Arla Foods HGV driver illegally on the phone and in a box junction

[marinyork]

The law assumes someone is 'on the phone' and makes a reasonable definition. It has to otherwise you get into inconsistency and a completely unworkable system.

 

[scouserinlondon]

Can you email the photo and the reg over to road safe as well? The company might take it more seriously that way just as with the van driver incident (mentioned on thisislondon). I would also consider filling out a stop smidsy form so they can log it as part of their campaign.

I will. Sadly didn't get the HGV reg.

 

[marinyork]

How did Jimmy Carr get off then?

How did Lord Ahmed get off? Very generous interpretations.

 

[marinyork]

Which is what I am saying with respect to the afore mentioned trucker.

They might have been doing something else. The problem is there's no workable system if you go down that path. You end up with ludicrous things of people saying that they sent the text five seconds ago and so on. The law already allows the trucker several alternatives :-

(a) hands free kit secured to the dash
( switch it off
(c) pull over, preferably somewhere totally safe, but even semi safe is an improvement
(d) get someone else to take it

 

[marinyork]

So if the law says above then how did Jimmy Carr get off?

Like I said a very generous interpretation. I don't particularly disbelieve him that he was using it to record jokes, but I still believe he should have been given points. If he wants to do that he should buy a separate dictaphone and can then argue with the police about that when he's stopped. People know very well there are all kinds of things you could use it for other than calls/texts/internet/communication, I switch mine off, people are entitled to do any of the legal options they believe are right.

 

[magnatom]

How I can have a phone to my ear and still drive with no complications at all.

Ah, so you are this new breed of superhumans that I have heard about....

 

[magnatom]

I suggest you read my post again and then apply the whole 'what is written and what is interpreted.....'

Oh I realise that you have not suggested that you were talking on the phone. As always you omit things to try and lure people into incorrect responses. A very common tactic of yours Lee.

However, I stand by my assertion that you must be superhuman to be able to hold a phone against your ear and drive with no complications at all.

So you can drive with no deficit, whatsoever, with one hand on the controls? No deficit?

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

How did Jimmy Carr get off then?

Probably on the "special personality dispensation" the police use

Would you get off with pushing through motorway roadworks down the hard shoulder?
Did Alex Ferguson?
Case in point

 

[jay clock]

If I was the driver I could claim that a) it is not a phone it is a hairbrush (hard to argue against based on that photo) and I was not parked on the yellow box, I was moving and a still photo at a high shutter speed can easily make it look like I am stationary.

Having worked in HR I am not sure it would easy to make a summary dismissal based upon that photo, and particularly if the police had been informed but had not prosecuted.

He would get a severe bollocking though!

 

[magnatom]

I doubt it and yes with an automatic. (although with a manual box your knees do come in handy)

Right you are then. I may be asking you to pop up to Glasgow sometime as I'm considering a research project on these fabled superhumans....

 

[magnatom]

Glasgow??? Er no thanks

Scared, ya big Jessie?

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Yeah, then you have Caprice, George Micheal - they got off as well didn't they?

Quite different cases as my post was in reference to driving offences in general. Driving is seen as a right not a priviledge and driving offences are seen as petty transgressions rather than actual offences in the public perception. We all know this, driving a ton of steel on rubber recklessly around a town centre is treated far less severely as swinging a 4lb lump hammer around town. Why? Because more people drive cars than need to carry lump hammers. Either is equally capable of killing.

Drink Driving is thankfully the one bad driving habit that has a stigma attached to it

Homosexuality is also frowned upon by many, and coupled with cottaging, seen as distateful and immorral in the public eye, thus no quarter was given to GM in regards to celebrity status

Phone use IS going in the direction of drink-driving as a percieved anti-social activity but it will take much much longer to finally get there

 

[downfader]

So if the law says above then how did Jimmy Carr get off?

Carr got off because his (very expensive and very good) lawyer showed phone records denoting when Carr had last used the phone for communication purposes. Since the dictaphone function doesnt access the phone line it was dropped on a technicality.

 

[classic33]

If I was the driver I could claim that a) it is not a phone it is a hairbrush (hard to argue against based on that photo) and I was not parked on the yellow box, I was moving and a still photo at a high shutter speed can easily make it look like I am stationary.

Having worked in HR I am not sure it would easy to make a summary dismissal based upon that photo, and particularly if the police had been informed but had not prosecuted.

He would get a severe bollocking though!

A) Why a hairbrush. Green cap is visible on the drivers head & very little hair.
Also Right arm is resting on steering wheel, which means that Left arm is
being used across the body.
Vehicle was moving, shutter speed at that light level Wouldn't have been
that high, unless high speed film was being used. Also requires "panning"
which would smack of a staged shot.

 

[Arch]

If I was the driver I could claim that a) it is not a phone it is a hairbrush (hard to argue against based on that photo) and I was not parked on the yellow box, I was moving and a still photo at a high shutter speed can easily make it look like I am stationary.

Having worked in HR I am not sure it would easy to make a summary dismissal based upon that photo, and particularly if the police had been informed but had not prosecuted.

He would get a severe bollocking though!

I would imagine that even brushing your hair while driving could be deemed an offence, since people get done for eating apples and so on.