A late night joyride turned out to be less than joyous for an Iowa man arrested on suspicion of DUI/DWI charges at 1:00 in the morning—for driving a lawn mower drunk—on a vehicle vehicle that maxes out at 5 miles per hour.
The Boone County Sheriff's Office of Iowa says deputies stopped the drunk man on Highway 17 near Madrid—a spot roughly 25 miles from Des Moines, at around 1 in the morning for suspicion of DUI/DWI. Police had supposedly received reports of someone driving a tractor or lawn mower all over the road and with no headlights. Law enforcement in Iowa seems to be catching on to methods of cops and states across the nation—where DUI/DWI serves as one of the biggest revenue-makers for state governments.
The man was arrested for drunken driving—but only after law enforcement was able to catch up to him on his 6-speed Bolens lawn tractor, a vehicle that tops out near 5 miles per hour. The Sheriff's office says the tractor driver had a Blood-Alcohol (BAC) testing came back at .190—double the legal BAC limit that applies in most states, including Iowa—legal BAC limit of .08.
The Boone County Sheriff issued statement that it is illegal in Iowa state to drive any kind of motor vehicle, anywhere, while drunk. Apparently that includes driving tractors in small towns with no one around. Tractor DUIs can now be considered the slowest-moving vehicle to land someone a DUI—even beating out bikes. In the future, he’ll have to rely on the old standby—two feet as transportation, for weaving all over the road.