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news
NMotD 59.PNGNear Miss of the Day 59: Starring a sandwich-eating van driver
We all like to grab a quick snack when we're feeling peckish, but there's a time and a place for it - and that time and place is most certainly not when driving a van.
But that's exactly what road.cc reader Mario Orsi captured on film yesterday morning during his commute in North Bristol.
Mario tweeted us footage of the close-pass incident on Little Stoke Lane, copying in Avon & Somerset Police.
@roadcc near miss today on my cycle commute, b/c van driver was *eating a sandwich* at the wheel Little Stoke Ln, North Bristol, van details: Barden Network Engineering, YS13 JZE cc: @ASPolice @Chris_Boardman @peterwalker99 pic.twitter.com/Hq7aQ8MzjJ
— Mario Orsi (@orsimarius) November 13, 2017
We've posted stories on road.cc before about motorists filmed munching away at the wheel, such as a man behind the wheel of a Maserati in Glasgow who was enjoying some breakfast cereal.
> Video: Cereal offender filmed eating breakfast while driving Maserati
He subsequently pleaded guilty to careless driving and copped a £150 fine - an expensive bowl of cereal, though with the car having a price tag around 90 grand, a punishment unlikely to have led to destitution on the offender's part.
Breakfast cereal was also the food of choice for a woman caught spoon-handed on camera near Hampton Court and who subsequently handed herself into police.
> Video: Woman caught eating a bowl of cereal while driving
Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.
If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.
If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).
Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- ktache 3 hours 28 min ago
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
- mctrials23 4 hours 24 min ago
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
- David9694 4 hours 31 min ago
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
- David9694 4 hours 35 min ago
Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
- Adam Sutton 5 hours 21 min ago
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
- mark1a 5 hours 30 min ago
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
- Dogless 6 hours 38 min ago
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
- mattw 9 hours 18 min ago
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
- tubasti 9 hours 35 min ago
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
- FionaJJ 10 hours 1 min ago
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...
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13 comments
I’m only here for the sandwiches.
There was a cyclist nr oxford killed by a sandwich-eating driver. Inexplicably (though unsurprisingly) found not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
http://road.cc/content/news/90037-driver-who-killed-oxford-cyclist-found...
Cheers for the responses, I feel much better now.
You didn't sack her either, reporting a dangerous driver can only be a positive thing
Is that Wiggo driving the van?
Overtook through a junction too.
That's not a sad story...
What a dangerous idiot.
I suppose losing his job will help concentrate his mind on his driving in future.
If as a motorist you decide to do something stupid in your vehicle and break the law, it is a good idea to make sure it isn't a work vehicle with the name of the company you work for on it.
A tale of caution regarding reporting to a company, I once phoned up a company to report one of their vehicles. A nice lady called me back to thank me, she then explained it was her driving and she had now been sacked, by her husband who was also the boss. She been on hands free to him at the time arguing when I saw her erratic driving.
I felt somewhat sick from this news, and my vocabulary for overbearing husbands and bosses was expanded.
Sounds a bit unlikely that he'd sack his wife.
Where did I say report it to the company? There seems to be a problem on road.cc with reading comprehension.
The police will identifier the driver by contacting the company as it is a clearly a company owned van. As a result due the to the driver bringing adverse publicity to the company, they can sack him for gross misconduct. The cyclist has no need to report it to the company now the police have been alerted and it is on social media.
In regards to the husband sacking the wife - in family run companies it very rarely happens. The only time partners are "sacked" is when they split up.
Dangerous drivers can give me as much of a sob story as they like, I would have very little sympathy for them. To have the temerity to try to guilt trip the wronged cyclist who was only concerned for their safety strikes me as utterly self absorbed and pathetic.
Why should you feel sick, she was the one doing the dangerous driving? Seriously though, and forgetting about the state of this woman's marriage, we really do need to escape from this weird thing of feeling sympathy for law breaking drivers. They behave dangerously when in charge of a killing machine. The consequences for their job, marriage, disabled children, aged parents, whatever are their responsibility, not anyone else's. If keeping your licence matters that much, drive properly, don't greet about it afterwards.