Done for eating an apple!

cormie

I was talking to some chap last week and he said his girlfriend was charged for dangerous driving because she was eating an apple:eek:

I've eaten many an apple at the wheel and although I'm obviously in slightly better control without it (holding the wheel at 2 and turning is perfectly doable with an apple in your right hand), I don't think it's enough to warrant a dangerous driving offence and two penalty points!

Opinions?

whiskeyman

Reminds me of this story from last year

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12389-1455523,00.html

Driving





The Times January 25, 2005


How police used £10,000 to stalk route of an apple-eating driver
By Helen Nugent








A NURSERY nurse was fined £60 yesterday for holding an apple in her hand while driving around a bend after police used a spotter aircraft, a helicopter and a patrol car to win the case.

Northumbria Police went to extraordinary lengths to gather evidence against Sarah McCaffery, 23, who had missed breakfast and grabbed the apple to eat on her way to work. Magistrates ruled that she had not been in full control of her car. Miss McCaffery was also ordered to pay £100 costs at the tenth court hearing of the case.

Chris Kay, for the prosecution, said that the bill was £425, not including the aerial photographs and the squad vehicle’s video. The full cost of bringing the case against Miss McCaffery is thought to have been about £10,000.

The cost of keeping a helicopter flying for an hour can reach £500. The police claimed that their helicopter was already on operations in South Tyneside when it took the photos, so the additional cost was just £66.

Geoffrey Forrester, for the defence, told South Tyneside magistrates that Miss McCaffery had been driving in dry conditions, that there was no traffic or pedestrians and that the manoeuvre was carried out perfectly.

The dispute between Miss McCaffery, who lives in Hebburn, and the police began on December 4, 2003. In an interview given before yesterday’s court hearing, she described how she took the same route to work in her Ford Ka as she had done for four years. As she negotiated a left turn with an apple in her right hand she was still in second gear when she saw the blue lights of a police car.

PC Lee Butler had spotted her driving with her right hand by her face and believed that she may have been using a mobile phone, the court was told.

When he discovered that she was holding a half-eaten apple, he issued her with a £30 fixed-penalty ticket. The nurse, however, said before yesterday’s 2½-hour trial: “I wasn’t speeding or swerving around. It was a small apple and I had both hands on the steering wheel when I turned into the road. The apple was in my right hand but I could still hold the steering wheel and steer the car.”

The court was told how police brought in a fixed-wing spotter aircraft to fly over Miss McCaffery’s route to work and take photographs. Later the force’s helicopter repeated the exercise before a patrol car made a video of the journey.

Mr Forrester said: “Nothing illustrates the nonsense of this case more than the resources that have been thrown at it.” Ken Buck, the chairman of the bench, concluded: “We accept that there are times when you can drive with one hand but, in holding an apple while negotiating a left-hand turn, we consider you not to have been in full control. We are therefore satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this case is proved.”

Seth Brundle

I have never heard of this happenin in Ireland that Im inclined to think that she may have driven dangerously and was spotted by a garda and when seeing her munching away the garda used that as justification for the DD charge.

eth0_

I'm inclined to agree with these charges. Having anything in your hand be it a bottle, an apple or a phone, is impairing your driving.

As the last poster said, it's likely this person was driving badly/dangerously which attracted the guarda's attention in the first place!

Henry Ford III

...or a cigarette.

cormie

Opening a window? Changing gear?

_Kaiser_

Reading that, it sounds like the police (just like ours do) were jus making up the numbers for the day. I mean, fixed wing aircraft, a helicopter and a squad car... all to chase down a woman in a Ford Ka eating an apple in 2nd gear??? :rolleyes:

I suppose it's "reassuring" that the same wasting of police resources and time goes on elsewhere....

Wishbone Ash

eth0_ wrote:

Having anything in your hand be it a bottle, an apple or a phone, is impairing your driving

Many motorists impair their driving by having the steering wheel in their hands.

thetrickykid

That's the end of my yogurt brunches whilst driving round town so.

