Video: Anger as driver eats bowl of cereal

The driver is seen with a bowl of cereal. Picture: Comp

The remarkable footage captured on a cyclist’s headcam shows the motorist overtaking cyclists at 30mph near the Meadows while apparently trying to use a spoon to eat his breakfast cereal with milk.

The rider, who goes by the name of “Raging Bike”, can be heard yelling as the grey Vauxhall Corsa whizzes past.

The motorist is glimpsed using one hand to hold the bowl and steer the car.

Raging Bike then catches up with the driver at a set of traffic lights where the motorist can be seen tilting the bowl to get the last remaining morsels before putting the dish on the passenger seat and taking off.

The minute-long video has been posted on YouTube under the title “Breakfast at 35mph . . . look no hands”.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at The Royal Society of the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: “This driver is being irresponsible and risking his own life and the lives of people around him, especially the cyclists he is overtaking.

“Trying to hold and eat from a bowl while driving is a particularly stupid and dangerous thing to do.

“Drivers who eat or drink at the wheel can be prosecuted for not being in proper control of a vehicle, or for careless or dangerous driving, and if someone dies they can be charged with causing death by careless or dangerous driving.”

Motorists caught eating behind the wheel in Scotland can be penalised with a hefty fine of £90 and penalised three points on their licence.

Avid cyclist and Green councillor Gavin Corbett urged motorists to hop on a bike at least once to experience the risks posed by irresponsible drivers for themselves.

He said: “I’d hope that drivers would pay attention to the road simply because that is what is safe, not because they are being filmed.

“As a pedestrian, cyclist and occasional driver I see, every single day, examples of drivers treating being behind the wheel as an extension of the office, breakfast table or bedroom – phoning, unwrapping food or checking appearance, with little heed to the fact that they’re only inches from collision or tragedy. It’s the sheer banality of it that’s most striking.”

Ian Maxwell, from cycling campaign group Spokes, said cyclists who captured illegal behaviour on headcams should avoid on-road confrontations for their own safety and instead send the footage directly to Police Scotland.

He said: “Whether it’s texting or eating breakfast, the message should be it’s just not on. You’re at the wheel of a piece of machinery that can harm other people.”

The story comes on the heels of the Edinburgh Evening News coverage of the lethal tram tracks at Haymarket station, where cyclists have regularly been caught in the line and thrown in front of moving traffic.