The driver of a £90,000 Maserati Granturismo S filmed by a cyclist in Glasgow eating breakfast at the wheel last year has been fined for careless driving.
Dave Brennan posted the footage to YouTube in February 2014, saying: “Nice car. Shame it means he can’t also afford a house to eat his cereal in …”
The driver was initially charged with careless driving, but that was subsequently revised to a charge of dangerous driving with the case due to go to court next Monday, Mr Brennan told us.
However, he has now heard that the motorist had pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of careless driving, receiving a £150 fine and 3 penalty points.
He said: “I'm obviously pleased that I don't have to attend court, and I think careless driving is an appropriate charge in this case, due to the relatively low speeds that I witnessed the driver going.
“However, I think the fine is too low and that 3 points acts as little deterrent. Driving a car is a privilege not a right, and drivers must be fully aware of their surroundings and be able to react accordingly. This is not possible whilst eating cereal, using a spoon, from a bowl held in one hand.”
Four months before the footage of the Maserati driver was shot, another helmet camera-sporting cyclist – this time in Edinburgh – spotted a motorist eating cereal while driving.
Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at The Royal Society of the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said of that incident: “This driver is being irresponsible and risking his own life and the lives of people around him, especially the cyclists he is overtaking.
“Trying to hold and eat from a bowl while driving is a particularly stupid and dangerous thing to do.”
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Simon has been news editor at road.cc since 2009, reporting on 10 editions and counting of pro cycling’s biggest races such as the Tour de France, stories on issues including infrastructure and campaigning, and interviewing some of the biggest names in cycling. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, his background has proved invaluable in reporting on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, and the bike industry. He splits his time between London and Cambridge, and loves taking his miniature schnauzer Elodie on adventures in the basket of her Elephant Bike.
Latest Comments
S1mWa1k
36 min 28 sec ago
Surely that's a good thing. Otherwise drivers would be tempted to always fail to disclose if they thought they would get a lesser punishment....
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