Sobering Xmas Thoughts

[ChrisPointon 0]

With the Xmas anti drink - drive campaign underway, and rightly so, I thought I would bring attention to another equal menace which seems to plague the roads nowadays, which can also create carnage but which sadly seems to have little media coverage.

 

I am talking about Mobile Phones. Yesterday I was on my way down the Motorway when a vehicle joined the Motorway at speed from the slip road and then immediately oversteered erratically from the inside lane into the middle lane. I braked sharply and pulled back expecting a side swipe which fortunately, didn't happen, however I watched it straggle across both lanes for a while before finally swerving back into the correct lane. My first instincts were that the driver was drunk or was ill, however when overtaking to see what was going on, my passenger reported that the driver was holding a mobile phone to his ear and appeared deep in conversation, apparantly oblivious to those around him, and the near miss he'd just had.

 

What makes this pillock even more of a selfish tit than your usual variety, was that he was driving a coach, and not only putting his life, and other road users at risk, but the 30 or so people onboard. Unfortunately, drivers using mobiles is something which I see every day, and it appears to be a growing menace, despite being illegal for nearly 3 years. I now seem to see more folk using phones whilst driving than before the ban and very little policing or deterant - in fact I believe the fine and penalties are less for this than for speeding .

 

I have already been in one head on collision recently, because of one reckless idiot, and its only by the grace of seat belts and airbags and some miracle that everybody walked away from it unharmed, however its not an experience I wish to repeat and certainly not at the expense of some prat who wants to call his wife and ask what is for tea.

 

If you think that taking one short phone call whilst driving will do no harm or affect your concentration, then watch this real CCTV camera footage, of what happened when a truck driver decided to send a text message when driving. Its a wake up call for anybody who risks doing this sort of thing.

 

Video Link

 

Personally I think this sobering footage should be used in the same way as the media use the anti-drink drive commercials, because it happens far too often and as you can see it can have much the same devastating consequences, and for the 2 adults and 2 children in the car in the video, it wasn't an happy ending.

 

So please, if you are likely to ever be tempted to use a mobile whilst driving then ask Santa for a hands free kit, and look out for the others who haven't , because there is a lot of them about. :fright:

 

:rant:

[Steve_Mitchell 0]

Yep,, they make the laws for a reason and the main reason is yours and other road users safety.

[digitaldistortion 0]

Having reached the grand old age that I have, I must say that when I worked as an IT consultant (late 80s/early 90s), the people (drivers) I saw appeared to be more aware of their surroundings.

 

Went abroad, came back 2003 and I find that nigh on 100% of drivers on British don't give a damn about their surroundings, aren't even aware of their surroundings, and God help you if you happen to 'get in their way'.

 

I'm as aggressive a driver as the next....I've got somewhere to get as well y'know (and although you're so obviously a VVIP, you can wait along with the rest of us)...but I must admit that sometimes (daily) I see things, mobile use included, that scare the holy s :cense: t out of me!

 

Unfortunately, I don't think it will get any better...its a downward slope that just gets steeper!!!

 

:fright:

:scared:

[High Fidelity 0]

I find it absolutely staggering the number of people I still see using mobile phones whilst driving, and it really does make me very angry :lil devil: , especially as hands free is now so cheap.

 

What is also staggering, is the number of people you see using a mobile whilst driving, when there is another adult in the passenger seat that could have answered the thing for them. :shrug:

[DJ Ben 0]

I find myself shouting at any driver on the phone. As a cyclist, Im exceedingly aware of drivers, because so many of them are prats. I crashed into a porsche the other day because the driver was on the phone, didnt look, and pulled out in front of me.

But this law will only work if it's enforced.. and monitored.

How many "Mobile Phone Use Cameras" do we see at the side of the road? None. Should we see monitoring stations, with officers looking for offenders? Yes.

:rant:

 

 

[Andy Westcott 0]

"especially as hands free is now so cheap"

 

Says it all really.

 

I'm proud to not be a user of one of these accursed creations - OK I do have one in the glove box, but it's only there for emergencies and the battery is probably flat anyhow.

 

Got a CB installed to, but probably the less I say about that the better..... :ads:

[ian . 0]

Got a CB installed to, but probably the less I say about that the better..... :ads:

 

 

Breaker 1-9 for that Devonshire Dandy - you got yer ears on? C'mon.

 

 

 

You'd think that a fine and 3 points on your licence would put people off using a mobile whilst driving wouldn't you?

