Police fined a car owner after a speed camera appeared to show a dog behind the wheel

• A photograph taken by a speed camera in Slovakia appeared to show a dog behind the wheel of a car.
• Police said the vehicle owner claimed that his dog had suddenly jumped onto his lap.

Police in Slovakia have fined the owner of a car after a speed camera appeared to show a dog behind the wheel.

The vehicle was traveling 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) and hour over the speed limit in the village of Šterusy, in western Slovakia.

The image captured by a speed camera appears to show only a dog in the driver's seat.

Slovakian police said in a post on Facebook on Friday that the image showed a brown dog "sitting obediently behind the wheel of a Škoda," per an English translation.

A 31-year-old man, who was actually driving the vehicle, claimed that his dog had suddenly leapt onto his lap, according to the police.

However, officers said in the post that there hadn't been any sudden movement in the car and they fined the man for violating traffic regulations. It's not clear how much he was fined.

Police did seem to see the funny side of the incident, though, with a mock conversation with the dog about speeding that may sound better in the original Slovak than an English online translation.

Police urged drivers to properly secure all pets when travelling, as even small animals can endanger vehicle safety.

US researchers found that drivers who didn't restrain their dogs in cars were considerably more likely to lose concentration as a result of their pet's behaviour, according to a 2019 Volvo Car USA study.

It found the number of "unsafe driving behaviours" that diverted a driver's attention away from the road ahead rose 137%, from 274 to 649, when dogs were not properly secured in cars.

Slovakian police did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.