back to article 'Screaming' man fined $149 for singing 'Everybody Dance Now'

A man has been fined by police after being caught singing the 1990s dance anthem "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" while behind the wheel of his car. Taoufik Moalla, of St-Laurent, Montreal, Canada, was singing C+C Music Factory's best-known hit while rolling along in the Francophone city's St Croix suburb. After …

  1. Rudy

    Reminds me of Dory Previn "Twenty Mile Zone::

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O35PTBEw8F8

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If I ever get a ticket, I want it to be for this.

    1. Korev Silver badge

      I'd like "furious cycling"

      1. Matthew Brasier

        RE: I'd like "furious cycling"

        You probably wouldn't, it is only ever used when a cyclist kills someone.

        1. Korev Silver badge

          I didn't realise that.

        2. Vulch

          A MAMIL got convicted of furious cycling in Cambridge a while ago without fatalities, for some reason he'd decided the best time for "training" was middle of the night as night clubs kicked out.

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

            MAMIL???

            1. Surreal

              MAMIL

              Middle Aged Man In Lycra. Commonly seen speeding along canal banks on expensive bicycles, sometimes in packs.

              1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

                Re: MAMIL

                "Middle Aged Man In Lycra."

                Ah, right. Txt Spk :-)

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Not only for fatalities

          It was used on a chap doing 25mph in a 30 limit in Cambridge, so it doesn't really matter that strictly most speed limits only apply to motor vehicles.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Not only for fatalities

            25 in a 30 zone? He was penalised for not speeding?

            1. jake Silver badge

              Re: Not only for fatalities

              Here (California), driving under the speed limit can be considered impeding the flow of traffic. Driving while exhausted can be prosecuted as impaired driving. Riding a bicycle (skating, on horseback, whatever) in a manor that could cause injury can be considered reckless driving. Paying zero attention to road markings/signs on a bicycle (blades, horse-drawn vehicle, whatever) can be the same offense as if committed in an automobile.

              All are ticketable, and if you're convicted are considered moving violations (points on license, insurance rates go up, etc.).

              Most of the time, you'll only get cited if you're a complete ass to an officer after getting pulled over. Usually, they'll let you go with a warning (or release you to the custody of parent/guardian) ... and in the case of being too tired, they'll suggest running around your vehicle a couple times (or the equivalent) to wake up a bit, and then pulling over at the next safe spot to take a nap before carrying on (this last one happened to me as a newly licensed teenager ...).

              1. DropBear
                Trollface

                Re: Not only for fatalities

                Hmmm, the only instance of "riding a bicycle in a manor" I can think of is this one (even if it's technically a tricycle), and you're right, it's pretty scary...

                1. MJI Silver badge

                  Re: Not only for fatalities

                  In a Manor

                  Better let the Severn Valley know you want to ride your bike in the cab of one of their Manors.

                  They will laugh at you

                  Unless you mean a building, but then Dougie Lampkin rides around Goodwood House

              2. #define INFINITY -1

                Re: Not only for fatalities

                "... riding a bicycle in a manor ..."

                What if it's my bloody manor?

              3. ma1010
                Headmaster

                Re: Not only for fatalities

                I work at a court in California. Generally speaking, citations issued to those not operating a motor vehicle, but walking, bicycling, skating and such are not reportable to the Department of Motor Vehicles and do not put points on one's driver's license. That said, there are non-driving offenses that can suspend one's license, such as a minor (under 21) in possession of alcoholic beverage, not paying court-ordered child support or not paying a judgment resulting from a motor vehicle accident.

              4. Agamemnon
                Angel

                Re: Not only for fatalities

                Ah, my beloved home (California...I'm in Seattle these days).

                I lived in Sili Valley before and during the (dot)Com(a) and you can bet your ass CHP will pull you over for Impeding The Flow Of Traffic. They can get you and your vehicle off the Freeway *now*, or *after* everyone just runs you over.

                My Personal Favorite is having been pulled out of line my very self:

                I was heading to San Francisco from Los Gatos, so, 280 it is. For those of you who aren't familliar, 280 is very Wide, wide lanes, lots of them, and it's oddly flat-ish and gently curvy for going through the Palo Alto hills. It's very well graded, and the surface is *Fantastic*...for Speeding Like Hell. The *actual* speed limit there is 75MPH (I'm mostly certain), but, um...I've done 110MPH+ at 02:00 and had CHP pass me like I was strolling along, without so much as a glance. During commute times, in my day (dunno about what it's turned into, rules were different) 95MPH during Rush Hour wasn't uncommon.

