Designated driver beats a lawn mower | driver, mower, driving - Home - The Orange County Register

In the earlier days of this column, I wrote about how a Bay Area man got arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after allegedly stealing a horse and hoofed it into the path of oncoming traffic.

Earlier this month, authorities say, a Sonoma County man found an equally creative way to get busted for drunk driving.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, California Highway Patrol Officer Cyril Ruffin was patrolling through the berg of Kenwood on a recent evening when he came upon a man riding a Bolen Husky, a vintage riding mower dating to 1960.

Ruffin stopped the mower's pilot, John Posephny, 55, because the mower was not licensed as a motor vehicle, and therefore was not street legal. The mower also lacked lights, a must for night driving.

That's when, according to the article, Ruffin smelled alcohol on Posephny's breath and saw a brown bottle in a brown bag.

The CHP said Poshepny has had prior DUIs on his record, but those came from driving run-of-the-mill vehicles without grass-cutting capabilities.

And for those tipplers who think bicycles are better options, they're not. California's DUI laws also apply to bikes.

Backseat driver: Portions of North Orange County got strafed by lightning bolts during a swiftly-moving tempest not long ago, knocking out power and resulting in dead stoplights.

Amazingly, some people drove right through the darkened intersections, hardly slowing down. Here's what the California Driver's Handbook says on the subject: "If a traffic signal light is not working, proceed as if the intersection is controlled by a stop sign in all directions."

Rear-view mirror: Here's another view about last-minute mergers.

Bob Jansen of Irvine takes the Zen approach. He believes it does no good to boil your own blood by forcibly protecting your space on the highway from someone wanting to merge.

"Did you change anything about the behavior of the other driver? First of all, it's in the past. It's out of your control," Jansen said. "Repeat after me: 'It's out of my control, let it go.' Peace and calm feel much better than road rage.

"You will be a better driver. You can multi task again. You will arrive safely where you are going and on the rare chance that a doctor is trying to get to the hospital and cut you off, the doctor's patient might live because you did not send him off the road defending your space."

Perplexed about something on North Orange County's roadways, waterways or railways? Send an e-mail to melloBTW@gmail.com.