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Video of car driving ‘dangerously’ close to five-year-old cyclist sparks fierce debate
Many people believe the incident was down to poor parenting, not bad driving…
A video showing a car driving within close proximity to a five-year-old cyclist has sparked an online debate this week.
The child’s dad shared the footage of the incident onto Twitter last week to call out the driver’s actions, writing: “How can we expect parents to let their kids ride to school if this is how their neighbours drive towards them?
“He’s five by the way and this is 100m from his home.”
In a follow up tweet, he added: “This is what happens when you don’t provide safe cycling infrastructure around schools or on the way to schools.
“Today it was my child but it could easily have been yours or anyone else.”
The footage has since gained over 1.9 million views, and has sparked a fierce debate among drivers and cyclists about who exactly is in the wrong here.
Many were quick to slam the driver’s actions, agreeing with the frustrated parent that the vehicle came way too close to the child.
One person wrote: “It’s a massive vehicle coming towards a tiny child and not slowing down at all. Are you okay?”, while TV presenter Jeremy Vine commented: “The child is FIVE. The driver MUST go dead slow, or stop.
“Any petrosexual who can’t see this needs to cut up their driving licence and send the pieces back to the DVLA.”
However, the majority of people slammed the parent of the child for putting his son in a dangerous situation, pointing out that the car was moving slowly and was positioned correctly.
One person pointed out: “No real danger of ever hitting the child unless he somehow fell or came off the bike. Biggest issue here is why such a young child being put on a busy main road in poor weather conditions.”
Another commented: “At this point you should have stopped your child and yourself. Your side of the road is blocked and the oncoming car has no place to stop or pass safely. You are in the wrong here but that doesn’t get likes on the internet does it?”
There is no legal age-limit for children to cycle on the roads, with the decision coming down to each child’s own cycling skills, maturity and awareness of possible hazards.