Let it be said, a buoy (even a duck) will never replace the seat belt. The five rear passengers of a pick-up learned this the hard way during the scorching Sunday of August 15 when their “pool vehicle” was intercepted on the side of
Balaruc-les-Bains (Hérault) by the gendarmes of Pézenas. The latter relate with humor on
Facebook their encounter with the strange team whose rear platform was stretched with a tarpaulin, filled with water, and where five bathers paddled while rolling, oblivious of the danger, at the time of the control.
Obviously, to imagine this schoolboy trip you had to have sipped something other than water. The driver was fined for driving under the influence of alcohol. As for the five passengers in swimsuits, they were actually fined for lack of seat belts.