[ChrisPointon 0]

 

 

 

You'd think that a fine and 3 points on your licence would put people off using a mobile whilst driving wouldn't you?

 

Ian,

 

As Shocking as it seems, driving using a Mobile Phone does not carry penalty points!. This was exactly my comparison with speeding offences, which do carry endorsements. Indeed you can be fined as little as £30 for using a Mobile without a hands free kit which is actually in some cases less than parking on Double Yellow lines, and as you can see from the video, the consequences can be fatal.

 

Of course, using a phone can carry other related offences such as driving without due care and attention, but I have yet to see anybody prosecuted for such, where a phone is concerned - at least not unless they actually caused an accident and it was a contributory factor.

 

So a £30 penalty and no points, I don't see that as a deterant, especially where a salesperson could be discussing a huge deal.

[centrestagediscos 0]

down here in plymouth there quite hot and do set up operations to catch motorists and i think im right in saying that we have the most speed cameras outside of london in the south.

[ian . 0]

As Shocking as it seems, driving using a Mobile Phone does not carry penalty points!.

 

 

It seems to be that you're right Chris.

 

Check this BBC article. BBC article

 

 

 

Edit: Found these bits of info. Sussex police

Northumbria police.

[ChrisPointon 0]

Yes more twisted logic in the laws of this country. If you should pull in and park on double yellow lines in order to answer your mobile phone, then you actually risk a higher fine, than carrying on driving whilst using it. Sad but true!.

 

[otronics 0]

If my phone rings when I'm driving, I don't touch it.

 

I'll pull over or wait until I have arrived at my destination.

 

Not even hands free for me - I prefer to concentrate fully.

[NRG Roadshow 0]

Summut which you may not know too....

 

The driver of this coach risks upto 9 penalty points and a £3000 fine.........drivers of large vehicles get more severe penalties, and rightly so......

 

Nick

[TonyB 0]

You can also be done for using a hands free - to quote from the DOT

 

".....you still risk prosecution for failing to have proper control of a vehicle under Regulation 104 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 if you use a hands-free phone when driving."

 

but it does imply that you are only likely to be prosecuted if it can be proven that use of the hands free was a contributory cause of an accident.

[digitaldistortion 0]

Got a CB installed to, but probably the less I say about that the better..... :ads:

You'd think that a fine and 3 points on your licence would put people off using a mobile whilst driving wouldn't you?

 

I realise we've established the lack of punishment for using a mobile 'on the move'...but does it really surprise you?

 

I see british reg cars/foreign residents cars without tax (within 12 months all imported vehicles must be type tested and reregistered)..and presumably insurance/mot etc.

 

Cars without lighting/correctly adjusted lighting.

 

Cars with illegal number plates EVEN....

 

HGV in the fast lane (motorway)

 

You can go on for ever....all of these are easy pulls for the boys in blue....but hey, lets not give them a heavy workload cos they're busy......sending out bills to people silly enough to travel the roads at a speed they're designed for (I know there are always exceptions...but not as many as you might think)!!!!

 

:rant:

 

And No.......I haven't just been flashed....got no points and haven't had for many many years

Edited December 20, 2006 by digitaldistortion

[Andy Westcott 0]

I, too, can stand proud. smile icon

I've only ever been caught once for speeding, and that was in a Lotus, on a dual carriageway, downhill and 'only' doing 90.

I was also being passed by a lot of other traffic......

[norty303 0]

I believe that the crime of mobile phone use on the move is soon to become an endorsable offence (3pts, £60) as a result of the review since the law was introduced. They have concluded that £30 is not enough of a deterant, which it clearly isn't.

 

I can also stand proud as a non user of even handsfree....

 

 

 

....however i do own a rocketship of a motorbike which gets thrashed round in a reckless manner (to myself i might add) over the finer weathered months of the year, and despite 6 points during my formative years, it would appear that i still haven't learnt my lesson.

 

In this increasingly nanny state, it makes me feel downright bloody naughty!!!

 

'Speed in the wrong places kills' not that other load of tripe the Govnmnt likes to spoon feed us......

 

 

'Let him who is without sin cast the first stone'

[jamminroadshow 0]

I am training to be a driving instructor and have looked a road safety. I am not going to defend using a mobile but the amount of people that drive and smoke amazes me if you drop the fag then you will forget the road and only care about being burnt.

i do not think that people should be allowed to smoke and drive as this is just asking for trouble. i think that holding a mobile in a car if you are the driving and are moving should carry points but so should smoking.