A Canadian man found out the hard way can get arrested for drunk driving even if the vehicle is a Power Wheels Barbie Jeep. Apparently, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are also the fun police.
Kasper Lincoln of Prince George, British Columbia, told Global News that he had indeed borrowed his roommate’s daughter’s Power Wheels Jeep to go get a Slurpee. “It’s not like it was a high-speed chase,” he said. “I waited until it was safe, and when I crossed the road I was doing my hand signals.”
Sounds like a reasonable, if a little lazy, guy with safety first and foremost in mind. The RCMP, however, disagreed with his reasoning:
“It was kind of out of the ordinary, as well as this is a busy area during morning commute and put other drivers on the road at risk, as well that particular driver himself,” Cpl. Jennifer Cooper, media relations officer for the Prince George RCMP told Global News.
“Motorists aren’t used to looking out for someone kind of at that level, the toy car level. So it was enough to start a traffic stop.”
I can actually see their point. Even my Miata sat too low for many trucks and SUVs to see, causing their drivers to not see the bright red sports car next to them.
The traffic stop led officers to find that Lincoln had a suspended license, which is likely why he was driving the Power Wheels instead of a real car. Though Lincoln denied drinking that morning, police say he failed two breathalyzer tests, leading to his arrest, an additional 90-day suspension, and a court date. Fortunately, the vehicle was not impounded and instead returned to Lincoln’s roommate’s daughter undamaged.
If it has a motor and wheels, it’s a motor vehicle
It may seem a bit frivolous that a man could be arrested for DUI in a toy car with a top speed of three MPH (unless modified, of course). But the Prince George RCMP was clear in its Facebook post: “If it has a motor, you’d better be sober.” Canada takes DUI quite seriously, to the point where non-Canadians who have been convicted of any DUI ever are considered “criminally inadmissible” and will not be allowed to visit Great White North without jumping through a bunch of legal hoops. This could also explain Lincoln’s surprise over the seriousness of all this.
Besides, there are many better uses for a Power Wheels Barbie Jeep than taking it to the store for a Slurpee. You could soup it up and make it look like a real Jeep. You could upgrade the batteries and motors and take it drag racing, or race around a small track (or even a large track). My personal favorite, though, is Extreme Barbie Jeep Racing, where one or more drivers race unmodified toys down a steep, rough hillside, often resulting in catastrophic crashes that are fun to watch. Please don’t borrow your roommate’s daughter’s Barbie Jeep to try this. It probably won’t come back in one piece.
h/t The Drive
