An ambulance practitioner cycling with his 4-year-old son had rubbish thrown at them by a car passenger while heading to a Sheffield mass cycle event, however the camera footage failed to catch the registration number on the car.
Shaun, who works for Yorkshire Ambulance Service and had attended to TV news presenter Dan Walker after his horrific bike crash in Sheffield, was on his way down the Langsett Road North between Wharncliffe Side and Oughtibridge on his cargo bike on Sunday around 1PM.
He told road.cc: “I was heading to the Sheffield Mass Cycle Ride with my 4-year-old son on our Tern GSD. I noticed a ball of something fly past me so checked the cam to find the young gentleman hurling rubbish at me.”
Rule 147 of the Highway Code says that “you MUST NOT throw anything out of a vehicle; for example, food or food packaging, cigarette ends, cans, paper or carrier bags” as it can “endanger other road users, particularly motorcyclists and cyclists”.
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However, he said that the camera had a lens cover on and couldn’t grab a clear footage to discern the vehicle’s registration number. Although he said it would’ve felt like “wasting police time”. “Would be nice if the guy watched the video to know what a plank he was,” he added.
He continued: “To be honest neither of us really noticed until after. My son was in his own world so didn’t realise either.”
“I suppose the thing for me is the mentality, what possesses someone to be like that? Was it pre-meditated that he was going to do that as he’d already rolled up a ball of rubbish? I hadn't had any other interaction with them before or after.”
Shaun told road.cc that he had taken Dan Walker in and looked after him after the former BBC Breakfast host had an accident in Sheffield after getting hit by a car driver in February this year. Walker had thanked Shaun twice as he tweeted about his crash and posted photos of his bloodied face from the hospital.
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“Glad to be alive after getting hit by a car on my bike. Face is a mess but I don’t think anything is broken. Thanks to Shaun and Jamie for sorting me out and the lovely copper at the scene,” wrote the Channel 5 presenter, who had taken up cycling last year.
He later added: “Thanks for all your kindness. Jamie & Shaun were so great in the ambulance — not sure I was making much sense.”
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26 comments
One of our group was hit in the face by a plastic bottle containing liquid, thrown from an on-coming car.
Despite clear, HD-quality video that showed both the car registration and the bottles trajectory, no prosecution was made of either the driver or passenger.
Police Scotland advised the reason for no prosecution was that "the driver couldn't remember the incident".
In other words, Police Scotland couldn't be bothered to chase it up.
Is that a thing now ... you can get out of being prosecuted just by not being able to remember an incident there is video footage of happening?
The world truly has gone mad.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/road.cc/content/news/driver-escapes-punishm...
Precisely the reason I will never cycle in Scotland. The police are anti cycling.
Maybe - but in years of cycling there, i (and similar others I knew) almost never had occasional to deal with them.
I think you might be cutting your nose off to spite your face.
Er. No. I don't think I'll chance it.
Fancy that - rubbish throwing rubbish!
It's a tough call. The person throwing the (paper?) missile, looks physically young and there may be learning difficulties. We just don't know enough?
Hopefully this awareness will educate.
Stay safe everybody.
then the parents or adults in the car should exercise some control.
Anyone who intentionally litters should have their gonads forceably removed and people like this should be strung up by them before removal. Astonishing number of scumbags around.
Agreed.
And said scumbags include moronic road bike riders who think they're being "pro" throwing gel wrappers away. Stick the wrapper in your pocket you muppet!
Yes, Paul. I entirely agree. Good point.
So many times you see those godawful gel packs mashed into the tarmac as you ride over them.
2 questions. Are they really necessary in a non pro cycling world?
Why does a cyclist choose to litter them? I'd prefer a banana skin.
I don't mind people using gel packs (though they do seem highly packaged compared to the alternatives), but it's such a simple concept - if you bring something with you, take it back again too or at the very least hang onto it until you reach a bin.
Banana skins are just an accident waiting to happen.
That seems a little harsh. I'd suggest several hours of public service cleaning up other people's rubbish.
Your punishment has the added benefit of being applicable to female offenders as well.
Equal opportunity punishments for all
And then the stringing up?
Not following the bit about a lens cover on - surely that would result in a clip of black ?!
A clear protective cover?
That would be it. The bloke was using a 360 cam: they have bulgy lenses which are prone to being scratched so lens covers are available at the cost of reduced sharpness. Which would appear to be a poor choice if number plates are no longer legible to identify twats like the one in the video.
Thanks both.
A 360 camera does not seem a good idea for reporting as it invites the police dodge that the distortion means they can't judge distances.
it invites the police dodge that the distortion means they can't judge distances
Doesn't matter, they have an infinite supply of other dodges which they use to prove that it's impossible for a pass to be too close
Pity the car wasn't identified, but that's how it goes sometimes (and why it can help to have a front and rear camera).
If it was identified, I don't think that would have been a waste of police time (assuming they're one of the forces that cares about traffic offences) as too many drivers/passengers think it's acceptable to harrass cyclists, partly due to the ridiculous "culture war" that right-wing media encourages.
There is another complication that the offence in this case was committed by the passenger. Even if the reg was legible, that only identifies the Registered Keeper. For most road traffic offences the Keeper can be compelled to supply the driver's details under S172, but that wouldn't be relevant here - it does not extend to identifying passengers nor to offences that aren't road traffic offences (i.e. wouldn't cover littering nor assault, even if they happened to be carried out from a vehicle, as far as I can tell).
Obviously if you've identified the car (and registered keeper), and had a good photo of the offender, it probably would be fairly straightforward detective work to identify them from the Keeper's friends/family - but even that is a step up in actual police resources.
The driver is generally held responsible for the actions of their passengers, so they could just identify the driver and give them some grief.