A 29-year-old man received a $1,300 fine and one-year driving prohibition after pleading guilty to driving over .08 alcohol limit and driving an uninsured off-highway vehicle.
Martin Jones, of Ponoka, appeared at Ponoka provincial court on Friday, March 6 to face the consequences of his actions.
On Feb. 14, 2015, at approximately 11:30 p.m. a Ponoka RCMP member patrolling 50 Street saw what he thought was a snowmobile pull wildly onto the street.
The machine was actually a quad and was sliding and fishtailing before reaching 50 Street; it continued down the road in that manner.
A three-wheeled ATV was following the quad and the RCMP member turned on his lights, pulling up to the two vehicles.
The RCMP officer spoke to the driver of the quad, Jones, who admitted the vehicle was not insured. The officer observed Jones’ slurred speech and glassy eyes; he also was not wearing a helmet.
At that point, the RCMP officer exited the vehicle to further speak with the two men and smelled alcohol on Jones’ breath. Jones said he and his friend had been drinking earlier that evening.
Jones was arrested, he was confused and did not seem to understand why he was being arrested or that the quad was considered a vehicle.
He was taken to the detachment and provided two .16 breath samples.
Jones told the court at the time of the incident he was approximately one and a half blocks from his house and had spent the majority of the evening as a passenger on one of the ATVs.
He claimed, however, when the female driver of the quad got it stuck she walked home and he took over driving.