Weirdest Traffic Laws: No. 3
Our countdown begins in Maryland, where in the city of Rockville it is illegal to curse in public, and that includes inside your own car.
So whether you’re experiencing some traffic-induced rage or just blasting the new Eminem CD, keep your windows rolled up. If another motorist complains, you could be looking at a $100 fine or even 90 days in jail.
Where’s the beef?
Apparently in south Florida they have laws against food fights.
Two motorists, likely with rumbling tummies, managed to get into an argument in a McDonald’s drive-thru line. The fight ended in a mature manner with one motorist throwing a cheeseburger at the other’s vehicle and driving off in a huff, and the victim calling police to tattle.
When police arrived at the scene of the sandwich smackdown, the victim showed them a 6-in. blotch of ketchup on the side of his vehicle and pieces of burger on the hood. He also had scribbled down the perp’s license-plate number, which led police to the home of 43-year-old Brant Stephens, who was in serious need of a time-out.
“I threw a cheeseburger at that [word that would get you arrested in Rockville]’s truck,” Stephens is quoted as saying in the police report. “He pissed me off, and if I have to go to jail for it, then that’s OK.”
Good thing because that’s where Stephens was headed. In south Florida, they refer to cheeseburger chucking as “misdemeanor criminal mischief.”
Weirdest Traffic Laws: No. 2
It’s always smart to perform regular safety checks on your vehicle, but in Denmark they take safety a little too far.
Danes are required by law to test their lights, steering, brakes and even their horn every time they get behind the wheel.
That might make for noisy mornings in the suburbs, but is it weird? Well on top of all that, Danes also are required to check underneath their vehicle for sleeping children. That’s weird.
Chew on this
Failure to properly control a motor vehicle is against the law just about everywhere. But for a Pennsylvania trucker, crashing his tractor-trailer probably saved his life.
Police said 55-year-old Richard Paylor was eating an apple while driving down a busy Reading highway when he began to choke. Unable to cough the apple up, Paylor blacked out and slumped over the wheel.
Eventually his truck swerved and crashed through a concrete median, the impact of which caused his chest to smack against the steering wheel. The force of the blow created a Heimlich-maneuver effect that was enough to dislodge the apple chunk and save Paylor’s life.
The 23-year truck-driving veteran suffered only minor injuries from the crash and acknowledged to the Reading Eagle, “I guess I have to thank the wall.”
Weirdest Traffic Laws: No. 1
What’s more festive at Christmastime than dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh? If you live in Ontario, just make sure that you have enough bells on your bobtails.
The provincial Highway Traffic Act states that if you take a horse-drawn sleigh on the highway, it must be equipped with at least two bells “in such a manner as to give ample warning sound.” You know, to the cars flying by you at 75 mph.
Failure to comply can result in a whopping fine of up to $5, not to mention jokes in this very column about your fatal “slay ride.”
