A man was arrested for reckless driving after sharing the video of his dog directing his car through Jerusalem’s downtown. Continue reading for more information about what happened next, the reaction of social media, and where driving lessons have been taken in other parts of the world.
Israel’s Central Traffic Unit became interested when the video went popular on Israeli WhatsApp groups on Monday.
According to Ynetnews the Jerusalem Police questioned him. According to police, the 35-year-old Ein Naqquba man “endangered other road users with his wrongful actions, but was also driving a car without a valid vehicle inspection test.”
He is expected to face charges for careless driving. “The suspect behaved recklessly and improperly when he let his dog hold onto the steering wheel, thereby endangering road users,”
According to the police. He continued, saying, “He then went on to share footage of the dangerous act which reached the police. To do such things is to play with human lives. We will continue to work to enforce and prosecute serious traffic violations.”
Reddit had some fun with the incident.
One of them exclaimed, “Oh no! He’s going to get a barking ticket!”
“To be fair if I knew my dog could drive a car I couldn’t resist either,” said another. “Recording it and uploading to social media, not so much.”
It turned out that three dogs were actually taught how to drive a car in New Zealand by a teacher in 2012. Three months of intensive training was given to the dogs, where they were taught how to operate the car and how it feels. In a matter of weeks, the dogs went from being go-carts and became real cars. Finally they were able to brake and accelerate. It was created by an animal welfare organization to promote rescue dogs through their intelligence.
“Driving a car actively demonstrates to potential rescue dog adopters that you can teach an old dog new tricks,” SPCA Auckland CEO Christine Kalin told the New Zealand Herald. “The dogs have achieved amazing things in eight short weeks of training, which shows with the right environment just how much potential all dogs from the SPCA have as family pets.”
“Monty, Porter, and Ginny are great dogs each with their distinct personality,” said their trainer. “You wouldn’t believe any dog could learn to drive a car on its own and the way all three SPCA rescue dogs have taken to training does prove that intelligent creatures adapt to the situation they’re in. It is remarkable.”
