A woman has been caught on helmet camera eating a bowl of cereal while driving.
Footage of the cereal offender, who was caught spoon handed near Hampton Court, was uploaded yesterday by cyclist, David Williams, who spotted the woman mid-breakfast as he turned right across a queue of cars.
After passing behind the red Land Rover Discovery, which was waiting behind a bus and a car at a junction, he appears to do a double take and rides around to the passenger's side to knock on the window and express his disapproval.
He says: "Put that down, I'm going to the police. I've got your number."
"Absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous, you're bloody dangerous."
The woman, who was holding the cereal bowl in the left hand and steering with the right, appears nonplussed, gestures in front of her at the traffic and carries on eating as she pulls away again.
Range Rover (LF13 XEW) driver eating a bowl of cereal, Hampton Court: http://t.co/zoiHV30qDC via @YouTube
— David H Williams (@Bigdai100) June 16, 2015
He then turns to a woman in the car behind the Land Rover in the queue to say: "She's eating a bowl of cereal."
The woman says: "While she's driving?"
"Yeah," he replies.
Mr Williams told the Surrey Comet “You can see that her car is moving from a long way back and just as I pull alongside her she’s put some food in her mouth.
“She just carries on driving.
“We’ve all eaten mars bars or something, or had a drink of coke, but nothing like this.
“I mean, who takes a bowl of cereal into the car?
“I regularly see dangerous driving but I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Surrey Police have messaged Mr Williams to say an officer will be in touch for the footage and to identify the woman.
A Surrey Police spokeswoman said: "Police will be looking in to it a lot more. Surrey Road Cops will also tweet back to the poster with something of that affect so people can see police will look into it."
74 thoughts on “Video: woman caught eating a bowl of cereal while driving”
Posted in forum, admin please
Posted in forum, admin please delete my post ta
Some people!
Some people!
I’m confident that when
I’m confident that when identified, she’ll be fined at *least* the cost of the cereal. Maybe the milk, too.
That’ll teach her.
“I’ll take my bowl of cereal
“I’ll take my bowl of cereal and eat it whilst driving my 4×4”
Anybody that has ever gone through this decision making process should lose their licence.
It’s good to see the police are being proactive with this.
The main problem with this is
The main problem with this is that the cereal would be soggy by the time you got to work
I agree it’s a daft thing to
I agree it’s a daft thing to do. She probably thinks, ‘if I’m just going to be sitting there not moving, I can finish my cereal,’ but it’s still a distraction when you have to drive forwards.
I’m not sure about this use of the camera. I can see why you’d use one to defend your position if you’re cut up or knocked off or abused. When you extend it to actively going after other road users doing stupid things which don’t specifically affect you, I don’t know if it’s a good idea.
HarrogateSpa wrote:When you
Yes – how could a 4×4 being driven by somebody eating a bowl of cereal on his morning commute possibly effect him? 8} Going by your logic, her behaviour should be ignored and she’ll carry on driving whilst eating cereal?
I’m glad for the proliferation of helmet cameras – I think in the long term it’ll be the biggest deterrent against bullshit behaviour on the roads.
HarrogateSpa wrote:I’m not
Yeah, fuck it, let’s wait until she hits a kid or a cyclist…
PaulBox wrote:HarrogateSpa
Unfortunately there’s the danger that (Daily Mail reading) motorists will hate us even more if they think that cyclists have all become self-appointed vigilantes out to ‘get’ them by spying with their little cameras.
Joeinpoole wrote:PaulBox
They can hate me all they like, so long as they drive properly.
Joeinpoole wrote:PaulBox
I couldn’t give a shit what those mindless idiots think, the action of this cyclist could have saved a child’s life by stopping this woman from doing the same thing this morning. That has got to be more important than anything.
Interestingly, the Evening Standard had a full page still of her taken from the footage on the front of yesterday’s paper, isn’t the Standard owned by the Mail?
