A riding lawn mower can cut down the amount of time it takes to mow a large lawn by a wide margin. It shouldn’t, however, serve as your transportation to get home from the bar. That didn’t occur to one Florida man, though. The wayward mower pilot was picked up by the police after he drove his riding lawn mower down a busy toll road. Worse yet, he was intoxicated at the time.

Florida Highway Patrol arrested a 38-year-old for driving under the influence on a riding mower

Christopher Spain, 38, was out for a drive when Florida Highway Patrol officers pulled him over. It wasn’t because he failed to signal or exceeded the speed limit. No, Spain was driving “erratically” on a riding lawn mower at the time.

Spain had taken the lawn mower onto Suncoast Parkway, a busy toll road near the state’s west coast. According to FOX 13 Tampa Bay, witnesses called the authorities to report the man’s silly stunt.

Soon after, FHP officers pulled Spain over and had him hop off the riding mower. He was visibly impaired, sporting dry mouth, nasal irritation, flushed skin, and miosis, or constricted pupils. If that wasn’t enough, the officers on the scene said Spain had a “small blue straw” on his person.

The FHP officers arrested Spain after he refused to take a field sobriety test. They charged the Florida man with a DUI, but it isn’t clear if he’s looking at charges for driving the lawn mower on a public road. 

It’s illegal to drive a riding mower on public roads, even in the Sunshine State

It’s got tires. What’s the issue, right? Well, a riding lawn mower doesn’t have any of the standard equipment necessary for a road-going vehicle.

You won’t find a riding John Deere or Gravely mower with brake lights, turn signals, or a horn. What’s more, a riding mower won’t travel at much more than 10 mph. That’s dangerously slow for public roads.

A McDavid man recently died after a vehicle rear-ended him on his riding mower. Unfortunately, the man was driving the piece of lawn equipment on a public road at the time.