Remember that near-miss video from Manitoba a few weeks ago? According to Global News, police have ticketed the driver who nearly hit the motorcyclist.
We’ve posted the video again below, if you don’t remember it. It was taken by Ryan Evans, who was out for an early-season ride near Gimli, Manitoba, when he was nearly struck by a car overtaking a transport truck coming from the opposite direction.
According to Global News, police have caught up with the driver of the car and given him a ticket for careless driving. Their report says the driver’s fine will be determined by a judge after the 65-year-old appears in court.
“You think that was the first time a 65 year old did something stupid in a car…”
Massive assumption you’re making there, swappingcogs. Can you please cite the evidence you have to validate your statement?
Isn’t a “near miss” – a hit. I love having misses, as it’s way better than not missing….
Actually, I don’t think his age has anything to do with it. It is spring in Manitoba and this was the riders’ first ride of the season. I expect that Manitoba drivers haven’t seen riders on the road since September last year. Am I cutting him some slack? You bet. What we don’t know is all of the other factors involved in incidents like this.
Again, the potential was high, but nothing bad happened, other than both driver and rider probably had to stop and change their pants.
For the record, drivers and riders of all ages do incredibly stupid things every day and yes, I think that he will likely double and triple check before he pulls out like that again.
You think that was the first time a 65 year old did something stupid in a car, and that he’ll immediately stop without any legal repercussions? That’s ridiculously naive.
But there were no repercussions. Was it a stupid thing to do? Yup. Did the rider have a close call? Yup. This reminds me of “stunting” laws across Canada: exceed the speed limit by an arbitrarily determined amount and you are stunting, resulting in massive repercussions. I say let’s move away from penalties based on the potential for bad things to happen and actually move to punish those that do others harm.
Was the car driver in the wrong? Sure was. Did they learn something that will change the way they drive? I hope so. Maybe the next time, they go to pull out, they will hesitate and double-check to ensure that a near-miss doesn’t turn into a accident.
They really should have posted his name. This kind of careless driving kills people and should have the repercussions to match.