Personally I own a camera, but I only use it for filming mountain biking (and diving). I’m naturally quite a confrontational person and am worried that I could become more so if I commute with a camera strapped to my head. It could have the opposite effect and make me be better behaved, but so far I haven’t risked it…
Anybody got any experience of it making any difference to them?
PaulBox wrote:
I couldn’t
The Standard has the same owner as the Indy, Alex Lebedev. Daily Mail is owned by Lord Rothermere.
I use cameras, doesn’t make any difference to me and I don’t think it does to most people, they’re just there. I very, very rarely confront bad drivers, I don’t see the point. Occasionally shouting “STOP” very loudly, is about the extent of my conversation.
The very visible Fly6 on the back does seem to make a difference to some drivers.
“I couldn’t give a shit what
“I couldn’t give a shit what those mindless idiots think, the action of this cyclist could have saved a child’s life by stopping this woman from doing the same thing this morning. That has got to be more important than anything.”
100% who cares how…
I think helmet cams should be worn by pedestrians too 🙂
This morning after dropping my twin 4 year old boys off at a not so local pre-school (my local school doesn’t have a pre-school so until Sep we drive them in).. Anyway I try to park a distance away and walk them in as its chaos right outside the school.
So I have dropped them off and I am now walking back to the car. I cross the street and a Honda Civic comes around the corner a little bit fast so I break into a run and I sort of mutter something under my breath and shake my head (I dont even look at him or get eye contact), I continue one my way back to the car not thinking about it a moment longer. Just one of those things that happens every day..
A few minutes later the same Civic pulls up alongside me and a 35’ish Scouser hangs out the window and starts having a go at me. I stop to discuss – he says ‘I always drive slow around here’ and I wasnt in any danger, I say he was driving a little too fast considering there are at least two pre/infants/junior schools about here. He says I am wrong, I say ‘I feel you were driving too fast’, backward a forward for a few seconds and then he says he will park up to ‘discuss futher’, I am guessing we would meet outside the school gates at home time… What do you think? Shall we get a gang together to meet him?
FerrisBFW wrote:A few minutes
Sure. You do the confrontational bit and I’ll bring the camera. If it goes viral, split the earnings?
Oh, just out of curiosity, the Civic… not a Type-R by any chance?
HarrogateSpa wrote:
I’m not
I think it’s great use of a head cam. The police should use exactly the same, patrol on bikes, they would catch many offenders for various traffic offences including drivers doing punishment passes. Then all drivers would be very wary of vulnerable road users
Quote:I think it’s great use
I agree that the police should do much more on this, on foot or on bikes, checking for people driving while distracted by mobile phones etc. It’s a point I’ve made before on this site.
I still think there’s a difference between the police doing it, and private individuals with head cams doing it, and it’s an issue worth thinking about at least. I ought to be able to raise the issue in a thoughtful way, without being shouted down (I’m not talking about CXR94DRi2, but other posters). By all means disagree with me, but try to remain civil.
@HarrogateSpa
Not sure I see
@HarrogateSpa
Not sure I see the problem with individuals with head cams on. I can’t see any reason at all why the video in question can’t be used as evidence of careless driving. Short of an extremely talented CGI artist and a sizeable budget I see no reason to doubt it’s authenticity.
The use of head cams will continue to proliferate and, as another poster mentions above, hopefully become a major tool in combating the lazy, selfish, unsafe driving that a sizeable minority seem to think is acceptable. The police clearly do not have resources to enforce traffic laws so gathering of evidence by road users is surely a good thing.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
I’m not
Did you bother to read your comment back to yourself? No doubt you know this woman or you must be related to her. What a nonsensical thing to write! A driver of a large 4×4 actively eating a bowl of cereal whilst ‘in control’ of a vehicle? How does this NOT affect other road users when she clearly cannot control the vehicle or concentrate on actually driving the thing and/or be completely aware of what is going on around her?
