Drivers on the phone

[Arch]

A tiny ray of hope...

Watching Traffic Cops last week, there was a crash that two of the cops were attending, quite a serious one involving a car that turned right across an oncoming car, causing it to swerve and hit another head on. One of the drivers airlifted to hospital. Two witnesses they spoke to were keen to state that the driver who caused it all had been on the phone - one was a guy who'd been driving behind her, and stated he thought she'd been on the phone for some time, and seen it for sure shortly before the crash.

His opinion was that 'she ought to be bloody locked up'. Now, ok, they'd just seen her cause a serious accident, but they all clearly made the connection.

The woman on the phone BTW, acted all bemused at the scene,said she thought there was nothing coming or, of course, she'd never have turned, and neglected to mention the phone at all. Tracing the records (which they police where able to do there and then), got her bang to rights.

Just drink driving, I suspect it will become frowned upon, but it takes a long time.

 

[gaz]

I saw that as well arch. It was great to see.

Traffic cops care greatly about these sorts of things, just a shame there are not more of them.

 

[Tinuts]

Just drink driving, I suspect it will become frowned upon, but it takes a long time.

Yes, but it would help considerably if there were actually realistic penalties for using a mobile whilst driving. A £60 fine and three points on the license is just derisory. You get fined more for driving a car in a bus lane.

 

[BentMikey]

...and that's the govt.'s fault. Traffic policing is low priority, and it should be one of the highest. Not just for road safety or to bring down the 2,500 deaths a year, but also because criminals use the roads, and they are hugely likely to be caught by traffic police because their dodgy behaviour carries on to the roads.

 

[Tinuts]

Indeed. Legalise and tax drugs and plough all the money saved into traffic policing. Simples.

 

[Dave Davenport]

I was riding up a narrow country lane last week when one of those really big tractor & trailer jobs came barreling towards me, he didn't look like he was going to slow down so I pulled onto the verge. As he got close I could see that whoever he was on the phone to had just told him a cracking joke 'cos he was laughing his head off.

As he passed I shouted 'get off the phone you tosser!' he just gave me the finger as he sped off down the road.

 

[Dave Davenport]

...and that's the govt.'s fault. Traffic policing is low priority, and it should be one of the highest. Not just for road safety or to bring down the 2,500 deaths a year, but also because criminals use the roads, and they are hugely likely to be caught by traffic police because their dodgy behaviour carries on to the roads.

http://www.cyclechat..._1#entry1701274

 

[Tinuts]

Had almost the same experience cycling to work earlier this week. Guy comes driving towards me in the middle of the road so I motion to him very obviously to pull over to the correct side of the road (there's not that much room - cars parked on both sides). As he passes I see he has a phone clamped to his ear. The only difference - I got two fingers! Unfortunately helmet cam failed to pick up the number otherwise it would have been vid-to-RoadSafe.

 

[400bhp]

I was riding up a narrow country lane last week when one of those really big tractor & trailer jobs came barreling towards me, he didn't look like he was going to slow down so I pulled onto the verge. As he got close I could see that whoever he was on the phone to had just told him a cracking joke 'cos he was laughing his head off.

As he passed I shouted 'get off the phone you tosser!' he just gave me the finger as he sped off down the road.

I think this is a serious problem with tractor drivers - I've not seen any driven well in the last 12 months for the ones I have encountered on the bike. 2 I can remember were on the phone, another 2 drove too close and overtook too slow.

Most seem to have been driven by foreign looking types or very young looking people.

 

[Cubist]

It will be interesting to see how THIS CASE turns out.

The article eventually manages to point out that she is not in court for using her phone, she is in court for causing death by dangerous driving. The use of the phone at the time of her collision is a contributory factor, but it doesn't appear that she has been charged with any offence relating to the phone per se. However, this sort of case may go a long way towards new legislation effectively making it illegal to use a hands free kit whilst driving.

 

[abo]

It will be interesting to see how THIS CASE turns out.

'She said: "I am a responsible, cautious driver. It is entirely legal to use a mobile phone with a hands free kit. I regularly make and receive calls while driving. My car is effectively my office."'

Ok, the issue of legallity is not being questioned here, stupid bitch. Drivers have always faced a DD charge for using their mobile phone even before the handsfree law came in, same as if they have a crash while e.g. changing CD's, lighting a cigarette etc.

I used to work on the road, up to about 6 years ago. I hated the 'my car is my office' mentallity some of my colleagues displayed. My car was somewhere to *escape* from work; I'd have my client meetings etc., catch up with emails and voicemails at a coffee shop or somewhere *then* hit the road. My company provided me with a full handsfree kit, I used to take or make the odd call: e.g. to a client 'I'm running 15 mins late' or something, or to my OH 'I'm stuck in traffic, see you in two hours' type of thing. I'd never get into an in-depth conversation on the phone in the car, it's just not the place to do it.

 

[Tommi]

I'm conflicted about mobile phones while driving. On one hand I know it can be a serious distraction causing countless collisions, on the other hand I know people who make/take brief calls while driving and haven't had a single collision in 40+ years. I admit my perception may be clouded by personal intimacy with the people, but this seems yet another issue where some (many? can't really tell) people are perfectly capable of assessing the risk properly and will never cause a problem because of using a phone while driving, but because of the masses that aren't the policy of banning it altogether just makes sense.

Then again, considering how UK is boasting about low car occupant casualties mobile phone use is not necessarily the most useful policy to focus on when more pedestrians are getting killed by speeding cars. Guess it's just one of the more simple ones to enforce, with less political resistance.

 

[Dave Davenport]

I used to make occasional calls while driving before it was outlawed, I would choose a quiet section of road and make very brief calls, usually to the wife to say what time I would be home etc. I don't think in such circumstances it is all that dangerous, probably no more so than pulling off the road then re joining the traffic after the call. And I doubt it would have been made illegal if others had taken this attitude. However this is not the way mobile use was going, people were/are making entire journeys while on the mobile phone even through busy town centers and heavy traffic.

And texting, looking at Facebook, reading e.mails etc.

 

[Gandalf]

I think we have a huge mountain to climb in terms of winning the battle for hearts and minds. By 'we' I mean those of us who recognise how selfish, dangerous and anti social driving whilst using a mobile actually is.

I think that most motorists, whether they will actually admit it in public or not, don't see it as a problem, rather like ignoring speed limits.

My most recent YT clip, which is a very boring 24 second clip I captured whilst waiting at a red light, has elicited the response



" Wtf, Why you are supporting your shithole country which have developed to Big brother country?? Get the f*****g life and start think things that REALLY MATTER".

I don't think this attitude is that atypical. Clearly there is a disconnect between the illegal act and the potential, all too often actual, outcome. How can road safety 'not matter'?

 

[cd365]

I don't see how talking on a phone hands-free is that much different from talking to a passenger. It's possibly less distracting because you are not turning to look at them occasionally. Do we ban passengers?

I don't have hands-free and I don't use my phone whilst driving, but I do sometimes have passengers!