It happened many months ago on a busy road in York. But now, thanks to a Los Angeles-based website, a video of a motorcyclist colliding with a pedestrian has gone viral and sparked an international debate.
The film is shot by the motorcyclist via a helmet-mounted camera as he rides down St Maurice’s Road in York.
Whistling, he rides between two lanes of stationary traffic until he collides with a woman pedestrian crossing the road a little way before the Monk Bar Hotel.
An altercation follows. “You all right?” he asks.
“Could you go any faster?” is her annoyed reply.
“I was only going 20!”
The good news is that the woman who is knocked over gets up. Although clearly shaken, she appears relatively unhurt.
But her unhappy experience has now been viewed more than two million people on Facebook, since being posted on December 3, and has attracted more than 10,000 comments.
And another 270,000 have watched it on YouTube, where it was uploaded in April 2014.
The big question
The video was uploaded by Jukin Video – motto “Shoot – Share – Sell” – a website based in Los Angeles, California.
When they uploaded it to Facebook, they asked one simple question:
This seemed to divide the Facebook audience who commented on the video from various parts of the world.
It’s the biker’s fault
– Matthew X Trujillo, California
– Zach Washam, Arizona
– Jim McFarland, UK
– Simon Cavaliere, Merseyside
It’s the woman’s fault
– Nathan S Ingram
– Sam Howe, Hemel Hempstead
– Betina Bilham-Ware, Eastbourne
– Mark Roch, Pembroke
They’re both to blame
– Robert Pearce, Chorley
– Bob Kimminau, Lincoln
The locals have their say
– Peter Sellers, Pickering
– Kat Atkinson
– Daniel Bird
Or perhaps it’s someone else’s fault…
– Tom Daly, Belfast
…or nobody’s
– Sam Speight, Bristol
So, people: what do you think?