HarrogateSpa wrote:I’m not
I got a close pass from a driver on The Highway, London (A1203) and when I caught up at the traffic lights I saw why. Burger in one hand, chips on the lap and a drink in the cup holder. He was oblivious to me peering into his window, just as he was oblivious to me when he passed me. I had to bang on the window to get his attention and got a one finger salute for my efforts. I wished I had a camera then.
When you are distracted, the first thing to go is peripheral vision and cyclists are put at risk. I for one am glad he had a camera to record the incident.
.
*effect. Some spokesperson.
*effect. Some spokesperson.
She can say ‘Cheerios’ to her
She can say ‘Cheerios’ to her licence :))
Obviously a cereal offender!
Obviously a cereal offender!
LF13 XEW?
LF13 XEW?
Amaizeing. Wheatever next?
Amaizeing. Wheatever next?
Not much chance of changing
Not much chance of changing her cereal for porridge, pity!
love the way she’s didn’t
love the way she’s didn’t even put it down despite being summoned on it. Some people can’t even ever admit they are in the wrong too, never mind doing the thing in the first place. I said to some guy stop letting his dog **** on a path and he went ballistic, wouldn’t mind i wasn’t haven’t a go at him personally, which he construed, it’s just not a nice thing to do.
I doubt the police will treat
I doubt the police will treat this with any kind of seriousness. I expect she’ll just receive a “warning”.
webster wrote:I doubt the
When the same thing happened in Edinburgh the guy was charged.
Though he was doing 35mph at the time he was filmed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-25087651
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/video-anger-as-driver-eats-bowl-of-cereal-1-3167557
If you film people in the
If you film people in the street without permission then you shouldn’t be surprised when you get a frosties reception.
Thank you very much, I’m here all week.
Cereaously though. WTF! :O
M
She’s clearly decided to do
She’s clearly decided to do this before getting into the vehicle, that’s the worrying thing. It’s not a lapse of concentration, an accident or something understandable.
It’s not like normal people keep milk, cereal, a bowl and spoon near the driver’s seat!
ChrisB200SX wrote:It’s not
I do. It is a camper van though.
ChrisB200SX wrote:
She’s
Exactly. Unless she has a mini-fridge in there she has presumably left the house carrying a bowl of cereal, juggled it as she got in the car, balanced it on her knees as she backed the car out her drive and then driven down the road being careful not to spill it.
And at no point in that process has she thought “Hang on a minute.. this is a f**king stupid idea”
If she has to eat in the car then why not at least pick up a bit of toast or something you can eat with one hand without causing much distraction?
But what cereal was it?
But what cereal was it?
Well I have checked the
Well I have checked the Daily Mail website and the general opinion is its fine, it’s the cyclists fault for being angry and having a helmet cam. So what the big issue? Oh apparently we are also jealous of her car too, I assume that’s because we can only afford a bike.
BrokenBootneck wrote:Well I
I think LBC won the contest for nuttiest comment.
I’m considering changing my username to “shaved legged shouting finger”
bikebot wrote:
I think LBC
I had the misfortune to listen to LBC this morning on the drive in (yes I drive, fuck all that risky cycling 😉 ) The nuttiest comment probably prompted the presenter, Nick Ferrari into saying that he couldn’t understand why the cyclist “dobbed her to Surrey police, rather than just verbally chastising her”.
I’m sure if Nick got out on a bike more he’d experience first hand the dangers of sharing the road with morons displaying a complete disregard for cyclists, but being a fat lardy arse cnut, he was completely unable to draw the parallel between the road murder/death/kills statistics and the ‘I didn’t see him/her’ defence routinely rolled out in the witness box.
[Edited 2 minutes later when I realised Mr Cole’s comment was 12 hours old]
BrokenBootneck wrote:Well I
To be fair, quite a lot of our fellow cyclists on the road.cc Facebook post come to the same conclusion.
Apparently it is all fine because she is stationary.
I assume she must have been stationary all the way from home and will remain stationary till she gets to work 8|
OH and cyclists eat on the move so she should be able to as well. Because chomping down an energy bar with one hand is exactly the same as balancing a bowl full of milk whilst trying to operate a two and a half ton vehicle.
