd say. (not that I am defending the police for pulling him over in the first place, which was stupid and unneccesary. It's just, it might not be as bad as it seems from the guys account)


Edit: Also, the 'What's next-ing' from the drivers club is a bit silly. It seems something people always do, when they're angry about something, but it's not like it's an offical police policy now. It was, more or less, obviously one over efficient officer who did this, so while he might be pulling people over for sneezing, the rest won't start doing that any time soon.

 

[Blair Waldorf-Bass]

This is absurd! I'm not sure whether to believe the police or to believe the man, though. It sounds ridiculous.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

Oh man, last night someone told me a joke that was absolutely hilarious.

I was laughing so hard my eyes were water, my head rocked back and I couldn't hold myself properly.

Now, imagine I was driving a two ton vehicle in that state!

Yes, it sounds stupid to be pulled over for this, but we didn't see this laughing fit the guy had, maybe it was one of those violent belly-laugh ones.

We only have this guys word for how 'big' the laugh was.
My personal opinion, if you're laughing hard (and I actually believe that this guy was, because do you guys know how much paperwork a copper has to go through for stopping someone - he's hardly gonna just do it for the sake of doing it!) you should pull over.

I mean what if he causes an accident and/or kills someone - who'd be laughing then?

 

[Silum]

Thats fair enough, you pull them over for reckless driving or not in control of a motor vehicle. You dont give them a stern warning to about laughing.

In the same way that I am perfectly free to head bounce to heavy metal (I dont lol)...as long as Im in control of my car and im not making any erratic movements or performing and traffic offences, that policeman has NO right to pull me over.

Now, if I were to act all crazy, I suppose I could understand the copper pulling me over thinking im on drugs or just plain 'something's wrong'. Presuming this was a crazy laugh-fest, the guy should have been pulled over, verified everythings in order and be on his way and not detained for an hour... But "laughing while driving can be an offense" is stupid, if it causes you to drive dangerously sure, but then your charged with driving dangerously; not laughing.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

Thats fair enough, you pull them over for reckless driving or not in control of a motor vehicle. You dont give them a stern warning to about laughing.

In the same way that I am perfectly free to head bounce to heavy metal (I dont lol)...as long as Im in control of my car and im not making any erratic movements or performing and traffic offences, that policeman has NO right to pull me over.

Now, if I were to act all crazy, I suppose I could understand the copper pulling me over thinking im on drugs or just plain 'something's wrong'. Presuming this was a crazy laugh-fest, the guy should have been pulled over, verified everythings in order and be on his way and not detained for an hour... But "laughing while driving can be an offense" is stupid, if it causes you to drive dangerously sure, but then your charged with driving dangerously; not laughing.

You've got no actual idea what this copper saw, what was said and what this driver was actually doing.

We have the personal comment of the driver and the sensationalised write up.
The only official comment we have is
"Supt. Kevin Hagger, of Mersey Tunnels Police, said that there was "no record of the incident in the system so it seems the gentleman was just spoken to by the officer and the matter not taken any further"."

Its funny how in one thread we have people saying 'ra ra ra will take the British tabloid press with a pinch of salt' and in another 'well this is appalling and definitely happened'.

This whole thing is probably bollocks.
What probably happened was he had a laughing fit, was pulled over by a concerned copper, he got embarrassed so and hung up the phone to his B-in-L, then the 5 minute chat, plus a further 10 minutes until he was away from the police called his B-in-L who then sounded off to make him seem like the victim of harrassment (its ALWAYS someone elses fault).
When he got home, his embarrassment was channelled into an angry state, so he called the press and embellished facts.
This is a complete non-story.

 

[Revolver]

Only one way to find out. I'll drive around the UK laughing and see if it gets me pulled over. I'll need a plane ticket to get there first. Who wants to pay for my ticket?