Driving drunk and asleep at the wheels

Written by DJ Spiess

Monday, 23 June 2008

This has to be one of the strangest driving while intoxicated (DWI) arrests in a long time.

Once again Australia represents with a strange beer nut. A man in Cairns (northern Australia) was arrested with a blood alcohol content of 0.31, six times the legal limit. In fact he was so drunk; he was passed out at the wheels.

You read that right, wheels. He was driving a wheelchair.

The 64-year-old man was passed out in the motorized wheelchair while driving in the turning lane of a major highway. There was no word if his turn signal was blinking. Cars were swerving around the weaving wheelchair trying to avoid what would surely be a DWI fatality. The wheelchair was not equipped with seat belts or airbags.

Police eventually caught the man (after a slow speed chase) and arrested him. It’s fair to say they couldn’t give him a warning and let him walk it off. The DWI laws in Cairns include all vehicles, including bicycles, skateboards, and horses.

The wheelchair was just like this, but motorized, probably a different color, and carrying a drunk guy. (courtesy Wikipedia)

I’m desperately trying to think of a good Stephen Hawkins or Larry Flint tie-in, but I’m coming up short. Anyone know of any good snakry drunk wheelchair jokes?

(Source Reuters)