                So I was doing 70MPH, far right lane (without exits) mostly to keep being being pulverized by something moving at a measurable decimal of "c" when I spy lights in my rear-view, and so I signal and grab some shoulder. Now, CHP (California Highway Patrol) is largely a very cool organization with fairly decent officers who mostly want everyone to play nice and make it to where they're going in one piece...so his first thought is that I was "New" to all of this, and understandably freaked out by the U.S. version of Autobahn.

                I had to explain: I was "The (whole) Technical Team" for $StartUpDuJour, and my transmission was slipping like two midgets in a tub of lime Jell-O, and I had no time to fix it because...StartUps and Stuffs!!! AAAAAGH! (No, really, I was exhausted.)

                To which he smiled, leaned close, and asked if I wanted two, Count Them; T-W-O Days Off!!! Because he *could* just throw me off at the next exit, or give me a fix-It ticket which would get me a day off (if I lied a wee about how long it took), and another day "in court" (stretching that till it screamed, as well) with the fix. And I could go to my partners and be all "Nope, got Legal Stuff, gotta' fix.", and I said "May I have the ticket, Please?". And he gave it to me. And then he threw me off of 280 at the next exit because I was, very seriously, impeding the flow of traffic.

                I got two days off (which was tactically good), car got made safe (which was strategically good). And I have nothing but love for CHP.

            2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

              Re: Not only for fatalities

              "25 in a 30 zone? He was penalised for not speeding?"

              That can be a thing. It's a limit, not a target and you should always be driving to the conditions. It's more likely to be described as dangerous driving or driving without due care and attention though.

              1. Jeffrey Nonken

                Re: Not only for fatalities

                In Pennsylvania there is "Driving too fast for conditions", which also has nothing to do with the speed limit. Going the speed limit on an icy road could net you that, for example.

                A friend of mine got it once when he rounded a blind corner going too quickly and was unable to stop in time to avoid another car turning on from a side street. He complained to me that they couldn't cite him for speeding because they weren't there to clock him, I tried to explain the difference. He demanded to know how they knew he was driving too fast for conditions; I pointed out he couldn't stop in time, it was self-evident... He claimed he was going to fight it, I advised against it, he was just going to lose. I doubt he did, though.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "furious cycling"

        I had to google this because I didn't believe there was such an offense, but apparently there is. I'm just not clear on what it is - does it mean just working the pedals at an insane speed totally out of control - like 'reckless driving' in the US? Or does it mean just not watching where you are going and not following the rules of the road but possibly at a quite reasonable pace, like one of the dicks who gives cyclists a bad name by running red lights and ignoring pedestrian crosswalks and the like?

        1. anothercynic Silver badge

          Re: "furious cycling"

          This is what a young man was convicted under in London recently. The court case was a bit controversial, as was the charge and the conviction...

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        My cousin...

        Got pulled over by the cops for exceeding the 60 kmph speed limit while on his paper round.

        Asked why they pulled him over, the cops said; "well, you passed us didn't you?"

    2. Arthur the cat Silver badge

      If I ever get a ticket, I want it to be for this.

      A friend of mine got a moving traffic offence ticket, at zero mph with the engine switched off and the handbrake on.

      He was waiting for a temporary traffic signal on a very long cycle, so switched the engine off and put the brake on. Unfortunately, he'd just flown back into the country, was jet lagged to hell and had a massive sleep deficit, so nodded off while waiting and stayed asleep through several cycles, oblivious to people sounding their horns at him. In the end the police turned up, breathalysed him, found he was stone cold sober but very tired, and rather apologetically gave him a ticket. He went to the magistrates court trying to argue that as he wasn't moving it couldn't be a moving traffic offence, but didn't get off.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Obsructing the flow of traffic was probably considered the moving violation, as it was preventing others from.. moving.

      2. d3vy

        Attempting to drive when you're that tired is unimaginably stupid.

        1. DJSpuddyLizard

          Attempting to drive when you're that tired is unimaginably stupid.

          Indeed, they should have found something more serious to charge him with.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        > so nodded off while waiting and stayed asleep through several cycles, oblivious to people sounding their horns at him.

