Man playing the trumpet behind the wheel of a vehicle. Screen shot of the viral video.
LEHI, Utah – Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason had never seen anything like it. A video taken on I-15 in Lehi shows a man playing a trumpet while he’s behind the wheel, with both of his hands on the instrument and both eyes looking at the sheet music in his lap, with the car speeding forward the entire time.
The video is only a few seconds long but has gone viral on social media.
However, UDOT and local law enforcement are using it as a reminder to people to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
Gleason says that’s especially important advice during the winter months.
“Conditions are icy. They can change with all of the weather coming in…You can go from dry pavement to wet pavement to slick pavement,” Gleason says.
Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Street says there is technically no law against what the man was doing, but officers do have discretion to pull over unsafe drivers and would most likely advise him not to do it.
Street also says there is a way the driver could have been arrested.
“If they commit one or two moving violations while playing the trumpet with two hands going down the roadway, they would be in violation of the careless driving statute,” Street says.
The video was taken in November, but other people have told KSL that this may not be the first time he has done this. It’s unclear how long he had been playing the instrument before he was filmed.