And we thought texting drivers were bad!

[apteryx_haasti]

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Good book drives doctor to distraction
Thursday, 14 December 2006

It was just too good a book to put down ... and the drive to the Christchurch airport was such a long one.

So the doctor propped open her book and headed out of town.

Timaru doctor Rosalind Antoinette Charmaine Allen-Narker, 62, was fined $400 for careless driving this week. Judge Murray Abbott suggested she was lucky not to have been facing a far more serious charge. Allen-Narker, a rehabilitation doctor, did not appear in the Timaru District Court, but the summary of facts read to the court told the story.

Go back to August 28. The doctor, driving a Fiat Uno with the plate DOC1, is driving north between Timaru and Christchurch. A motorist reports the vehicle drifting from side to side in the northbound lane, the wheels on the driver's side sometimes travelling along the centre line. At times the Fiat was travelling at 100kmh, then its speed would fluctuate to between 85kmh and 95kmh. Another driver told police of seeing Allen-Narker reading a book which she had sitting in the middle of the steering wheel.

Police pulled the doctor over near Chertsey shortly after 10am. Allen-Narker was still reading her book. It was lying open on her lap. Yes, she admitted she had been reading while driving.

Her explanation? She had only bought the book that morning and it was just too good to put down. As she was driving to Christchurch Airport and had a lot of spare time, she thought she might take the journey slowly, reading on the way.

"She's lucky she's not rehabilitating herself," the judge commented.

There was one thing missing from the police file – the title of the book which was such an engrossing read.

Sigh.

[sels1]

And this lady was a doctor??? go figure....


(Restrains oneself from making women driver jokes.... )

[James Deuce]

Anything that helps people get over their doctor worship syndrome is good by me.

[Indiana_Jones]

I feel so much safer now lol

-Indy

[bistard]

Very Scary indeed
I was just listening to The Rock radio station & they were talking about this stuff & a guy called up who is a road worker & said he saw a woman,writing her christmas cards & putting them in envelopes
Whats up with these people!!

[McJim]

It's not just books and it's not just mobile 'phones. There just seems to be a general lack of respect for motor vehicle usage. This morning I was made furious by a woman in a Mazda Lantis while approaching the Southern Motorway at Sylvia Park. Moving slowly from side to side and driving at 20kph. On passing her she had a coffee in one hand and a fag in the other! I would expect this sort of thing by the time I got to Ponsonby but I was virtually in Otahuhu at the time.

Cage drivers are too comfortable in their cars - it makes them careless...it also makes them care less about other road users.

[jetboy]

Very Scary indeed
I was just listening to The Rock radio station & they were talking about this stuff & a guy called up who is a road worker & said he saw a woman,writing her christmas cards & putting them in envelopes
Whats up with these people!!

yeah i heard that too. what the hell is up with that!

by the way he also said the cops were monitoring that site near Oxford so if you head down that way be careful...