        To be honest, if he was trying to drive in such a state of fatigue, in my neck of the woods he would have been done on a criminal safety charge just the same as if he was drunk. He got off lightly, and was very lucky to fall asleep while stopped.

      4. MJI Silver badge

        Tired driving

        Can be more dangerous than drunk driving, but no one seems to care.

        You can drive along however you like, just do not exceed the "number on a stick" or the cameras will get you.

        Thing is tiredness does catch up, you think you are fine, then you start to nod off. Very dangerous.

        Nearly happened to me 36 years ago, nearly fell off my bike.

        1. Aladdin Sane

          Re: Tired driving

          In the UK we have the lovely catch-all of "Driving without due care and attention".

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Tired driving

          Anon because... well, I can barely face the truth myself. No fatalities, thank goodness. Coming home from a lovely camping/mountain biking weekend. I had one or two of the "hmm, getting sleepy" early warning yawns. Nothing much, didn't seem bad And then...

          I was alone and blind in the dark, unaware of who or what I was. Computers booting up probably feel like that. I heard a strange sound, and spent several seconds trying to identify it. Finally I realized it was the sound of grass and such brushing under a moving vehicle. That's strange, that would mean someone driving off road... hey, wasn't I in a truck? Wasn't I driving?

          I came to sudden awareness to find myself off the left side of the road, my wife screaming my name and punching me. I yanked it back into the road, clumsily sweeping both lanes as I did so. Dirt flying everywhere. No other cars nearby, didn't hit anything or drive off an overpass. I cleared the area (no, not my dust cloud!) and turned the wheel over.

          I. Got. Stinking. Lucky. And I have never ever remotely ignored the "Getting sleepy" thing again.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Tired driving

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heck_rail_crash

          1. MJI Silver badge

            Re: Tired driving

            Killed a driver and wrote off a whole train

      5. Baldrickk

        re: nodded off while waiting and stayed asleep through several cycles

        I've actually found that singing is one of the best things you can do to keep yourself awake.

        Had to do some very early/late long runs for work, and sometimes you get hit with a wave of tiredness which you need to hold back until you can get to the next service station for a nap and an energy drink.

        Singing (with the radio or sans music) is both an active physical and mental task, but one that does not interfere with your primary task of getting from A to B while remaining on the road in one correctly shaped piece.

        Just listening to music/radio is a passive activity, as is just holding the wheel straight on the motorway. You need something active to keep you alert, and you can't really get up and do something else.

  3. Khaptain Silver badge
    Trollface

    Forbidden Excitement

    Do AppleDroids also get a ticket when they run out the shop screaming for joy when they get a new Ithingy.

    1. death&taxes

      Re: Forbidden Excitement

      Well done - totally contrived, not at all funny and just silly - all in one comment.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Forbidden Excitement

        > Well done - totally contrived, not at all funny and just

        > silly - all in one comment

        Dear HEAVENS above - DID YOU NOT SEE THE TROLLING ICON?

        ARGHS

        1. Kurt Meyer
          Pint

          Re: Forbidden Excitement

          @ AC

          "Dear HEAVENS above - DID YOU NOT SEE THE TROLLING ICON?"

          He, and at the time of this post, 23 others!

          Btw, I heartily endorse your entirely appropriate use of caps.

          Have one on me.

    2. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

      Re: Forbidden Excitement

      @Khaptain

      Naturally - with an Apple, it would be, "Forbidden Fruit"

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He should apply for a place in the Astronauts training program.

  5. Hollerithevo

    singing while non white?

    Seems a ridiculous waste of police time.

    1. chivo243 Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: singing while non white?

      @Hollerithevo

      And money... can't forget about the money. It probably cost more that $149 to process all the paperwork included in an arrest by 4 count them 4 Mounties... I bet $149 doesn't cover their wages for the time spend on the arrest.

      1. iron Silver badge

        Re: singing while non white?

        Who was arrested? The story says they checked his license and registration and gave him a fine.

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: A ridiculous waste of police...

          [screech] Roxanne! You don't need to put on that red light.[/screech]

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: A ridiculous waste of police...

            > Roxanne!

            Good one! :-D

      2. Nolveys
        Headmaster

        Re: singing while non white?

        arrest by 4 count them 4 Mounties

        No Mounties in Quebec (or at least, none of them doing traffic stuff). Quebec has its own police force as does Ontario.

      3. anothercynic Silver badge

        Re: singing while non white?

        He was trying to hit the high notes in falsetto? In falsetto you could be screeching 'without your knowledge'...

