Think about reporting driver who splashes pedestrians?

[FurierTransform]

I saw a car splash a family walking with two toddlers this morning - 2 parents, 2 kids near a giant puddle in road.
It was obvious what was going to happen, one of the parents pulled the kids away from the kerb as far as possible & actually stepped to the curb & held their hand up in a 'stop' type signal but driver ploughed on regardless.

I asked them if they were ok as the kids were crying & covered in road grit, & the parents were washing the kids eyes out with a flask of water, but they said it was fine & I went on my way.

I did get the registration of the car. I vaguely remember reading that this isn't technically legal to splash pedestrians but now after the fact it occurs me how serious this could have been, & could easily cause eye infections in infants etc if they do it again
So i'm thinking as I have the registration & witnessed it, is it worth reporting it?

i've honestly no idea how I would go about doing that having never contacted the police outside of an emergency, or if it would be considered a waste of time/police resources, but views welcome!

YANBU = yes report it

Needs reporting. If you’re in the U.K. if there is enough reports about the vehicle being driven antisocially it will confiscated and the driver fined. People aren’t usually just arseholes occasionally. That behaviour deserves consequences.

Absolute nonsense! If you as a driver cannot control your vehicle, including to slow down sufficiently to avoid hazards, you should not be driving

I think unless you have video evidence you need to have two witnesses. I tried to report some very dangerous driving a couple of years ago but without any evidence they couldn’t do anything.

Do you drive? I ask because if not you may not be aware of how many hazards drivers are constantly on the lookout for and unfortunately a puddle isn’t one of them unless it looks so deep the car will get stuck. It’s also likely the car may not have had any space to drive round the puddle (eg if it was a one lane road) as that would mean swerving into oncoming driving to avoid the puddle, potentially causing an accident. Or there may have been a motorbike on their right hand side. The driver may also not have been able to just break suddenly upon seeing the puddle if there were cars behind him.
Do you drive? You probably shouldn’t, with that attitude.
When driving you have to be aware of hazards approaching so you never need to brake or swerve suddenly.

I wouldn't bother. I doubt the police will do anything.

This.

Can’t believe PP’s response about puddles not being a hazard drivers look out for wtf.

That poor driver, so busy "looking out for hazards" (not apparently including the wellbeing of small children on the immediately adjacent pavement) that they failed to notice the puddle right in front of them!

Brake. Not break.

But you're totally wrong. Drivers ARE supposed to watch out for puddles and they are NOT allowed to drive through them when pedestrians are near.

Driver sounds like a prick.

I'd report him, op. Is there any CTV nearby?

But you can use your eyes to see puddles and pedestrians before you reach the puddle, so you can take evasive action...

Excellent! But 'bare this in mind' - oh dear 🤦🏼‍♀️

Not necessarily. Could form a picture of persistently shitty driving habits.

It's actually an offense it called driving without due Care attention

My step Dad used to do this to people on purpose. He would actually go out of his way to splash people.

Disgraceful behaviour from a fully grown adult, I'd report!

People keep saying the police will ignore it, I disagree. This is one they will be all over like a rash, so much easier than finding a burglar, or bike thief. The driver will be arrested and thrown into jail and release a wife beater to make space for the driver in the overcrowded jail.

It’s illegal - driving without due care and attention. There was a woman fined for this last year or the one before. It was on the news. You can’t go around splashing people.

It is actually illegal to do what that driver did as can be classed as driving without due care and attention. They should be reported, my dad got splashed by a car many moons ago and reported them and they had to oay to get his clothes cleaned

Report it as it is a driving offence the impact on those children is not a matter for speculation at the very least the driver needs educating

@Jollein
Same happened to me a few years ago out running. Four utter tosser young lads in their boy racer car swerved onto a grass verge to splash a massive muddy puddle on me. It was so gritty I had a few cuts. They also skidded so nearly hit me. Damn right I reported them.
Police picked them up but it was four of them lying and I had no witnesses.
They were on a boys weekend. Police were as frustrated as me so they took a loooooooong time (way past pub closing time) questioning them.
I told a fair few people on social media too. Mysteriously their car and tyres were damaged where they left the car while the police had them in.
OP, make the report. Let the police judge if it was careless or deliberate.

So much of this is concerning. Firstly it's a traffic offence to splash pedestrians like this. Secondly all cars should leave a gap between them and the car in front, it's called 'stopping distance' and it's to give you time to stop in case the car in front of you does an emergency stop. None of your reasoning is correct, you're essentially victim blaming the pedestrians for something that was 100% the drivers fault.