It may not be Christmas just yet, but police in Burnaby, British Columbia were playing the role of the Grinch this week as they ticketed a Tesla owner for trying to spread some holiday fun.
Last month we shared a photo to Twitter of a Model 3 covered in colourful Christmas lights driving around the streets of Vancouver, B.C.
*pushes right scroll wheel*
HO HO HO
Photo by Richard W. pic.twitter.com/tdu6wchaOE
— Drive Tesla 🇨🇦 #FSDBetaCanada (@DriveTeslaca) November 21, 2020
While the owner was clearly not trying to hide his affinity for the Christmas season, the lights drew a bit too much attention from local police. According to the Burnaby RCMP Twitter account, this same Model 3 was pulled over on Tuesday and issued a violation ticket.
The reason? The lights were apparently duct taped to the Tesla, which the officer deemed to be a safety hazard if they fell off while driving.
Last night a Traffic Section officer stopped this Tesla near Kingsway and McMurray.
The lights were duct taped to the vehicle.
Please don’t do this, it can be dangerous if they fall off in traffic, never mind the distraction.
A violation ticket was issued.#BurnabyFrontline pic.twitter.com/dlpIGVO6Le
— Burnaby RCMP (@BurnabyRCMP) December 3, 2020
As some Twitter users who responded to the tweet pointed out, we need all the Christmas cheer we can get this year. Issuing a ticket seems a little heavy handed, and perhaps a better course of action would have simply been to issue a warning for the driver. And since we’re Canadian, politely asking him to remove the lights when he gets home.
Do you think he should have been issued a ticket? Let us know in the comments below.