California Autos Examiner

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Pooch On Lap = Ticket In Hand?



Do you like driving with your twin Chihuahuas Cocoa and Pebbles on your lap? California Assemblyman Bill Maze is gunning for you, my friend. Maze believes that lap pets might be a distraction to drivers. Yah think? The measure to ban drivers from holding a live animal has been lambasted by radio's Rush Limbaugh and ridiculed as the "Paris Hilton Bill" in honor of the celebrity dog lover.

This legislation does bring to mind the 2001 case of a Bichon Frise lap dog being thrown to its death in a case of road rage on a stormy winter night in San Jose, California. The dog's owner had rear-ended another vehicle and that driver became so enraged that he reached into the car and threw the dog onto the roadway where it was struck by a passing car. I was never clear if the dog had distracted its owner and caused the accident, but what happened afterwards was unforgivable.

I'm cool with the rule as long as it doesn't extend to pickup cab dogs, because they might as well chop off your manliness if you can't drive around with Max riding shotgun in your F-150.

The bill has passed California's Assembly and now heads to its Senate floor.

Full story can be found here.

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