OK – so my latest article discussed a similar thing – i.e. the dangers of irresponsible driving, and the reason why we have so many laws in place to reduce accidents on our increasingly busy roads. This next story will quite simply shock you – apparently there can be absolute motorway madness on Britain roads…
According to sources from the Daily Mail, an hours’ worth of photographs on the M25, one of Britain’s busiest motorways, showed 14 drivers all breaking the law in such weird and wonderful ways; although wonderful isn’t perhaps the right word to use given how serious an accident on the motorway can be!
I urge you to have a look at the website and browse through the photos – some are unbelievable.
The most seemingly talked about one is of the truck driver, aptly labelled by the Sun whom also covered the story, as a “Cereal offender”. He is actually seen clearly eating a bowl of cereal whilst his large goods vehicle is driving along on the stretch of motorway in Hertfordshire yesterday (14th Sept 2010). Certainly a more dangerous definition for meals on wheels, fast food, and breakfast on the go. Its potentially dangerous enough to eat a bag of peanuts whilst driving at more than 60mph, let alone crunching a bowl of cereal behind the wheel!
Other photographs and depictions of the 14 drivers caught show one driving with his elbows, another using a mobile phone and then drinking whilst driving his car, and another looking down at his stereo (yes, eyes off the road) whilst he was eating a sandwich. The report goes on to say that in one hour five people were caught using their mobile phones whilst driving, and one was caught texting; two were reportedly spotted on hands free kits – which all sounds very safe – but not so safe when one had his hands placed under his chin, and the other had his head in his hands! See the photograph of the man with his head in his hands – its genuinely concerning.
The source also depicts another insane one with a bus driver smoking behind the wheel of the vehicle, whilst his colleague gets undressed and changed in full view of the front windscreen! The snap is unbelievable!
The source goes on to advise that the road safety charity Brake has condemned the actions of the drivers depicted in the story, with spokesman Joel Hickman saying “We are horrified by these photographs. It is extremely dangerous to attempt to drive without using your hands.” He went on to say “distracted driving accounts for a huge number of deaths and serious injuries each year and it is staggering that people continue to flout the law and drive recklessly.” Sounds like a man after my own heart.
The Highway Code advises drivers to avoid distractions, namely eating, drinking, smoking, map reading, or fiddling with your CD player or stereo. Perhaps taking a quick swig from a bottle of water doesn’t seem too dangerous – but eating a bowl of cereal behind the wheel just seems like pure stupidity. Let’s say traffic had to slow down quickly – Mr Cereal man will need to apply his brakes quickly, and will need full control of the steering wheel to maintain the vehicles linear course as the brakes are applied. Not so easy to do when you’re looking at a bowl of breakfast and have only enough hands to hold the bowl and hold the spoon.
The final thought from the article is an interesting one – all the culprits captured on camera by the Mail were either lorry drivers or van drivers – and were all men. Stereotypical or what!?
If you are unfortunate enough o be injured in an accident because another driver was reckless enough to eat their breakfast behind the wheel or drive with their elbows, call The Injury lawyers for a free, no obligation chat on claiming for compensation.