        You have to give Martha Wash her dues... she has a great vocal range (and yes, that *is* Martha's voice, *not* Zelma Davis' (who was lip synching in the video).

        1. TrumpSlurp the Troll
          Windows

          Re: singing while non white? @anothercynic

          Can I enter a small plea that you match your opening and closing brackets?

          Nothing personal, it's just I have the ghost of an ancient programmer screaming in my ear and giving me a headache.

          1. anothercynic Silver badge
            Facepalm

            Re: singing while non white? @anothercynic

            Apologies, TrumpSlurp... It irritates me as one of the resident grammar nazis. I only realised *after* the 10-minute edit window that something was off-kilter. The second opening bracket shouldn't be there (you shouldn't use brackets within brackets). It should be replaced with a comma. I hang my head in shame!

            1. Jeffrey Nonken

              Re: singing while non white? @anothercynic

              But you can use other types of brackets within parentheses. Nesting parenthesized phrases is permitted.

              https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: singing while non white?

      Maybe he was singing in English?

    3. Dinsdale247

      Re: singing while non white?

      Welcome to Canada. All you have to do is OFFEND someone to be fined or arrested here.

  6. rmason

    Singing while under the influence of melanin

    Guilty!

    Very lenient fine for such a serious crime.

  7. Paul Herber Silver badge

    Was this a tenorist crime?

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Yes. A bass-less accusation.

      1. Korev Silver badge
        Coat

        You're preaching the choir with that one....

      2. GreggS

        surely they should have just fined him a tenor then?

      3. Captain Hogwash

        Perhaps they thought he was one of the Sopranos. Anyway, no need for such an alto-cation.

    2. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

      Only if it had been preceded by him shouting "Aga-doo!!" at the top of his voice

      (you know, instead of that (allegedly) god is great phrase actual (alleged) terrorist shout. )

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Aga-doo

        Aga-doo-doo-doo, push pineapple, shake the tree

        Aga-doo-doo-doo, push pineapple, grind coffee

        To the left, to the right, jump up and down and to the knees

        Come and dance every night, sing with a hula melody

        There! Got you singing it all afternoon and you can't get it out of your head :o)

        Bet you're glad you're going home soon!

        Cheers!

        1. Clive Galway

          Re: Aga-doo

          Hold a chicken in the air

          Stick a deckchair up your nose

          Buy a jumbo jet

          And then bury all your clothes

          Paint your left knee green

          Then extract your wisdom teeth

          Form a string quartet

          And pretend your name is Keith

          Skin yourself alive

          Learn to speak Arapahoe

          Climb inside a dog

          And behead an eskimo

          Eat a Renault Four with salami in your ears

          Casserole your gran

          Disembowel yourself with spears

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Aga-doo

            But have you ever met a nice South African?

            (1980's spitting image joke in line with sticking deck chiars up your nose - no offence to any South African commentards!)

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Spitting Image

              With Trump, Kim Jong Un, Putin, May and Boris in charge, not to mention all the PC nonsense, the world really needs a new Spitting Image. Then we can all go to bed happy and smiling on a Sunday night, thinking the world is not as overrun by clue-less nutters as it is.

              And the presidents brain probably still is missing.

              1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

                Re: Spitting Image

                I thought they were the new spitting image?

                I remember watching the campaign thinking 'these puppets have got really lifelike'

              2. RealBigAl

                Re: Spitting Image

                In the new Spitting Image the President's Wig is an alien controlling the nuclear trigger

              3. BrownishMonstr

                Re: Spitting Image

                The brain is probably missing?

                I'm quite sure it's been eaten by alien bugs. I think he qualifies as Braindead.

            2. TRT Silver badge

              Re: But have you ever met a nice South African?

              Never put a better bit of Botha on your knife?

    3. caffeine addict

      Lets stop this nonsense before one of us gets in treble.

      1. The Jon

        Ok, ok! Let's just wait a minim, and breve. No need to get all crotchety.

  8. Daedalus

    Forget it Jake, it's Montreal

    The real reason he got the ticket was because he was singing in English.

    1. ThomH

      Re: Forget it Jake, it's Montreal

      Forget it Jake, it's Funkytown.

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: Forget it Jake, it's Montreal

        But I have an alibi ... I did as little as possible when I did it!

  9. Haku

    I have a list of more people that should be fined for merely opening their mouth.

