Driver fined for clutching apple

"A woman who held an apple while driving a car around a corner has been
fined £60 and ordered to pay £100 costs.

Sarah McCaffery was pulled over in December 2003 by police who
mistakenly thought she was on her mobile phone.

They spotted the fruit and issued her with a £30 ticket saying she was
not in proper control of her Ford Ka. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/4203375.stm

Seems a bit "over zealous" or is it that once the trafpol had stopped
her thinking she was using a mobile phone they did'nt like to admit
they'd made a mistake?


--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://www.arrivedeprived.org.uk/

K100RS SE
F650
(not forgetting the SK90PY)

 

Sounds pretty reasonable to me. She was holding an apple in her right
hand while negotiating a turn, ergo she couldn't have been holding the
wheel properly.

 

Probably a Gmac.

 

Ace fumbled, fiddled and fingered:

.... so changing gear in a left hand drive car, while turning is a "no
no" then?


--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://www.arrivedeprived.org.uk/

K100RS SE
F650
(not forgetting the SK90PY)

 

With an apple in the left hand I'd have thought so, yes.

 

I heard this one on the radio this morning and thought it was a bit OTT
however had the bint crashed into someone killing them whilst eating
said apple and possibly choked on it and died as well the uproar would
have been huge. New laws forbidding the sale of apples to the driving
public would have been passed, even carrying an apple in the car would
get points and a fine not to mention the children the poor children
imagine not being able to eat an apple whilst their parents drive them
to and from school.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Rubbish, bloody fruit of satan.
See what that Eve has done for us, not to mention the bleeding snake!
Adam should have kept it in his pants!

--
Martin:
"For a minute there, you bored me to death."
VTR1000 Firestorm
TDR250 http://ukrm.net/BIKES/Yamaha/tdr250.html
martin dot smith nine zero three at ntlworld dot com

 

Doesnotcompute fumbled, fiddled and fingered:

Agreed but the principle of appears to be that if you have a hand off
the wheel you are not in proper control of the vehicle. So whatever the
reason, be it to hold an apple, operate a switch, change gear etc you
hand is off the wheel.

I'm not agreeing or condoning with either side on this it just seems a
bit over the top when the officers could have had a word with her rather
than a full blown court case. This style of policing is never going to
be seen as much more than petty by the public.

--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://www.arrivedeprived.org.uk/

K100RS SE
F650
(not forgetting the SK90PY)

 

Steve Parry wrote:
[snip]

<tracy emin mode>
It has provoked debate though and is therefore *art*.
<temo/>

Seriously though, it may make someone stop and think about tucking into
a snack while driving or even make people think about the consequences
of their actions whilst driving which isn't a bad thing.

--
Martin:
"For a minute there, you bored me to death."
VTR1000 Firestorm
TDR250 http://ukrm.net/BIKES/Yamaha/tdr250.html
martin dot smith nine zero three at ntlworld dot com

 

Steve Parry bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along
the lines of:

I tend to be in the right gear for making turns and rarely (IME) change
gear whilst in a turn.

But to throw it back your way. If she had the apple in her right hand
and was changing gear int the turn, how was she controlling the car?

 

What sort of situations? Poor planning? Failure to read the road ahead?

I'd have thought that the core argument is if you have something
already in your right hand then how can you then use your left hand to
indicate/change gear/etc when actually you need to?

a'peel'ed and that's why there was an overblown court case complete
with aerial photographs of the scene. This waste of money is the real
story IMO.

 

Steve Parry emerged from their own little world to say

That's not what the magistrate said. He acknowledged that removing a
hand from the wheel is appropriate in some circumstances. The magistrate
opined that the driver was not in full control of the vehicle, as her
concentration was distracted by the apple. If the driver was changing
gear then her action would be consistent with having full control of the
vehicle.

It was the driver that chose to go to court. She was offered a fixed
penalty. Once that decision was taken the police were obliged to collect
and present evidence to the same standard as any other case.

 

**** off you tedious ****.
--
Please add "imo" to above post.
Champ
GSX-R 1000, GPz 750 turbo, ZX7RR Endurance Racer x 2
GYASB#0 BotToS#2 BOTAFO(T|F)#35 WG*#1 DFV#8
Team UKRM Racing : www.team-ukrm.com

 

Seed of a thread there.

 

Let's face it, it's *obvious* that she was nicked for being a fucking
terrible driver, and this is all they could pin on her.

It's fine by me.

 

It's possible that the police originally intended to do that but when
they were met with "why aren't you out catching proper criminals, I pay
your wages" or something similar they may have changed their approach.

What's the whole story?

 

Correct
--
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sweller fumbled, fiddled and fingered:

<snip>

Well they certainly were'nt overworking themselves looking for stolen T
reg Ducati 750's were they ;o)


--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://www.arrivedeprived.org.uk/

K100RS SE
F650
(not forgetting the SK90PY)

 

It was a Ford Ka FFS, I'd say they were lenient.

 

I think Trafpol were quite correct in their actions.

I mean, a bloody apple ffs, surely everyone knows the only legal "on the
move" snack is the humble Ginsters pastie.

 

oldbloke at work emerged from their own little world to say

bzzt

Yorkie bar