Using a phone while driving

[fossyant]

Ouch - just read the BR thread....

 

[HLaB]

This guy on BikeRadar wasn't quite so lucky, but somehow survived !

WTF That was horrible (that word is not strong enough), I'm glad he's on the mend.

 

[ColinJ]

WTF That was horrible (that word is not strong enough), I'm glad he's on the mend.

It should be compulsory reading for any idiot who tries to argue that driving while talking on their mobile phone doesn't distract them !!!

 

[just jim]

That was a terrible event - what a brave guy. Personally I would be very reluctant to let that driver near my hospital bed though.

 

[Trillian]

Remind him that if you kill someone while talking to him, he'll be liable, under the new corporate liability legislation. Brought in to deal with precisely this sort of thing.

oh, i went with 'it'd be unfair dismissal wouldn't it?'

that worked

 

[Trillian]

Not illegal though is it (whether it's a good idea is another matter) and you're not comparing like for like. The pavement bit is another matter. I think mobile use maybe getting worse again, I'm noticing particularly bad cases recently usually involving cars where there are easy places to stop and they don't.

i've spent the last two weeks doing an overnight trip to southend and back, 3 trips to ryhll in wales and generally driving round birmingham due to work, must have done 1000 miles on motorways and A roads, and i've seen one welsh police van, that was today.

regulally see people tripping past at well over 80mph on the mway

not enough police presence on the roads

 

[Keith Oates]

This guy on BikeRadar wasn't quite so lucky, but somehow survived !

It seems he was lucky to have survived that crash, the woman will have nightmares about that for quite a while I suspect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[beanzontoast]

Could be any one of us that happens to next. Makes you think.

That law needs more teeth. This shows what a serious offence it is. Untaxed cars can be seized and crushed. Why not crush their cars and give them a mandatory year's ban first time they are caught using a mobile while driving - before they have another chance to kill someone?

 

[BentMikey]

Crikey, and there was me saying yesterday how I feel bad for reporting drivers on the phone to their companies, but not bad enough to stop doing it since it may save someone else down the line.

Just imagine the effect we'd have if all of us put in just a half hour a month with a video camera, by some traffic lights or along a road afflicted with traffic queues, and filmed and reported all the company drivers on the phone.

 

[Arch]

Could be any one of us that happens to next. Makes you think.

Yes, I just read that and it's awful. Amazing he can be so positive. It's that sort of 'out of the blue' thing that terrifies me if I think about it too much - no matter how good we are at cyclecraft (I use the term generally, not specifically to refer to the book), any of us could be wiped out like that.

That law needs more teeth. This shows what a serious offence it is. Untaxed cars can be seized and crushed. Why not crush their cars and give them a mandatory year's ban first time they are caught using a mobile while driving - before they have another chance to kill someone?

Personally, I'm against perfectly good cars being crushed - it's just a waste. Take them away yes, but then use them for something sensible - carpool schemes, giving lifts to the elderly, sell them on with the money raised going into decent road safety schemes or education... But yes, I'd be all for the law having more teeth. The thing is actually catching people. Like BM says, we all know how many people we see on the phone - unless there's a copper on every corner, how are they going to catch even half the people who get away with it?

 

[Cab]

The thing is actually catching people. Like BM says, we all know how many people we see on the phone - unless there's a copper on every corner, how are they going to catch even half the people who get away with it?

Has anyone got action taken over this with helmet cam footage as evidence?

 

[Arch]

Has anyone got action taken over this with helmet cam footage as evidence?

Dunno - I seem to remember BM pointing his camera at a couple of guys in works liveried vans, and possibly reporting it to the companies involved?

 

[Cab]

Dunno - I seem to remember BM pointing his camera at a couple of guys in works liveried vans, and possibly reporting it to the companies involved?

I've found that when I've taken footage of someone doing someting incredibly dangerous to the police, they've been luke warm about it. I'm curious to know whether something relatively trendy like phone use to them, they're more likely to give a damn.

 

[GrahamG]

Just as a positive note, I've been seeing more and more drivers parked up to talk on their mobiles recently - in some roads this then acts as fantastic traffic calming to boot!

 

[magnatom]

Bentmikey,

The only problem is that it's not just company drivers that do this, but it would be a start.
I'd very much doubt if the police would prosecute with our video evidence (for mobile phone use) unless they actually crashed or hurt someone. Sad really.