Don't look at your lottery tickets while driving

May 22, 2007, 10:42 am (7 comments)

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A Michigan City man backed into a patrol car Tuesday afternoon because he was busy looking at recently purchased lottery tickets.

La Porte County Sheriff's Deputy Derek Allen made a traffic stop in the area of Cleveland Road and U.S. 20 in Michigan City, following the vehicle into the Marathon station on U.S. 20 and parking behind an unoccupied black Subaru, according to a police report. While the officer was speaking to the driver, the owner of the black Subaru left the convenient store, got into his car, and according to the report backed into the patrol vehicle.

An estimated $1,000 in damage was caused to the patrol vehicle's right front fender and door skin, police said.

Ronald Wise of Michigan City, driver of the Subaru, told police he was looking at tickets he just purchased and did not see the vehicle when he was backing up.

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RJOh's avatarRJOh

Sounds like a NationWide Insurance advertisement.  NationWide has a TV ad that shows a women driver checking her winning lottery ticket as the numbers are being announced over the radio and running into the back of a stopped truck.  The next scene is of her asking her insurance man "Am I covered?".

tnlotto1's avatartnlotto1

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on May 22, 2007

Sounds like a NationWide Insurance advertisement.  NationWide has a TV ad that shows a women driver checking her winning lottery ticket as the numbers are being announced over the radio and running into the back of a stopped truck.  The next scene is of her asking her insurance man "Am I covered?".

i like that commercial. im sure even if he said "no" she could still afford to pay for damages out of her lottery winnings.

Kidzmom's avatarKidzmom

That person was a FOOL!

KyMystikal's avatarKyMystikal

I hope this person had a winning ticket.

MegaWinner's avatarMegaWinner

Quote: Originally posted by KyMystikal on May 23, 2007

I hope this person had a winning ticket.

Yeah, I hope so too.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Interesting.  This article is similar to a comment I posted when someone got so excited his arms went numb and he had to pull over.  I wrote that people shouldn't drive and check their numbers at the same time because they get too distracted when they win. 

I wonder if he was talking on his cell phone at the same time!  I think they are also a hazzard on the road.    

jim695

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on May 25, 2007

Interesting.  This article is similar to a comment I posted when someone got so excited his arms went numb and he had to pull over.  I wrote that people shouldn't drive and check their numbers at the same time because they get too distracted when they win. 

I wonder if he was talking on his cell phone at the same time!  I think they are also a hazzard on the road.    

The article doesn't specify, but I'm assuming this happened in Michigan City, Indiana. Given that, I'm genuinely surprised the offending driver wasn't charged with the attempted murder of a police officer.

I'm not defending the guy, mind you; I believe that if you're driving a car, you should be doing nothing else besides driving your car. Any distraction is dangerous, as illustrated by this incident - they weren't even on the road yet, so a much more serious accident may have been averted. If you want to listen to a different CD, pull over and find the one you want; if you're hungry, pull over and get something to eat; if your phone rings or you have to make a call, pull over and use the phone (this goes for applying makeup, clipping your toenails and shaving, as well, all of which are offenses I've personally witnessed over the years).

However, if the roles were reversed in this story, and the cop had been checking his tickets, it would have turned out to be the other guy's fault anyway, for having parked in the wrong place (this is common Indiana cop logic - they can't be held responsible for anything they do, even when they're clearly in the wrong).

Talking on your cell phone while driving is illegal here, but I can drive to Fort Wayne on any given day of the week and find at least three different cops committing this offense. The way they see it, they're charged with enforcing the law, not obeying it (I'm not kidding; a cop actually told me that, and he wasn't kidding, either). 

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