Sir, If We Catch You Driving That Thing Again We May Have To Put You In The Cooler

Neil Rideout says he was just trying to do the right thing and help the environment by driving a vehicle that's less harmful than a regular car. But the police say dude, we can't have folkstooling down the sidewalks of Nova Scotia in motorized coolers.

He thought the cooler —which sits on four wheels, is equipped with cup holders, a radio and a connection for an MP3 player — would be great for quick trips.

After starting out with just one horsepower — and the ability to travel just one kilometre per hour — Rideout took it to a fabrication shop where a turbo-charged 5.5-horsepower motor was added, enabling it to travel 50 km/h.

Rideout said he was stopped by police twice; once to tell him he had to wear a helmet, a second time telling him to keep it on the sidewalk.

Four days later, while driving to a store, he was issued a ticket for driving on a sidewalk and fined $222.

Rideout has decided to fight that $222 ticket, and I can't really say I blame him. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to run into that sumbitch on one of my local sidewalks and Staff Sgt. Walter Rutherford does say that under the highway traffic act you can only drive a motorized vehicle on a sidewalk if it's a wheelchair or one of those disability scooters, but on the other hand he was told to drive it there by another officer so he may have a tiny bit of a case.

I'm just amazed that we can finally report a story about somebody driving a customized cooler/barstool/chair that doesn't involve the person being hammered out of his tree.