To be fair, the top rated
To be fair, the top rated comments on the Daily Mail website are either lambasting this woman or making cereal jokes. It’s restored a tiny bit of my faith in humanity.
Quote:Did you bother to read
I did read my comment back, and I carefully used the words ‘specifically affect’.
I don’t mind you disagreeing with me, and I can see that it’s fair enough to have a different opinion. However, it should be possible for you to disagree without sounding so angry, and descending into abuse.
I’m not in favour of distracted drivers, and I believe the police should be much more active in catching people. My doubts are about whether head cams should be used by private individuals to act as the police by seeking out and confronting bad driving behaviour.
You know what bugs the tits
You know what bugs the tits out of me is that when you see clips like this you end up with the inevitable “Vigilante” slurs. Yet see the same clips from motorists and its never mentioned. Why is that?
To be fair, they are
To be fair, they are GREEEEEAAAAAAATTTTT
It’s not just cyclists that
It’s not just cyclists that are fitting cameras. Plenty of drivers do it and cars will eventually have them as standard, it started with the Primera.
What’s needed is some standardisation in terms of what is acceptable footage and a formal police/DVLA means of submitting the footage and having points, fines, prosecutions issued.
Clearly eating cereal whilst
Clearly eating cereal whilst in the driver’s seat isn’t the most sensible thing to do. Obviously it’s illegal. If she does it whilst actually driving then it’s probably dangerous. Cyclists are vulnerable road users. But, all of that said, how about we don’t start telling tales on every thing we see? Cyclists with cameras used to be about protecting themselves in case of an accident, now it’s just a whole load of CCTV cameras picking up on any driving misdemeanor, publishing it on youtube and sending it to the police. It’s easy to justify each case, we are cyclists and we are biased when we view them. But is this really a good direction to take?
Edit: I posted this before reading the thread, I now see I have basically said the same thing as Harrogate Spa, so I guess we are in agreement.
John Mitchell wrote:Clearly
So I should not say or do anything when someone is doing something dangerous and illegal? Very odd idea.
You ‘cyclists giving is all a bad name’ types are all for telling off cyclists when they RLJ. Shouldn’t we mind our own business then as well?
I didn’t say anything along
I didn’t say anything along the lines of “cyclists giving us all a bad name”. That’s not my point. My point is that is it really a good idea for so many of us to film, name and shame drivers? I don’t. My opinion is that so many of us support it here because it seems to be a point won in the car vs bike saga. If you take the idea away from cycling, do you support the idea of having people filming you throughout the day with the threat of exposing any misdemeanors?
I didn’t say you shouldn’t say anything to drivers. You seem to have made that up.
I haven’t said anything about my opinion on RLJ, and I won’t because that would sidetrack this discussion.
John Mitchell wrote:I didn’t
People do it because they feel unsafe on the roads and unprotected by the police, at the mercy of drivers who are at best negligent and at worst actively hostile. If the roads were properly policed, maybe cyclists wouldn’t feel they needed to take matters into their own hands by making sure they have a ready source of evidence when the seemingly inevitable happens.
vonhelmet wrote:People do it
I don’t object to people wearing cameras, I definitely see why people would want evidence in the case of a collision etc. What I think I object to is that the cameras aren’t just used for that purpose, but instead are used to tell tales on any and all driving misdemeanors. I’m not suggesting that it’s OK to eat cereal whilst driving. If I saw it myself I might well have a polite word about it. But I wouldn’t post the video on youtube and send it in to the police. I think that’s crossing a line and I would hate for it to be done to me.
