WOMAN TICKETED FOR DRIVING WITH PARROT ON HER SHOULDER

A driver in southwestern Ontario was charged with a fairly unusual traffic violation last week — travelling with a large, unrestrained parrot in her car. Provincial police in Stratford were contacted Thursday after a woman was spotted driving with a parrot on her shoulder. The woman was stopped and charged under a section of Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act that forbids crowding the driver’s seat. Police say a charge of that kind comes with a minimum fine of $ 110. Officers say this is a reminder that driving with any unrestrained animals in a car can be a distraction that may lead to dangerous driving. “We see these things happen with small dogs, sometimes cats, that are on people’s laps as they’re driving,” said a spokeswoman for the OPP Perth County division.