01What happened
The story, straight
Steve Braithwaite, the owner and builder of a 23-foot-long vehicle he calls the Big Banana Car, was pulled over by a Billings, Montana police officer on Wednesday after 15 years and more than 250,000 miles on the road. The stated reason was a license plate issue; he was not ticketed. Braithwaite told Cowboy State Daily he has been stopped so many times he now preemptively retrieves his documents whenever he spots a cruiser approaching.
Steve Braithwaite has been driving a 23-foot banana car for 15 years and 250,000+ miles. Cops pull him over constantly — he told Cowboy State Daily he now gets his documents ready the second he sees a cruiser going the other way because he knows they're going to loop around. Wednesday's stop in Billings was about a license plate; no ticket issued.
02Spread timeline
Where it actually started
03Source receipts
Every claim, linked
04What's solid, what isn't
What's solid and what isn't
- Steve Braithwaite owns and drives a 23-foot-long Big Banana Car.
- He was pulled over in Billings, Montana on Wednesday for a license plate issue and was not ticketed.
- He has driven the vehicle for 15 years and more than 250,000 miles.
- He estimates he has been pulled over hundreds of times.
05Why it matters
The editorial take
The story went viral on Hacker News, resonating as a quirky tale of how law enforcement interacts with novelty vehicles. Braithwaite's experience — hundreds of stops over a decade and a half, none for speeding — highlights the friction between creative expression on the road and routine traffic enforcement.
there's something funny about a guy who's basically perfected the art of getting pulled over. 15 years, quarter million miles, hundreds of stops — and he's still rolling. the banana car remains undefeated.