America’s Most Pulled-Over Driver Is A Man In A Giant Banana

A man driving a giant banana—we know it sounds like a joke but we promise it’s real—has become a magnet for police officers and claims he’s actually one of the most frequently pulled-over drivers in America.

The last time he got stopped was last week, when a Montana police officer spotted the 23-foot-long banana on wheels in Billings, turned around and pulled it over. For Steve Braithwaite, the builder and owner of the Big Banana Car (which somehow reminds us of Oscar Mayer's Wienermobile), the stop was nothing but routine.

The Most Pulled-Over Man In America

In 15 years, he has been pulled over hundreds of times by law enforcement. "I would say the first eight or nine years, I was probably the most pulled-over man in America," Braithwaite told KTVQ News.

It’s not hard to see why that happened so often. “They always find a reason to pull me over,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “I would see a police car going the other way and get my documents ready. I knew they were going to loop around and pull me over.”

To be fair, Braithwaite drove his banana car around the country for more than 250,000 miles, so he had plenty of opportunities of being spotted. During this time, he learned that driving a giant banana attracts a lot of attention, especially from cops.

In the latest instance, the reason he was pulled over was an issue with the license plate, namely the fact that part of it was covered by two boxes; the plate features the letters “SPLIT”, by the way. Ultimately, he escaped without a ticket.

The Montana Highway Patrol actually posted a photo of the unusual traffic stop on its Facebook page along with a tongue-in-cheek comment.

“We’ve stopped speeders, distracted drivers, and even a few unusual vehicles… but this one definitely stands out. The Big Banana Car was stopped cruising near Billings today. While it may be apPEALing, traffic laws still apply to fruit. Safe travels, Montana.”

The Big Banana Car Has Old Ford F-150 Underpinnings

According to KTVQ News, Braithwaite started building the banana car in 2008 using a 1993 Ford F-150 chassis on top of which he attached the fiberglass body shaped like a banana. He finished the vehicle in 2011 and went on countless road trips in it since.

Chances are cops will have more opportunities of pulling over the banana car as Braithwaite recently sold most of his possessions and hit the road full-time earlier this month.

"I recently sold most of everything I own and put the rest in storage, and I'm now on the road as a full-time banana car nomad,” he told KTVQ News. Since the banana car has no sleeping accommodations, couch surfing is how he makes his way around. So if you see the guy driving a banana in your town, don’t be a stranger.

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