Lex Luthor

cormie wrote:

Opening a window? Changing gear?

picking your nose...

Canis Lupus

Accordian playing.

Car Mad

wasnt whats her name actress gweneth pal done for eating an apple in england.they thought she was eathing the child apple he he poor child called apple

Johnny Storm

eth0_ wrote:

Having anything in your hand ... is impairing your driving

...and it can make you go blind, too.

Seth Brundle

Car Mad wrote:

wasnt whats her name actress gweneth pal done for eating an apple in england.they thought she was eathing the child apple he he poor child called apple

Im sure that was once a good joke but the humour seems to have gotten lost in tanslation somewhere

TempestSabre

eth0_ wrote:

I'm inclined to agree with these charges. Having anything in your hand be it a bottle, an apple or a phone, is impairing your driving.

As the last poster said, it's likely this person was driving badly/dangerously which attracted the guarda's attention in the first place!

Speculation, who knows, might not have been. Seems strange they can get someone for doing very little but can't do anything about persistent offenders, and even more serious crimes.

Del2005

You don't even have to be moving to get done...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/774655.stm

Her Volkswagen Lupo was pulled to the side of the road in Chippenham, Wiltshire, by a policeman who spotted her taking a swig from a bottle of water as she waited at a set of traffic lights, it was reported.

cormie

That's ridiculous, seriously.

Do you know the outcome of her appeal?

mukki

not giving out about the lady mentoned in the OP but...

to be honest, i always thought that its pretty manky eating in the car anyway,

between sweet wrapper and apple cores getting on the seats and floor (no one suggest chucking them out the window), and sticky hands on the stearing wheel and gears and indicators stick.

people should stop snacking and wait until you get home and eat a meal at the table

cormie

lol, hate to be your kids:p

mkennedy

lol.
that "police stalking apple-eating driver" story is hilarious.

sounds like something you'd read in www.theonion.com.
crazy stuff.

mukki

cormie wrote:

lol, hate to be your kids:p

supposed its okay for kids
i just know a few overweight people whos cars are covered in wrappers,
and you really can't enjoy anything when you have to concentrate on the road

DublinEvents

Anything in your hand during driving can give rise to reckless endangerment of public safety because there's a good chance you might get distracted for a few moments. That's how accidents happen. Until we have cars that can be put on auto-drive, my recommendation is to just keep your eyes on the road. Thank you.

mukki

no!

thank you!

TempestSabre

Its impossible to drive a car and keep your hands on the wheel 100% of the time or even have your eyes looking out 100% of the time. Not all the controls are on the wheel and there are other things in the cockpit you have to look at.

Mc-BigE

Johnny Storm wrote:

...and it can make you go blind, too.

What about a hands free kit?????:D

Anyone remember that episode from the last Soprano’s series! when "T" was driving home one of his dancers:eek:

Lucky Ba$tard!

Seriously though getting penalty points for eating an apple should be thrown out of court

egan007

It may sound ridiculous but what are the full details?

If you were eating an apple and driving ok nothing would be said.
If you were eating an apple an swerving into other lanes then you probably would be done....

So the full story is not known......and probably never will be....

layke

Well i'd get her to fight that to death.

Tbh i'd be fairly cocky about going to court over that one and making the guard look like a right prat in front of the judge.

Cars have ashtrays for cigarettes and coffee cup holders for coffee.

Fight the powah tbh.

Wasn't a reserve by chance?

G Luxel

There was a story in the tabloids about a guy who was eating a kit kat at the traffic lights and was caught for it. Not sure if this was in England or Ireland.

There are plenty of drivers who have a cigarette in one hand and then they usually throw it out the window. Ive seen this millions of times, expecially at night. Ive seen people drive with dogs on their laps, guys shaving, ladies putting on lipstick and varnishing their nails.

Not everyone has their hands on the 10 to 2 position on the steering wheel. Some people drive with their hand firmly on the top of the steering wheel.

Seth Brundle

Mc-BigE wrote:

What about a hands free kit?????:D

Gillian Taylforth?
(actually didn't she have the good sense to pull over first!)