Mayor Ford has admitted that he was driving along the Gardiner Expressway reading a document while in charge of his vehicle. The incident apparently occurred this morning and was photographed by someone in another car right beside the mayor. The picture shows Mr.Ford with a document in his right hand and using his left hand to steer. It was distributed to the world on Twitter. The story about this matter appears in the Toronto Star and quotes the mayor as saying by way of explanation for his behavior merely that he’s a busy man. “Yeah, probably. I’m busy,” he is quoted. As reported by Daniel Dale, the exchange continued this way: When a reporter followed up by asking whether he reads while driving, he said, “Yeah, probably. Trying to catch up on my work; you know, keep my eyes on the road, but I’m a busy man.” When the reporter asked whether he doesn’t see a problem with reading on the Gardiner, he said again, “I’m busy.” The mayor’s reaction seems to reveal an obstinacy that he has been politically one of his most unhelpful qualities. The larger matter also begs the question of by whom and why the picture was taken. It seems improbable that it was taken by chance and then hurried onto Twitter with an alert to the Star all without a lot of planning. The mayor should apologize and stop this reckless behavior. No one believes he is so busy that he must drive in such a careless way. On the other hand, he might also ask whether he is under surveillance by people looking for things to embarrass him.
