HGV driver on mobile phone goes over zebra crossing

September 30, 11 a.m. I am crossing Hoe Street on foot on the zebra crossing outside the derelict cinema.

Once a pedestrian is on a zebra crossing all motor traffic is obliged by law to stop.

There is nothing coming from my right, which is why I’ve stepped out. I am about a third of the way across when the driver of a massive articulated lorry comes round the corner and cuts across the zebra crossing in front of me. Why does he do this? Because he is distracted. I can see he is chatting on a mobile phone. No, not a handheld one but one of those which is clipped to the head. The sort which the Brown government refuses to ban, even though the danger posed by drivers using them is known to be as great as the handheld variety. You are allowed to use them as long as you do so responsibly.

This driver wasn’t. He was in charge of one of the biggest vehicles to be seen on London’s roads, and he was committing two lethal offences – driving without paying due care and attention, and driving over a zebra crossing while a pedestrian is walking over it.

Registration number DK05 OLA.