John Mitchell wrote:I think
There’s a pretty easy way to ensure it doesn’t happen to you.
vonhelmet wrote:
There’s a
Really? Haven’t we established this isn’t necessarily illegal? So by that standard I would be liable to anybody filming me and publishing what they thought was ethically unsound? Perhaps they would film me cheating on a girlfriend, not tipping enough in a restaurant, cheating in a game of Monopoly. Or even if we assume it has to be illegal they might film me smoking weed, jumping a red light on my bike, accepting cash for a small job. And then they publish it on YouTube with the self righteousness of “he shouldn’t have been doing that”.
I really can’t imagine many people would endorse such a society, and yet so many of the comments on this video support what the cyclist has done. Doesn’t that suggest there’s a bias at work here?
John Mitchell wrote:vonhelmet
Really? Haven’t we established this isn’t necessarily illegal? So by that standard I would be liable to anybody filming me and publishing what they thought was ethically unsound? Perhaps they would film me cheating on a girlfriend, not tipping enough in a restaurant, cheating in a game of Monopoly. Or even if we assume it has to be illegal they might film me smoking weed, jumping a red light on my bike, accepting cash for a small job. And then they publish it on YouTube with the self righteousness of “he shouldn’t have been doing that”.
I really can’t imagine many people would endorse such a society, and yet so many of the comments on this video support what the cyclist has done. Doesn’t that suggest there’s a bias at work here?— vonhelmet
Yes, except that ship has long sailed – CCTV everywhere. If you do something dodgy in a public place (or even just something embarrassing) there’s a chance its going to be seen by a lot of people. That’s just how it is now. The rest of us have to put up with it, why should motorists doing dangerous things be spared?
Personally if it had been up to me I’d have blurred out the face and licence plate on the grounds that its more about showing how bad distracted driving has gotten than about the individual. But I don’t see what’s so wrong about letting the police have the footage.
John Mitchell wrote:vonhelmet
A polite word?
You dont live around here do you? I live a few hundred meters away from this incident and the whole HC junctions are utter chaos. There are cars hammering through the HC station car park to by-pass the red lights, traffic queues from the M3 or Esher that can go on for miles. Crossing with kids and a dog on your own is taking your familys life in your hands…
Not far from here today I got shouted at because I dared to try and cross a road, and a speeding car made me run for my life. He then came back to have a go at me. All this was 100m from two schools…
As I always say, love the area but the traffic is a bitch….
Very ameusling footage.
Bring
Very ameusling footage.
Bring on lunch …………
Did you spot her coffee and toast as well?
I wonder if she’ll go with
I wonder if she’ll go with “the trouble is they taste too good” defense?
Some time ago, for about a
Some time ago, for about a year and a half my morning commute into San Francisco was done in the passenger seat of a friend’s car, and I’d regularly see stuff like this — drivers eating, reading, using electronic gizmos, doing this and that. It wasn’t every day, but it was fairly normal to see — yet shocking nonetheless.
Ahem…
Ahem… http://road.cc/content/news/145230-video-maserati-driver-filmed-eating-breakfast-wheel-fined-careless-driving
🙂
Eventually we will all have
Eventually we will all have cameras surgically attached at birth along with a GPS tracking device.
Only then will Orwell be proved correct.
Only then will it be too late.
Ultimately, if you’re not
Ultimately, if you’re not driving like a cunt, you’ve got nothing to be worried about.
carlosjenno wrote:Ultimately,
Nah, even that low standard isn’t enough to get you into trouble, because there are no police on the roads.
This really isn’t about being
This really isn’t about being a ‘vigilante’. To be a vigilante you would need to be trying and punishing the ‘offender’ outside the law. Simply providing evidence of an incident to the Police – who can then investigate if a crime has been committed and then follow normal legal procedures – is not being a vigilante.
The reason there is so much aggravation and accusations of ‘lycra-clad vigilantes’ though is that driving culture has a deeply embedded sense of individual entitlement running through it that reacts badly to being told how to behave, and reacts even more badly to being caught-out for misbehaving. It’s not just cyclists with cameras, this extends to prevailing attitudes towards traffic wardens, speed signs, speed cameras, drink-drive limits, the emissions-based VED, and even the presence on the roads of traffic Police themselves. All of these things get accused of being part of a ‘war against motorists’. Look how many years they have run anti-drink-drive campaigns for, yet I still hear people refer to it as if it’s not a ‘real crime’.
