Bagel buttering driver busted and fined

0:00Oh, we know about speeding seat belts, mobile phones, but far less of us would know about this. Can you explain to me why in four lanes of traffic, that's quite busy at this time of day, the youth ought steering them out of vehicle on your peas with your knee while you butted a bagel would be a great idea. The Queensland people later was slapped with a hefty fine of more than $1,000. After police allegedly busted him, steering with his knees while buttering a bagel, the driver claims he knows it was stupid, but was hungry after working all morning. For more we are joined by Kelly Hanlon, Darling Dance acting superintendent, good morning to you. A lot of people eat, have a little snacky, some snack when they're driving. What exactly are the rules around eating? Yeah, morning that, it's actually not about eating, it's actually about taking his attention off the road. So the ticket has nothing to do with eating a bagel, it's all about the fact that he was

1:03driving with his knees, had no hands on the steering wheel whatsoever and was looking down while he was buttering his bagel while stews driving in four lanes of traffic. Okay, right. So if he had the bagel in one hand and was just eating it and the steering wheel on the other hand, would that have been legal? Yes, it would be fine. As long as he's hanging onto the wheel and paying attention, you're allowed to eat when you drive, yes. Okay. How much of a shock was this for the police officer? Yeah, but if it's fair and odd type of thing for us to come across, so I think the police officer was quite, I suppose, abused just to why someone would be doing this in the middle of four o'clock in the afternoon. So it's not something we see every day, definitely not. Yeah, what sort of offenses happen that you guys just sort of roll your eyes out? Yeah, so this type of ticket is about not paying attention or taking your hands off the wheel. So we see people putting their makeup on, driving to work, shaving, driving to work,

2:04painting their nails. So anything that destructs you from driving and paying attention is what that ticket's all about. Okay. Do you feel like you should put a warning out there or you think it's common sense? Well, I would hope not that it's common sense. I don't think we really need a warning. I think people should keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention to what they're doing. These sort of offenses common? I wouldn't say, well, this is the first time in 34 years of policing I've come across buttering a bagel. But yeah, they are common. Unfortunately, inattention causes a lot of accidents because people's reaction times a lot slower, clearly, when you don't have your hands on the wheel. Yeah, it's exactly. It's just plain dangerous and all the accidents we have, we will not tell you some of the confessions we're having on our text line because it might just make you angry. Yeah, I could imagine. I could imagine. Yeah. Be safe out there. It is dangerous, people. Thank you very much for joining us this morning.