When driving, your attention should always be focused 100% on the road. Sometimes, however, you catch sight of something so weird, so bizarre, and so unexpected that you can’t help but sneak a peek to try and figure out just what the hell is happening.

Often, it's other drivers on the road which catch our eye. Using cellphones while driving may be illegal, but that doesn’t stop many people from taking calls, sending texts, or even watching TV on their smartphones while behind the wheel. In the UK, 200 people per day are caught using their cellphones while driving–and that's far from the only distracting activity that drivers have engaged in when they should be concentrating on the road. One Texas woman even crashed into the back of a police car while taking a topless selfie for her boyfriend…

However, at other times, the strange things we see as we pass by in our cars aren't other drivers behaving badly but something that looks downright sinister or even supernatural. Perhaps, you've been followed down a dark country lane by a menacing truck, like Dennis Weaver was in the movie Duel, or spotted a creepy figure lurking in the trees, like something out of a campfire ghost story.

The chances are, it was just a trick of the light, but the following drivers all reported seeing something very unexpected while they were on the road.

15 Doggy Driver

Even a man driving while brushing teeth has got to be better than someone who doesn’t even have a license—or hands with which to hold the steering wheel. There are dozens of tales of people spotting parked with dogs in the driving seat–a great opportunity for a comedy picture–but imagine if you saw a dog behind the wheel of a moving car. While the SPCA in New Zealand may have claimed to teach three dogs to drive as part of a campaign, in real life, no one wants to see a pet pooch in charge of a vehicle. Most of the time, when dogs are spotted behind the wheel, it's their owner’s idea of a joke–albeit not a very funny one for anyone else on the road.

14 A Man Dressed In Full Medieval Jester’s Costume

When it comes to compiling things you don’t expect to see while driving along a country road in the middle of nowhere, the sight of a man dressed in full medieval jester’s costume, apparently performing his own comedy routine, is probably quite high on that list. One driver, alone in the car with her son, saw exactly that while driving home late at night and was so freaked out that she had to pull over to calm down–only to watch in the rearview mirror as the medieval performer continued with his repertoire of handstands, cartwheels, and even somersaults. The bemused passengers never discovered the reason for this strange apparition on their regular route home, and they never spotted him again.

13 An Individual Dressed From Head To Toe As An Elf

If that driver was freaked out to see a jester performing his antics on the roadside, imagine just how perturbed our next motorist was when he noticed someone up ahead on a major ride riding what looked like a child’s tricycle. Concerned that a small child had wandered away from home and found himself on a busy road, the driver sped up to see if he could offer assistance–only to spot, as he approached, that the individual was dressed from head to toe as an elf. Passing slowly, he saw that the small child was, in fact, a “person of restricted growth” in full Santa’s elf costume. The weirdest part of this bizarre tale? It wasn’t even Christmas.

12 The Skeleton Driver

Skeletons are a common enough sight when it comes to Halloween, but you don’t expect to see one behind the wheel of a car–especially not a moving one! One Louisville man has managed to scare many fellow motorists in the city with his right-hand-drive jeep. Rather than leave the passenger seat empty (usually the driving seat in most US cars), he's added a companion–a skeleton he calls "Mr. Bonz." Mr. Bonz even dresses up for the season and has been spotted around town wearing a Santa suit at Christmas time. Luckily, the skeleton driver has yet to cause any collisions in Louisville, but he has certainly secured some anxious glances from fellow motorists in the city.

11 A Blow-Up Cliff Richard Doll

If you've ever driven around the small town of Costessey in England, then you may have come across local resident Jill Stolworthy and her unusual passenger. No creepy skeletons for Jill—she prefers someone a little friendlier as her travel companion: a blow-up Cliff Richard doll. Jill uses her “living doll” as a security measure, as she insists that she feels safer with inflatable Cliff in the car—the assumption being that other motorists or passengers think she has someone else in the car with her. She's hardly the first person to employ this ruse; many people have used inflatable dolls and mannequins to ensure access to carpool lanes when driving alone–and with some success, despite the odd looks from other drivers.

10 Ted Bundy

Nowadays, motorists are wary of hitchhikers and even other drivers claiming to need help. We've all heard too many horror stories of good samaritans being robbed or worse when they pull over to offer assistance. One young man and his mother had a very lucky escape in the early '70s when they pulled over to help a fellow driver whose tired appeared to have broken down. The presentable young man shook their hands and asked the boy’s mom to get out of the car to help him change the tire, but something made her a little nervous, and she offered instead to get help from the next town. Only later did they realize that the presentable young man was serial killer Ted Bundy.

