DWD (Driving With Dog)

The first thing that struck me on reading this at Neatorama was, ‘Isn’t this against the law already?’

Surprisingly, and frighteningly, no.

It would seem that it’s completely OK for you to go on a drive with a dog (assumedly of any size) sitting on your lap. If a cop were to see you, they couldn’t bust you for that, but they could bust you for, say, not wearing a seatbelt, because that is viewed as being unsafe.

Yes, I understand that not wearing a seatbelt is indeed unsafe, but it’s unsafe for you, the driver.

Driving around with a dog on your lap is unsafe for you, and, when the thing (potentially) slides off your lap, down into the footwell, getting jammed ‘neath the break pedal making it impossible for you to hit the breaks without crushing Fifi’s miniaturized spine, is unsafe for both you AND that bus full of blind school kids your about to run into an unabated speed.

And it’s not like this is too far out of the realm of possibility.

More then once, a lot more than once, I’ve had to take avoiding action for some lack-wit who was paying more attention to the dog in their lap than the fact that they had just blown by a stop sign and were about to T-bone me with their pearl white Escalade (“I feel so safe when I’m driving in it!”).

I shudder to think what will happen when these modern day Solomons will be forced to choose between paying attention to the needs of their Pomeranian, getting upset at something they just heard on talk radio, or running over a pedestrian.

The fact that there’s not more carnage on the road sort of impresses me.

Filed Under: Car News