How hard is it to clear a rear windscreen?

On my way to work this morning, I counted 12 cars driving past me (including 3 taxis) whose rear windscreens were totally covered in snow. There were many others whose drivers had probably not cleared any snow but which probably hadn't been so completely covered in the first place.

Fair enough, it's a good "keep clear, car driven by idiot" sign - but surely this is a serious hazard, and a road traffic offence? There's no way a heated rear windscreen is going to clear two or three cm of snow without giving you plenty of time to be a road-going menace. A minute or less using a scraper / de-icer / gloved hand are going to give you hugely improved visibility. Are some drivers really that lazy, or are they the ones who think the rear view mirror is just a handy extra for checking if they have spinach between their teeth?

Spinach for breakfast? Yuck.

Some drivers use the wing mirrors more than the central one. Many van drivers have only wing mirrors.

Still it's ridiculous that people don't take two minutes to sweep the snow off. There was a speaker on the radio yesterday (can't remember what organisation he was from ) who pointed out if you were driving along with a sheet of snow on your roof which was melting slowly it could slip forward over your windscreen if you stopped, pretty dangerous for all concerned!

Although I hadn't been thinking in time-constrained terms about the use of the rear-view mirror, there's nothing wrong with spinach for breakfast. I'm rather partial to Eggs Florentine.

@Ciaraella - I didn't hear the radio piece, but exactly that occurred to me this morning as I was thinking my grumpy thoughts about lazy feckless drivers. To be strictly fair, these were a small minority of the cars I saw, and most others showed clear evidence of their drivers having made at least some effort to clear the snow.

Ciaraella said:

Still it's ridiculous that people don't take two minutes to sweep the snow off. There was a speaker on the radio yesterday (can't remember what organisation he was from ) who pointed out if you were driving along with a sheet of snow on your roof which was melting slowly it could slip forward over your windscreen if you stopped, pretty dangerous for all concerned!

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Good job it does not snow very often here... The roads are dangerous enough with nutter drivers as it is.