    But it would probably break the limit on amount of characters allowed in the comment entry box.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I have a list of more people that should be fined for merely opening their mouth.

      I don't know; you can divide a nation, turn the world against you and push towards an all out war...all in 140 characters.

  10. TRT Silver badge

    Ah! Montreal you say...

    He would have gotten away with it if he'd have screamed "Tout le monde danse maintenant".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ah! Montreal you say...

      > He would have gotten away with it if he'd have screamed "Tout le monde danse maintenant".

      Never mind having massacred the rhyme with that one.

  11. ridley

    Some things just make you go "mmmmm"

    1. Kurt Meyer

      @ ridley

      "Some things just make you go "mmmmm"

      I will freely confess that Zelma Davis made me go "mmmmm!"

      In fact she could have made me do just about anything at all.

      Mmmmm!

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon
        Coat

        They forgot to report that he was enticing boys to the yard by offering milk-shakes.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Happened to me in Australia

    1967, or thereabouts. Was ticked for singing in my car. Police said they thought I was shouting obscenities at them. Gave me a ticket. Once they found out I was in the military their boss was very apologetic. I think it also helped that I made a complaint at the station, being recorded as 'stone sober' within a half hour of getting the ticket...

  13. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Looks like Montreal is not a safe place for me, then.

  14. Scott Broukell

    Maybe he was also wearing a loud shirt in a built-up area.

    1. collinsl Bronze badge

      > Maybe he was also wearing a loud shirt in a built-up area.

      ....during the hours of darkness

      Or walking on the cracks in the pavement

      1. Uncle Slacky Silver badge

        Also, in possession of an offensive wife, curly black hair and thick lips.

  15. David Gillies

    How does "the inside of your car" equate to "a public space"? And event if it is, why is screaming in public spaces not allowed? And haven't the Dudley Do-Rights got something a teensy bit more urgent to be doing?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      a public space is basically anything that isn't inside the walls you consider your home

    2. BrownishMonstr

      Yet doing it in the car could still get you a date with the courts.

  16. Harry Stottle

    This only makes sense if

    he was driving in an open top car (or with the windows wide open) through a built up area.

    Otherwise, the authorities should have been told as (legally) forcefully as possible, to fuck right off...

  17. AceRimmer1980
    Coat

    Altogether now..

    "I fought the law, and the..law won.."

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L397TWLwrUU

    That is all ...

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Serves him right

    Everyone knows that in French-Canadian land, only nuns are allowed to sing in public.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO7cD6qmydo

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

      Re: Serves him right

      @Marketing Hack

      Everyone knows that in French-Canadian land, only nuns are allowed to sing in public.

      Shirley, with the possible exception of Celine Dion?

  20. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    This was Canada. In the US it would have been worse. He'd have been done for copyright violation.

  21. Dwarf

    Land of the free

    So, now being happy is illegal in the US of A ??

    Seems stupid, unless it was at 3am with lots of bass.

    Screaming in a public place - must remember that if you are being mugged or worse -- sounds like the police will be immediately there.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Land of the free

      > So, now being happy is illegal in the US of A ??

      Not until La Belle Province invades the aforementioned southern neighbour.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        Re: Land of the free

        @AC

        Hey, don't joke about that. Have you ever been to Florida in winter? You can walk down the rows in a supermarket parking lot counting all the license plates from Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

        (Mine's the parka that I took off because the temperature shot up to 80 Fahrenheit once we got to Tallahassee.)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Land of the free

      If you're wondering why the down votes, I suggest you buy a world map.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Land of the free

        > If you're wondering why the down votes, I suggest you buy a world map.

        And if you're cheap, ask if you can buy just the bit covering North America.

  22. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    They haven't heard me sing

    Might make it to a federal offence...

  23. Big_Boomer Silver badge

    Furious Singing?

    It was OK that he had the bass up so high that the tarmac was vibrating, but singing,..... in a public place,..... I'm amazed he wasn't shot! #CampaignfortheAbolitionofKaraoke (#CAK)

  24. DropBear
    Coat

    Must... resist... eh, fail.

    ...so what is the punishment you get for singing in public called...? A "da capo al" fine... ok, ok, hang on to your rotten tomatoes and eggs, I'll go get my coat...

  25. Servman
    Big Brother

    Ahhh.... Montreal

    If he weren't an Anglo (or at least not singing in English) he'd probably be ok.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like