A brazen driver shocked police by lighting up a joint at a traffic checkpoint in Yarmouth, N.S.

RCMP were conducting a routine vehicle inspection last Wednesday afternoon when the smell of marijuana caught their attention.

Officers walked over to a car with its windows rolled down. Inside was a man casually smoking a joint.

"I honestly don't know what to think," RCMP traffic services Cpl. Andy Hamilton told CBC News.

"It doesn't make any sense to a police officer or the person on the street. You know, this person is obviously a user, a consumer, but why he decided to light up within eyesight of the officers is anybody's guess."

Officers spent an hour trying to determine if the man was impaired. He passed the test, but they charged him with possession of marijuana.

"It appears that this was the one and only joint that was smoked," Hamilton said.

Fortunately for the man, stupidity is not against the law, he added.

"It's probably a good thing that it isn't. We wouldn't be able to write enough tickets."