9 Driver Playing A Trumpet While Behind The Wheel

Taking phone calls or answering texts while driving might be dangerous, but most of us can at least understand why drivers might think it's safe to risk a quick glance at their cell-phone screens when behind the wheel (even though a glance is all it can take!) Some people seem to take multitasking to whole new levels while driving, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to their activity. Police officers in Melbourne, Australia were stunned when they pulled over a car that was reported to be driving erratically, only to find that the driver was playing trumpet while behind the wheel. It may be good to have some music while driving, but that’s taking it too far…

8 In-Car Crafting

Music isn’t the only hobby that people have been spotted enjoying when they should be concentrating on the road in front of them. Crafting is one of the hottest new hobbies and is a great way to relax—though it’s not advisable when you should be concentrating on the road, even if you find that knitting or stitching helps to calm your road rage. A motorist in Russia was recently spotted by fellow drivers with knitting needles in hand, apparently moving the steering wheel with her knees while she drove on a busy city center dual carriageway at speeds of almost 30 mph. Perhaps, she could try and buy off the police officers who came to arrest her with a hand-knitted scarf...

7 Two Bear Cubs In Car, Snacking

Bears aren't an uncommon sight on some stretches of road in the US, especially in mountainous and forested areas. While tourists might find the spectacle of a brown bear lumbering through the trees to be unusual, locals will barely raise an eyebrow. When bears come out of the forest and into inhabited areas, however, that's another matter. One motorist in an unidentified location parked his car up for a few minutes, only to return to find that two bear cubs had found their way inside and were helping themselves to his snacks. He eventually managed to extricate them from his vehicle, but his close shave is a warning to us all about the proper storage of food in areas where bears live.

6 A Man Barking Like A Rabid Dog

It's bad enough seeing a dog driving a car, but it's worse to be chased by one when you get out of the vehicle. One driver got way more than he bargained for when he pulled up into the car park of a highway rest stop for a nap. He had barely had a chance to close his eyes when he was awoken by a barking dog but was perplexed to note that there were no other vehicles parked nearby. It was at that point that our sleepy driver noticed a man standing a few yards from his vehicle, staring into the windows–and barking like a rabid dog. As he made a hasty exit from the area, the man/dog even chased after the truck, much as a real canine would in such a situation.

5 A Lot of Tarantulas Migrating

Most people fly into a panic when they spot even the tiniest spider lurking in the bathroom–unless you live in Australia, of course, where giant arachnids are a fact of life! One trucker, driving through Arizona in the middle of the night, reported an unexpected and bizarre encounter with tarantulas—a lot of tarantulas. Initially, the driver thought she saw leaves blowing across the road, but as she drew closer, she realized that the entire road surface was covered with the creeping, crawling bodies of migrating tarantulas—so many, in fact, that her rig actually started to skid on the blood and guts of those already squished by other vehicles. The worse came when the poor trucker had to clean dead tarantulas from her vehicle’s tires…

4 A Man Decked Out From Head To Toe In Boxing Gear

One driver had an unusual close encounter at a gas station, not with an irate attendant or high prices, but with a man decked out from head to toe in boxing gear. The driver was simply trying to turn into the gas station to fill up his vehicle, only to find his path blocked by the Raging Bull wannabe, complete with shorts, boots, and even boxing gloves. The standoff lasted only a few seconds; as soon as the driver tried to move forward, the boxer actually started to punch his vehicle. Luckily, the driver had a few gallons still in the tank, and after deciding that he wasn’t up for the fight, he performed a U-turn and headed for the next gas station down the road.

3 Driver In The Next Lane Was Brushing His Teeth

Drivers using their cellphones behind the wheel might be an alarmingly common occurrence, but some drivers even seem to feel that their morning commute is the chance to finish getting ready for work. It might save you a few minutes in bed, but you'll be in as much trouble for applying mascara behind the wheel as you would be for using a cellphone. One commuter was astonished to see the driver in the next lane was brushing his teeth while behind the wheel–perhaps not as distracting as watching a movie online, but still bizarre and still very illegal. Other drivers have been arrested for shaving while driving as well as eating cereal and reading the morning paper.

2 Extreme Boarders Hitching A Ride

Everyone remembers the classic scene in Back to the Future when Marty McFly goes back to the 1950s and makes his escape from Biff by hitching a ride behind a car on his skateboard. Despite the obvious safety implications, the stunt did seem to inspire a new generation of skateboarders and rollerbladers to get from A to B a little faster by holding on to the fender of a passing vehicle. Most of the time, these guys use their mates’ cars, filming themselves for their YouTube channels, but occasionally, other drivers have spotted daredevils hitching a ride through city center traffic or even on the highway. It might seem fun at first glance, but these extreme boarders aren't putting only themselves at risk but other road users, too…

1 A Couple Standing In The Middle Of The Road, In The Middle Of The Night

One driver was witness to an unusual scene when driving down a quiet country lane one day. In the middle of nowhere, far from any town or village, he found a couple standing in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night, enjoying a rather passionate embrace. There was no vehicle in sight, and to make the whole situation even more bizarre, she was in a wedding dress and he was in a morning suit. They looked for all the world as if they had just stepped away from the church after having made their vows. Although the witness never found out exactly what was going on, it does seem that their marriage was off to something of a rocky start.

Sources: theguardian.com; globalnews.ca; desertusa.com