A German father was livid after a delivery driver came within centimetres of his child
Terrifying footage of the incident has gone viral on social media
Photo by:
@muehlendahl
It’s frightening enough to be close-passed by a car, but to see your child? That’s even worse. Peter Mühlendahl, a cyclist in Berlin, posted a very scary video when riding behind his child. In the clip, you can see a delivery truck almost drive into the young cyclist, as another car was coming. After the incident, Mühlendahl rode up to the driver and rightfully gave him an earful.
When Mühlendahl told him off, the driver’s answer was beyond frustrating. “What was I supposed to do, there was a car coming,” he said.
“You’re supposed to stop!” Mühlendahl yelled. “And not go so close to the kid!”
This is the incredibly scary situation for kids when cars park in bike lanes
The driver continues to plead his innocence, irking Mühlendahl even more.
“If a little kid is riding and you can’t go further, then brake!” he yells back.
In the tweet with the video, the father says that he, “rarely gets loud,” but it’s clear that this is a rightful exception.
“The cause of this is, of course, that the driver disregarded all overtaking regulations. But then blame oncoming traffic,” he posts. “The basic problem is also the infrastructure. But there’s not much you can do on a narrow bridge.”
He then calls on the government to improve bike lanes for vulnerable road users. Painted lanes are better than nothing, but they do little to prevent drivers from entering them. Even when bollards are present, motorists have still used these areas, either to bypass traffic or due to inattentiveness. The optimal city infrastructure for cycling consists of fully separated cycle tracks to prevent the kind of driving behavior exhibited by the German motorist.
You can watch the incident and ensuing altercation below.
Ich werde ja selten laut.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/vhL9UBj2Vb— Peter v. Mühlendahl @muehlendahl@troet.cafe (@muehlendahl) August 30, 2023
