Motorist pulled over and quizzed... for LAUGHING at the wheel Tunnel of laughs: Gary Sanders was pulled over for giggling in the Mersey tunnel When Gary Sanders was pulled over by police he was sure he had done nothing wrong. The company director was obeying the speed limit and not driving dangerously. But to his astonishment he was told he had been stopped for excessive laughing. Mr Sanders had been talking on a hands-free kit and was chuckling at what his friend had said. But the officer who ordered him to stop at the exit to the Mersey Tunnel told him: ‘Laughing while driving a car can be an offence.’ If that had been the end of the matter then Mr Sanders, 47, would probably have laughed the whole thing off. But he subjected him to a 35-minute grilling, with questions about everything from his ethnic group to details of distinguishing scars on his body. And despite not being charged with an offence, he still had to waste a further 90 minutes of his time producing his driving licence and other documents at a police station. read more of the article here: >>The Mail Online<<
I suppose when you laugh, you open your mouth and your eyes naturally become smaller as your cheek move up ( muscle movements) and then there is less chance of seeing clearly and hence a danger to driving.... so the cops may be correct in the decision!!
I can understand how laughing could be a distraction; You are focused on so many things at once.. But the bit about how he was questioned about "everything from his ethnic group to details of distinguishing scars on his body." is just ridiculous.
Next time any of you are driving behind someone, look at the driver in front of you and decide for yourself what would it take for you to realize that he or she is laughing. Obviously, quite a lot. Hence, whatever the driver was doing to allow the officer to realize that he was laughing (which he subsequently admitted to) must have been so grossly obvious that the officer felt compelled to stop him. Summation, the driver was so engrossed in his conversation that he was distracted enough by it to be a danger to himself or others. He should have been charged. Recent research (which has been strongly disputed by both the telecom companies and cellphone manufacturers) suggests that even simple conversations are enough distraction to cause an increase in the chance of an accident. This would render the hands free phone option moot.
I'm sure the driver must have been moving his head around a lot causing the officer to believe there was something wrong, the story was told by the man simply by going to the end point of why he was pulled over. The officer may not have known he was laughing prior to pulling him over, either way many people don't understand that the point about driving and carrying a conversation through the phone or with somebody sitting next to you already increases the chances of an accident occurring, hands free or not your diverted attention may cause you to forget to be specifically alert.... I drove behind a woman the other day driving a hummer going about 25 approaching a ramp that merges onto a highway.... as i was passing by her in the reflection of her side mirror i notice she was brushing at her face and upon passing her, (making sure nothing was in front of me in anyway) i looked over for a second to see she was applying makeup in her face with one hand while holding up a smaller mirror with her over head mirror also down, her dog was next to her as well.... i think the dog was driving.... LMFAO all this was observed in one quick glance over.... therefore if the man was pulled over specifically for laughing it can be said that the officer may have been driving next to this guy for a duration and observed his behavior with many glances, im sure it wasn't too hard to notice if the laughing was extravagant
