German traffic cops angered by British driver who mocks traffic cams with a Muppet
Someone in Germany is driving an automobile built for UK roads and has installed a Muppet in the passenger seat. The speed cameras in Germany are made to take photos of drivers who sit in the left side of the vehicle, so drivers of UK-style cars driver can't be easily identified.
A German police source said: “The number plate is not enough. We need clear evidence of who is driving the vehicle too.German police seek speeding British Muppet“But because this is a British vehicle we can never get a decent picture. The driver has obviously worked this out because he has placed a large puppet in the passenger seat.
“This may be an example of the famous British sense of humour but it is still dangerous driving. The driver has been caught on camera on several occasions and the puppet is on the passenger seat every time. We suspect he positions the toy deliberately before accelerating past the camera.”
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WANT TICKET! WANT TICKET!
I'm confused. Where did the posted photo come from? Who twirled the driver's face? And, assuming it was the German police, don't they then have a photo of the driver?
"so the driver can't be identified. "
should read "so the driver CAN be identified."
Ticket Me Elmo!
So the speed camera automatically hides the identity of the passenger by twirling their face? Maybe because of German privacy laws?
If that is the case, I remember there was a guy who was identified in child pornography pictures a while back who had twirled his own face. They were able to untwirl the man's face in photoshop quite easily.
I'll leave the untwirling of this guys face to fellow Boingers as I don't use photoshop much.
@EDGORE #3
That sentence has proper meaning as it is, but is harder to read than the author intended.
Reading it as follows makes it more clear...
"The speed cameras in Germany are made to take photos of drivers who sit in the left side of the vehicle, [therefore] the driver [sitting on the right side] couldn't be identified."
Nice! Stickin' it to der mann.
looks like they ran a Gaussian blur on the face before they twirled it. if only i had the csi version of photoshop...
Unless this guy is driving really recklessly, I don't think I WANT him to be caught. That's hysterical. :)
Or. . . maybe "Animal" really IS driving, and god is his co-pilot (appearing out of a whirlwind).
aww, the poor police, having to go out and physically observe this fellow breaking the law. le sigh.
Heh heh, just what I needed after a crappy commute home - I really needed a laugh!
Jeez, German cops. Crybaby much? "Waaah, he's doing it on PURRRRRRRPOSSSSE!"
10 to 1 this appears on Top Gear somehow. They'll at least cover it in the news if it isn't one of Clarkson's stunts.
Smells fake to me - Hauptkommissar Schulze?!
Obviously they have the plate number. Mail the damn tickets or threatening nasty-grams to his house.
Freaking hilarious if it's real.
@4 FTW. "Ticket Me Elmo" made me actually laugh out loud.
@#12 Eh
With the German action it becomes hilarious. Think Big Lebowski when the Nihalists finally killed Walter's car:
"Eets note fairah! He's dooing eet own purpus!"
That driver is an Animal.
but the driver is the pedophile with twirl face?
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/08/untwirling-photo-of.html
Sounds suspiciously like the work of Top Gear to me...
This is brilliant. I applaud whoever that swirly-faced driver turns out to be.
WOKKA WOKKA!
Obviously they have the plate number. Mail the damn tickets or threatening nasty-grams to his house.
The problem being, German law apparently requires clear proof of who is driving, which these pictures don't provide because the cameras are optimized to photograph only the (left-hand side) driver and not the passengers. That's a feature, not a bug, if you don't like unnecessary government surveillance.
They're unwilling to send tickets and nastygrams because they're actually playing by the rules they set. That shouldn't be surprising, that a government wouldn't just toss the rules aside the moment it became inconvenient, but of course these days it is.
It's all fun and games until Animal dies from massive intracerebral hemorrhage.
BEAT TICKET!! BEAT TICKET!!!
No Animal, Beat Drums.
BEAT DRUMS! BEAT DRUMS!!!!
He "positions toy deliberately"
As opposed to what? Driving from the passenger side???
The only way this complaint makes sense is if:
1) the camera system detects the *lack* of a left hand face, and then
2) records the right-hand face in that situation
If the camera just always records the left-hand face, then I don't see the cause for complaint.
I WILL NOT BE MOCKED!!!!
There was a guy, I believe in South Dakota, who obscured his plates and gave a finger every time he went through the red light camera.
This made the police a bit angry, and you really don't want to mess with an angry cop. With some good police work, they identified the car (make, model, etc). They also used traffic cameras to figure out his schedule.
Needless to say, the judge threw the book at him.
That's one of the best first comments that I've ever seen.
That is fucking brilliant.
ANIMAL - Caught by the fuzz...
ummm... does this mean you can speed in Germany so long as you wear a mask?
Slavish obedience to traffic signals, regardless of whether traffic is present, is vital to our safety.
Hooray for right hand drive.
It marks out the fightingest peoples.
Boingers, I know you all appreciate a good prank, but...no one is above the law.
Not even Muppets.
I'm sure we all recall how the "Swedish Chef"[1] escaped multiple cruelty to animals charges. And the Muppet Theatre was, very plainly, an unsafe work environment. Dr. Honeydew is of course clearly criminally negligent in his so-called 'experiments'[2]. Miss Piggy has committed sexual harassment as well as assault and battery many times on camera. And we're not even going to speculate about Gonzo and those chickens.
(Fozzie isn't really liable for anything, but his jokes are so bad he should be arrested anyway.)
But was anyone ever prosecuted?
I'm trying to appeal to your reason and sense of justice. This has to end here. In Germany. Or wherever you might be sitting.
No more Muppet immunity!
--Devin Carless
[1] All attempts to get this suspect's full name were foiled by his feigned 'accent'.
[2] Even now, his assistant Beaker is listed as being in 'badly singed' condition.
The funny thing is that they refer to the Muppet as Ernie from Sesame Street as whats in the photo. Granted in other references they do refer to the fact this driver has been known to change the muppet in question who sits in the seat normally for the driver (those English and their backwards driving) but I dunno maybe its a north american thing, but who cannot recognize Animal from Ernie, and what show each was on.
First time in years I've felt proud of being British.
DRIVE FASTER! DRIVE FASTER! DRIVE FASTER!
More minor crimes should be abetted by muppets, I think. ~~~~
Ha! I signed my post with four tildes...oh, wiki contributions, how you've tainted me.
Ha!
Sadly, in our land of the free, the PD, at least in DC and LA, DON'T need a clear picture of the driver. Just your plate.
I'd like to think that one day they'll swith the cameras just for this one driver. And then they'll find he's wearing a Fozzie mask.
They really cover the passengers face. You might take a look at a photo of me caught speeding. It is some privacy law we insist on.
http://blog.mattiasschlenker.de/2008/04/22/innerorts-in-brandenburg/
I wouldn't bother too much if I were the German police; the guy's obviously watched an evil video tape and will die (mysteriously) in 7 days.