Mobile phone using drivers will be targetted

[upsidedown]

I reckon cyclists with footage of motons driving and dialing should go to plod and say you can have this footage, it clearly shows this person driving and dialing, whilst driving this vehicle, reg etc. but it'll cost you £25 which you can get back from the driver when you fine them or impound the car. I reckon if one started filming at 10am and finished at 3.30pm with an hour for lunch one could begin a comfortable and long retirement that same evening on the proceeds .

I was thinking about this recently after watching a programme about London traffic wardens. The police have better things to do so why not hand it out to the private sector ? You could stand in our high street with a camera on a tripod and snap one every minute, they'd make a fortune.
I'd do it for nothing if they would issue the fines.

 

[hackbike 666]

Same old crap as usual...They will do FA.

 

[tyred]

I have no doubts, and have seen the evidence to support the dangers of mobile phone use while driving but I have always queried the idea that hands free kits are acceptable. Surely the problem with using the phone while driving isn't in taking your hand of the wheel but in giving your attention more to your conversation than reading the road.

 

[psmiffy]

I have no doubts, and have seen the evidence to support the dangers of mobile phone use while driving but I have always queried the idea that hands free kits are acceptable. Surely the problem with using the phone while driving isn't in taking your hand of the wheel but in giving your attention more to your conversation than reading the road.

Where prosecutions have been succesfully brought for death by careless driving the sentance is often mitigated by invoking the "momentary loss of concentration" clause - it seems to be accepted that a driver cannot possibly concentrate all the while

It ought to be possible to drive and talk at the same time without a loss of concentration but if it is recognised that peoples concentration is not absolute in normal circumstances while driving what hope is there for people using handsfree

Full concentration should be expected - there should be no "momentary loss of concentration" clause - if you have an accident incident in a vehicle because you are not looking where you are going, regardless of consequence, at minimum it should be an automatic ban - it is effectively the same as driving whilst with a low alcahol impairment

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Where prosecutions have been succesfully brought for death by careless driving the sentance is often mitigated by invoking the "momentary loss of concentration" clause - it seems to be accepted that a driver cannot possibly concentrate all the while

It ought to be possible to drive and talk at the same time without a loss of concentration but if it is recognised that peoples concentration is not absolute in normal circumstances while driving what hope is there for people using handsfree

Full concentration should be expected - there should be no "momentary loss of concentration" clause - if you have an accident incident in a vehicle because you are not looking where you are going, regardless of consequence, at minimum it should be an automatic ban - it is effectively the same as driving whilst with a low alcahol impairment

Yep - for some reason driving on the road is somehow governed by a differing level of expected competence compared to train drivers or pilots in aircraft.

I have no doubts, and have seen the evidence to support the dangers of mobile phone use while driving but I have always queried the idea that hands free kits are acceptable. Surely the problem with using the phone while driving isn't in taking your hand of the wheel but in giving your attention more to your conversation than reading the road.

Yep - attention is required whilst on the phone - much more so than if chatting in the car.

 

[xpc316e]

interestingly enough CB radio and Taxi radios are legal to use while driving..So it would seem there are some inconsistencies in the law.

The specific use of such devices has not beenmade illegal in the same as the use of hand-held phones, but that does not mean that it is legal to drive while using them. Any Police Officer worth his salt would have no trouble citing evidence that a driver using a CB, or taxi, radio was 'not in full control of the vehicle' if that was the case. It is the same as eating an apple, or drinking a can of Coke - there's no Act & Section that specifically prohibits such behaviour, but the law as it stands would easily cover the situation

 

[jonesy]

I have no doubts, and have seen the evidence to support the dangers of mobile phone use while driving but I have always queried the idea that hands free kits are acceptable. Surely the problem with using the phone while driving isn't in taking your hand of the wheel but in giving your attention more to your conversation than reading the road.

They aren't.

http://www.trl.co.uk/online_store/r...ars_the_relative_hazards_of_mobile_phones.htm

 

[hackbike 666]

I remember a car in front of me being pulled up by a copper at a Central London road block because he was drinking a can of coke while he was driving.I agreed with the coppers action at the time as far as I remember.

 

[Crankarm]

I was thinking about this recently after watching a programme about London traffic wardens. The police have better things to do so why not hand it out to the private sector ? You could stand in our high street with a camera on a tripod and snap one every minute, they'd make a fortune.
I'd do it for nothing if they would issue the fines.

