toronto bird box driver

Driver spotted wiping snow from windshield by hand on Toronto highway

Today in bewildering scenes from the streets of Toronto, a motorist was captured on camera driving down a busy 400-series highway while simultaneously trying to wipe heavy snow from her windshield. By hand.

Gavin Gerbz of Toronto uploaded footage of the incident to Facebook on Wednesday with the caption "Sometimes you gotta take matters in hand at 100KM/hr like this Sandra Bullock wannabee in the video I captured."

"Watch as a driver in Toronto attempts the BIRD BOX CHALLENGE on the 401 highway in Toronto," he wrote in the caption of a YouTube video featuring the same clip. "How do you think they did with 60 KM/hr lane change after full stop?"

The videos show a motorist on the 401 Express near Keele with their window rolled down and their arm sticking out of the driver's side.

In their hand is a long snow brush/ice scraper tool that they attempt to use on the vehicle's windshield, which is covered in snow to the point that their vision is almost completely obstructed (hence the Bird Box reference).

It's hard to fathom how this motorist even got as far as the highway to begin with, though as many in Gerbz's Facebook comments are pointing out, the snow likely fell onto their windshield from the roof of the car after an abrupt stop.

"Everything she didn't clear from her roof likely slid when slowing down in traffic," noted one commenter. "No fun. Reminder, don't be lazy."

"It's unacceptable and unbelievable someone would put themselves in that kind of jeopardy," said OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt to Global News when asked about the video.

"I was obviously shocked to see what was going on—realizing it's on the 401, a multi-lane highway, slowing down traffic. You could see traffic jamming up behind."

Drivers who find themselves in such a situation are advised to pull over immediately, as they could not only injure themselves or others but face criminal charges.

"This is a very simple task to reach up on the roof and brush that snow off," said Schmidt. "Anything less is really negligence on their behalf."

Lead photo by

Gavin Gerbz


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