A motorist has been criticised for travelling at 110km/h on a motorway while his dog was in the back of a van.
The dangerous moment was seen by another driver on a Sydney motorway recently.
The motorist uploaded a photo of the daring act to Reddit last Thursday showing the dog peering over the back of the truck bed.
“Can someone driving 110km/h on a motorway carry their dog in an open boot?” the person asked in their post.
The post was filled with hundreds of comments from social media users, who were divided over the measure.
“I saw a dog like this on a day with less than 10 degrees, light rain and a bridle around its mouth. Don’t have a dog if you can’t treat it properly,” one person wrote.
“I saw a dog jump out of a pickup truck and get dragged under the wheel when it reached the end of the chain,” another person wrote.
Others defended pet owners and said dogs should be allowed to travel in the back of pickup trucks if drivers ensure it is safe for them to do so.
The motorist posted a photo of the risky act to social media last Thursday showing the dog peering out of the back of the truck bed in a vehicle travelling at 110 km/h (pictured)
“As long as they are restrained and the weather is not hot, and of course they are comfortable, this is not necessarily bad or cruel,” one person wrote.
“Do you think dogs travel much better inside the vehicle, where they don’t even need to be restrained and become a projectile in the event of an accident?” argued another person.
Motorists in New South Wales must ensure their pets are safely restrained if travelling in the back of a van.
Drivers will face fines and a possible jail sentence if they fail to keep their pets safe.
‘Consider safely restraining your dog in the cab of your van or open vehicle with a seat belt, as this is generally safer, especially in the event of an accident,’ advises the RSPCA.
Motorists are advised to ensure that the seat belt is long enough to allow their dogs to stand or lie down, but not too long as this could allow the dog to jump out or fall out.
A driver divided social media users last year after he was spotted travelling along the Pacific Motorway near the Gold Coast with his dog tied to the back of his van.
“Can’t they just let their dog ride in the passenger seat like a normal Australian?” one person wrote.
“If the dog is tied to the centre (of the cabin) and the driver drives normally and responsibly, I don’t think there is a problem,” wrote another user.
A driver divided social media users last year after he was spotted travelling along the Pacific Motorway on the Gold Coast with his dog tied to the back of his van (pictured)