It would be like shooting fish in a barrel .

I reckon a 50/50 split - half the fine and half the value of the vehicle. The cops/cps would still be quids in and I'd do quite nicely as well. Right, so where's your high street upsidedown?

 

[guitarpete247]

On my morning drive to work (sorry to far to ride, 12 1/2 miles, and as I'm a teacher don't want to arrive sweaty and in embarrassing Lycra - "I am 53") I always pass a school bus and the driver is regularly on the phone, always hand-held. I don't know what the parents of those children on his bus would say as he's driving windy country lanes.

 

[Crankarm]

On my morning drive to work (sorry to far to ride, 12 1/2 miles, and as I'm a teacher don't want to arrive sweaty and in embarrassing Lycra - "I am 53") I always pass a school bus and the driver is regularly on the phone, always hand-held. I don't know what the parents of those children on his bus would say as he's driving windy country lanes.

Never mind what their parents would say, try the police and the head teacher. If he does it regularly it shouldn't be hard for plod to nab him. The kids might even give evidence as well to the same effect or even film him in the act on their own mobiles. The bus driver that was recently secretly filmed by a passenger reading a book whilst driving was sacked .

 

[hackbike 666]

I agree with ^.

 

[Tinuts]

They just don't care. Some will even become really aggressive when you spot them.

So true. I was on foot a couple of weeks ago and spotted a pillock blatantly using the phone in one of those ridiculous US style pick-up trucks that seem to have become de-rigeur for certain sectors of the construction industry. He gave me the two fingered salute when I motioned to him about the phone so I went back to have a few......words. He very quickly became super aggressive, shouting "If you don't like what I'm doing you can F*** Off", started to get out of the cab .....so I informed him I was reporting his number to the Police.

Unfortunately no head cam as I wasn't on the bike but, as I was walking away, I remembered I had a compact videocam in my jacket so whipped it out and started filming the pillock as he passed. By that time he'd decided to put the phone away but I got some great footage of him driving down the Finchley Road giving me a two fingered salute (whilst not paying attention to the road). And all this from his ridiculous pick up (complete with gigantic bull bars - why?) with Cross Tube Rail emblazoned on the side. Great advert for the company!

Reported the tosser to both Roadsafe (yet another no response from them) and also CrossRail Tube Ltd - no response from them either. Good to know that employers take such a keen interest in their employees braking the law. Is it any surprise, then, that illegal mobile phone use is on the increase?

 

[hackbike 666]

I had that at Mile End...when I shook my head at her she took the trouble to wind her window down and have a go at me.

 

[Crankarm]

So true. I was on foot a couple of weeks ago and spotted a pillock blatantly using the phone in one of those ridiculous US style pick-up trucks that seem to have become de-rigeur for certain sectors of the construction industry. He gave me the two fingered salute when I motioned to him about the phone so I went back to have a few......words. He very quickly became super aggressive, shouting "If you don't like what I'm doing you can F*** Off", started to get out of the cab .....so I informed him I was reporting his number to the Police.

Unfortunately no head cam as I wasn't on the bike but, as I was walking away, I remembered I had a compact videocam in my jacket so whipped it out and started filming the pillock as he passed. By that time he'd decided to put the phone away but I got some great footage of him driving down the Finchley Road giving me a two fingered salute (whilst not paying attention to the road). And all this from his ridiculous pick up (complete with gigantic bull bars - why?) with Cross Tube Rail emblazoned on the side. Great advert for the company!

Reported the tosser to both Roadsafe (yet another no response from them) and also CrossRail Tube Ltd - no response from them either. Good to know that employers take such a keen interest in their employees braking the law. Is it any surprise, then, that illegal mobile phone use is on the increase?

This is so true tinuts, so true. The fact that no one cares, not the driver, Roadsafe, the boss, the company, people around or the police makes me sooo angry. Why can't we just shoot the feckers? Hmmmm ........ you know it's the right thing to do? Or it would be if we lived in downtown Sao Paulo or South Africa. It's just so depressing. I really think we need bounty hunters for this sort of thing. Using a mobile phone whilst driving is almost a strict liability offence. A driver is either using their phone or similar such device or not. Seriously I reckon I could catch 200 drivers a day, a £25 cut for each scalp = £5k a day, £1.8million a year! If one upped one's cut to £50, £3.6million a year. After 12 months one could retire. The State keeps the rest which would be considerably in excess of these amounts. A win win all round.