TIL there's a law in Vermont that says you have to whistle while backing up your car

I was reading about weird driving laws last night and found out Vermont actually has a statute from the 1920s that requires drivers to give an audible warning when reversing, and the recommended method in the old text is whistling, which just cracks me up has anyone actually tried doing this or do people just ignore it?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sam27d ago

That whistling law is real but nobody actually does it, you can just use your horn or say "beep beep" out the window and you'll be fine since cops have way more important things to deal with.

juliarodriguez27d ago

Yeah, you're right that nobody actually enforces it. But it's kind of like those other old laws that sit on the books forever, you know? Like how in some places it's technically illegal to walk your dog without a permit or something. People just ignore them because they're outdated and nobody cares. It's just one of those quirky things that makes you wonder why they're still around.

the_brian27d ago

You know what, thats actually a really good point. My dumb ass got a ticket once for jaywalking in a completely empty street at 2 AM, and I swear the cop just needed something to do. It wasn't even a busy road, there was literally no traffic in any direction. I stood there for a second thinking "well, no cars" and just walked across. Then boom, red and blues in my rearview mirror from a cruiser hiding in a parking lot. I felt like such an idiot, especially since I was just trying to get home from a late shift at the warehouse. Made me realize those laws are only enforced when a cop has nothing better to do or wants to meet a quota or something. So yeah, old laws on the books are mostly just for that, random selective enforcement when someone's bored.