Speed Camera Catches Blissful Dog 'Driving' Car—and Saves Owner From a Ticket
German police were forced to drop a speeding fine after a sleepy pup perfectly blocked the driver's face from the camera.
When traffic enforcement officers in Bonn, Germany, pulled up automated speed camera snapshots for a car clocking 11 km/h over the limit, they braced for a routine violation. Instead, they were greeted by an unforgettable canine cameo: a sweet white dog sitting upright behind the steering wheel, head tilted contentedly with eyes clamped shut and chin resting peacefully forward, looking like a relaxed commuter caught mid-snooze on an evening cruise.
Of course, the sleepy pup hadn't actually taken the pedals. As reported by udn Pets, the snapshot was simply an extraordinary optical illusion. The dog had popped up into its owner's lap at the exact millisecond the flash fired, positioning its head and torso so flawlessly that it completely masked the human driver's face from the camera lens.
Between the pup's unintentional cover-up and a severe flash glare that washed out the license plate, authorities discovered they had no legal way to identify who was actually operating the vehicle. Bemused officers were forced to drop the $55 citation, chuckling that the driver had been saved by their four-legged companion—though both will need to keep a closer eye on the speedometer next time.
