If you live in rural Canada, you might be used to seeing tractors drive down the road, but when was the last time you saw a Zamboni?
Local farmer Marko Kardum was driving down a snowy residential road in Central Stanch, B.C., on Monday night when he was pulled over by the police.
“I was just cleaning up the road to get to my aunt’s house to make it safe for her in the morning to drive out,” the well-meaning driver told CBC News. “I guess someone thought we were trying to make a rink on the road and called it into the police,” he said.
Photo by Robert Buffam/CTV News Vancouver Island
According to reports, the 32-year-old islander was pulled over after making one full pass to his aunt’s place. He was about to start another when the police arrived and told him that it was illegal to drive a Zamboni in a residential area. They then politely asked him to head back to his farm.
When news of the “only in Canada” moment made it online, many commenters credited Kardum for having the best intentions.
“Pretty sure they were designed to clear snow…give this man a beer!” one person wrote, while others pointed out the flaw in his unconventional road-clearing method.
A Zamboni, which is typically used to resurface skating rinks, may actually make matters worse, since it would leave a flattened—and potentially very slippery—layer of snow in its wake.
It seems that Kardum, who bought the Zamboni by “accident” after he jokingly bid on it at an auction a few months ago, will have to start clearing rinks if he wants to get any use of the machine.