Doofus Of The Day #65

Today’s Doofus comes to us from England.

As his 38-ton lorry sped down the motorway, driver Benjamin Trotsman was concentrating intently – on a DVD of the TV series Battlestar Galactica.

He was playing it on his laptop computer, perched on the dashboard of the truck as it roared on through the night.

Other motorists watched in horror as the lorry swerved from lane to lane of the M6 in Cumbria and on and off the hard shoulder.

It also slowed down and speeded up erratically.

Police moved in and Trotsman’s crazy drive was halted after 25 miles.

Trotsman, 37, from Bridgnorth in Shropshire, appeared in court last month and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in the early hours of December 11 last year.

The court heard that Cumbria Police had found the sci-fi DVD in the computer.

This week, Trotsman was back in front of Penrith magistrates, trying to change his plea to not guilty. His lawyer Nigel Beeson claimed that, rather than watching the DVD, his client had been using the computer’s roadmap function.

He said: ‘My client’s case is “Yes, I was driving along, yes, I did have my laptop on the dashboard but it had a Google map or whatever on it”.

‘In other words, there’s a large version of satnav open. Looking at a map would not be dangerous driving.’

But the magistrates rejected the change of plea appeal and referred the case for sentencing next month.

Our Doofi candidates are sometimes amusing, but this idiot makes my blood boil. The danger to others that he posed is horrifyingly real – and such stupidity isn’t confined to England, sad to say. I’ve seen similar things in tricked-out limos and SUV’s in large US cities, including one case of a driver watching a pornographic movie while speeding through Houston on the I-10 at 65 mph! I called the cops on that dimwit, and they pulled him over after a couple of miles – for which I was devoutly grateful! He’d been swerving out of his lane, correcting (or rather over-correcting) with a squeal of tires, and generally been driving like a menace.

I’m not in favor of laws that limit our freedoms . . . but I have to admit, I wouldn’t object to a law prohibiting the installation or use of DVD systems or similar technology in the front seats of vehicles. It’s just too darn dangerous!

Peter