I still think the vast majority of cyclists who run cameras on the road do so in order to provide evidence in defence of themselves if they are involved in an incident. And it’s worth remembering that if the de facto burden-of-proof in incidents involving cyclists wasn’t so overwhelmingly in favour of drivers, then there wouldn’t be anything like so many cyclists routinely recording their rides.
slow_going wrote:This really
If he’d just given the footage to the police I’d agree with everything you’ve written there – but he posted footage of her on the internet with her face clearly visible and her registration number.
sporran wrote:If he’d just
Given that her actions are literally indefensible, I don’t have any problem with that. She’s patently guilty, whether or not anyone ever officially rules on that fact.
vonhelmet wrote:Given that
Is she? As far as I’m aware it’s not an offense just to be eating in the car – it would be if it was proved that she was not in control of the vehicle and driving without due care and attention. Given that she’s in standing traffic, that doesn’t look like the case at this exact moment; maybe she’d have put the bowl down if the traffic started moving, maybe not.
Eating a bowl of cereal in the car *does* seem stupid, but the sanctimonious attitude of this cyclist doesn’t do us any favours when it comes to furthering this daft tribalism between cyclists and drivers.
sporran wrote:vonhelmet
Who is the ‘us’ to which you refer?
FluffyKittenofTindalos
Cyclists?
sporran
Well I cycle, and I don’t wish to be included in that ‘us’. Besides, you started off complaining about ‘tribalism’, then gave what seemed a rather tribal defence of bad-driving, and followed it up by refering to ‘us’. Which just seemed a bit confusing.
If the woman had knocked over
If the woman had knocked over a child, would she be crying over spilt milk?
FATBEGGARONABIKE wrote:If the
Surely that is the only reason to drive a all terrain vehicle on the road, I.e the ability to run small children over and hardly feel a bump. Don’t worry her breakfast, upholstery and business suit are all well protected.
Have you seen The Metro’s
Have you seen The Metro’s “version” of this story?
It is quite impressively snide:
=D>
GrahamSt wrote:Have you seen
The Metro is the free version of the Mail, so this should not be surprising.
vonhelmet wrote:The Metro is
The Mail actually reported it in a surprisingly reasonable manner: they mentioned the guy is an experienced cyclist “who travels more than 100 miles every week”, cited the relevant bit of the Highway Code and even quoted someone saying “Hats off to the cyclist who is calling her out.”
I know. The Mail. I am as surprised as you.
Eating cereal while driving
Eating cereal while driving is so yesterday, this is the new stupid.
Via – https://twitter.com/gmpcitycentre/status/611496279164776448
bikebot wrote:Eating cereal
To be fair, that guy is probably endangering himself at least as much, if not more, than anyone else. I’m not entirely sure its actually as bad as the cereal eater.
The “news” on the front page
The “news” on the front page of the recent Evening Standard is hardly ‘new news’ to regular cyclists in London
Go for a ride (carefully) or walk alongside queues of busy, slowly moving traffic and you will see hundreds of motorists busy making phone calls, tapping smart phones, using tablets, reading books, filling in paperwork on clipboards (van drivers), watching a movie on a small dash mounted screen, and yes eating meals from fine china (the women I rode past was eating a big plate of rice balanced on her lap).
see the look of shock on this guy’s face, that someone has ‘caught’ him in the act of using his hand held cell phone whilst he is driving along
frightening thing is that he was rolling along at perhaps 5 mph and does not even have a hand on the wheel!
Stupidity isn’t and never has
Stupidity isn’t and never has been limited to any particular type of vehicle – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3131256/Has-got-death-wish-Incredible-dashcam-footage-shows-idiot-cyclist-riding-no-hands-busy-London-streets-s-busy-TEXTING.html
Be warned usual Dailymail standards included :p