Can I report this driver?

[RainbowBriteUk]

Tonight after work I was standing at the bus stop. It was pouring down with rain. There was a deep and long puddle at the very side of the road. Drivers were avoiding it naturally because it was at the side of the road. A white van came speeding up, went in the puddle and it absolutely drenched me through. I had water dripping off my face. I felt so bloody down about the incident. I didn't get his reg number but there might be CCTV in the area. Can I track down the driver and report it?

Oh please do, I had it done to me when I was on my way to a day of Christmas shopping a couple of years ago, it upset me massively. The guy literally swerved to go through the puddle. Let us know how you get on if you do!

@poppycat10

In my local Facebook group everyone is always going on about this. It's one thing if someone deliberately steers into a puddle to soak a pedestrian, but I genuinely think that when it's raining as a pedestrian you have to watch out. Even if a driver sees a puddle they may not be able to avoid it because a car is coming the other way.

However in this case it sounds like it was deliberate, might be worth looking for CCTV.

They can slow down.

To drive through a puddle at full speed knowing there is a pedestrian there is driving without due care to other road users

@thequeenofsandwich

Also. May I add, my last patient of the day wiped his knob on my bed roll as he had a dribble As days go , today has been Shit With a capital S

... sorry what?

@SymphonyofShadows

It’s awful when people do this, especially first thing when people are on their way out and have to be in wet clothes all day. Someone did this to me deliberately once, but didn’t anticipate having to stop at the lights. She didn’t find it so funny when I appeared at her window and asked her why she was such a massive arsehole.

Agree. Here the pavement is 60cm wide in parts with cottage terraces either side. It doesn’t matter how much you look out, there’s nowhere to go. A car can slow, stop, wait, manoeuvre to the drier side of the road when clear.

Sorry that was in reply to @MereDintofPandiculation and @poppycat10 - quotes not working

It’s crap but just forget it and move on.
This has happened to me multiple times and I accidentally did it myself as there were cars on the other side of the road so couldn’t swerve it.
I had an Aunty that used to do it for fun too so if there were a couple people in the van the driver was probably showing off.

This happened to me once walking home. The worst part? The car was a police car!

Luckily I was just across the road from my flat at the time but I was doubly shocked that a police car had soaked me when it was a clear and quiet road where they could easily have avoided the giant pothole puddle that had been there long enough that anyone from the area driving it regularly knew it was there.

You know, I would report it if I were you. I understand that accidents happen, but if others in front of him were slowing down and it was a huge puddle, it was unlikely to be an accident.

Happened to me yesterday, I was trying to cross the road as I thought I'm going to be splashed in a minute, then woosh. Had to go in shop looking like I had pissed myself but then luckily was going home.

I had no idea this was an offence, and I’m very pleased to learn that it is. It doesn’t take much to slow down or (carefully) swerve to avoid splashing someone.

You actually fail your driving test if you d o this accidentally so asdume it must be 'a crime'. However if i see a puddle (as a pedestrian) i either walk to the extreme point on the path, or wait til tgeres a break and quicklyrun past it.

Somebody did it to me and my newborn who was in her pram.
I was like a woman possessed when I saw her turn into a house up ahead.
She was most apologetic when confronted.

This is very interesting, as it would never have occurred to me that it was actually possible to make a complaint about being splashed by a driver going through a puddle. It’s obviously shitty behaviour on the part of a driver that does it, but I never thought of it as criminal. But I guess it could be classed as ‘driving without due care and attention’.

It would be hard to prove, though, I should think. Obviously, it might be possible with the registration number, but without CCTV, it would be your word against the driver’s, surely?