New mobile phone laws

[hopless500]

My cars dashboard settings wont work if the car is moving, wouldnt be hard to do with relatively modern phones.

Totally lock them unless paired with a handsfree

Not so good for those of us who use their mobiles for GPS. Mine sits in a holder and 'Helga' tells me which way to go.

 

[hopless500]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/151...ady_had_TWENTY_SEVEN_points_on_their_licence/

How the hell do they still get to be driving with that many points

 

[glasgowcyclist]

How the hell do they still get to be driving with that many points

Should be a strict 12 limit, no exceptions, no hardship claims. Otherwise this is what we get, people with 62 points still driving:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39053658

 

[hopless500]

Unbelievable.

 

[swee'pea99]

Should be a strict 12 limit, no exceptions, no hardship claims. Otherwise this is what we get, people with 62 points still driving:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39053658

"Automatic disqualification can be avoided or reduced in cases of 'exceptional hardship'. The process is a robust one and the concept of hardship must be proved to an exceptional level."

Not that robust, if you can be five times the supposed limit and still driving.

"Losing a job on its own would rarely qualify, but proving it would mean being unable to pay a mortgage or feed your family, would."

Well, it shouldn't. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Period.

 

[spen666]

It seems the law has been updated and from midnight last night the fine is £200 plus six points for touching your phone while driving .
Drivers that have passed their test within two years of getting caught will be banned from driving and have to resit the test and will carry the six points forward to the new licence .
Personally i think the latter part should apply to all drivers not just newer ones .

On a pedantic point

Drivers that are convicted and get 6 points on their licence within 2 years of passing their tests are not banned. Their licences are revoked.

This is an automatic thing. It is done by the DVLA not the courts. There is no scope to argue mitigating circumstances once you have got 6 points etc

 

[Smokin Joe]

On a pedantic point

Drivers that are convicted and get 6 points on their licence within 2 years of passing their tests are not banned. Their licences are revoked.

This is an automatic thing. It is done by the DVLA not the courts. There is no scope to argue mitigating circumstances once you have got 6 points etc

That law came in during the latter days of my ADI career. I had two people take refresher lessons with me having fallen foul of that one and having to requalify from scratch, and I heard from another instructor about a former pupil of mine who had booked the same with her (They never go back to their original instructor out of embarrassment).

 

[derrick]

Waste of time, there are not enough police on the roads to enforce it.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Not so good for those of us who use their mobiles for GPS. Mine sits in a holder and 'Helga' tells me which way to go.

Modern tech could allow sports apps, who uses those when driving?

 

[jefmcg]

I also agree that holding a conversation on a phone hands-free is distracting but, in the same way as talking with your passengers, at least you have your eyes on the road.

Eyes on the road, and mind on the road are quite different things as any victim of a SMIDSY can tell you.

Surely car and phone manufacturers can cooperate to ensure that mobile phones can't text at all and can't make calls work inside a motor vehicle unless they are linked to the ICE system?

No, it would be difficult. How does a phone know it is inside a motor vehicle? Speed of movement? Position on road? That would catch people not driving and possibly not in a vehicle. So some sort of signal generated by the car when it's in motion? Well, that would only be for new build cars so it be years before it would make an impact, and it would probably mean no phone use by a busy road side, and possibly in houses near the road.

You can't just block calls and text, you have to block data too as there are hundreds of ways to make calls and send texts that use data not voice or SMS. If you block data, then GPS won't work, vehicle tracking won't work, apps like Uber would have to shutdown etc.

Plus unless it was a worldwide thing, people would just start buying their phones from different markets that don't have the restrictions, or flashing their phones with software that doesn't.

 

[jonny jeez]

It seems the law has been updated and from midnight last night the fine is £200 plus six points for touching your phone while driving .
Drivers that have passed their test within two years of getting caught will be banned from driving and have to resit the test and will carry the six points forward to the new licence .
Personally i think the latter part should apply to all drivers not just newer ones .

Excellent news.

Now, we need to think about the over use of touch screens in cars, a design trend that I despise. I saw an advert this week for some new hatchback that illustrated the ability for the driver to conveniently swipe between screens on his car dash...like it was a feature.

Its as if these designs are feeding a habit removed by legislation against phone use...i must get my swipe fix!!

Awful, dangerous designs.

 

[Globalti]

Most of that won't work while my car is moving. You can choose radio stations or make hands-free calls but not much more.

 

[jefmcg]

It was far more terrifying than the usual Pakistani driving.

You are Prince Philip and ICMFP.

 

[I like Skol]

As has already been suggested, if the authorities started seizing vehicles people might start to take notice.

 

[spen666]

Perhaps whilst you are here, you could disabuse Drago of his belief that unless an offence is recorded by the police it's not a crime...

Reg,

Drago is so wrong that I simply left his post as a shining beacon of ignorance.

There are many crimes that are not recordable. For example Code D of PACE talks about arrests for non-recordable offences