Prison for Mobile Phone Drivers

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

check you out!

or maybe it was radio 5.,,

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by wyrdness

I can't see a problem with handsfree kits. I've got a bluetooth earpiece, but seldom bother to use it. I never use a handheld mobile when driving.

I still see drivers weaving all over the road, with a mobile phone held up in front of their face so that they can read the screen. They should certainly be prosecuted for dangerous driving.

Thats the point tho.

Before it wasx "illegal to use mobiles" it was actually illegal to use mobiles, it just came under "dangerous driving" or "driving without due care and attention"

The government just added yet another pointless law to the books that was already there, just not that specific.

I guess it makes things easier - you can just say "but he was on the phone" and get them under the driving with a mobile phone (non-handsfree), rather than having to argue for one of the other charges mentioned above.

The whole issue has been brought up in the media today to bring peoples attention to it again, thats all.

The law makers have singled out phones but it still applies while retuning your radio.changing a cd,adjusting sat nav grovelling on the floor looking for the dropped sweet,taking a drink or eating an apple.In my opinion they seemed to have missed the mark by singling out phones when to my mind they should be concentrating on an offence i.e. Due care and attention which is harder for them to prove than "I SAW THE ACCUSED USING A MOBILE PHONE" which may not have been hazardous in itself but by the fact you have one hand off the steering it is an offence
Where do we go from here,will it be an offence to talk to a passenger or sing along with your radio because both are a distraction from driving even if minimalistic

I know we have several of the constabulary as members but here in Essex I see patrol cars without observers and the drivers using personal radios while driving and I fail see what the difference is

Whilst the use of Mobile phones is dangerous whilst driving I still fail to understand how other gadgets do not fall within this group.

I still see people wieving all over the road whilst their trying to reprogramme their sat nav system.

And people who dig out a cd from the passenger footwell then stick it in their mouth whilst ejecteing the old one and replacing it and selecting the track.
Meanwhile your my side of the road coming straight toward me.

It seems ridiculus to me that laws are contradictory to themselves.

Recently near me the family of a passenger killed in a car where told to cut back on the flowers they laid as a shrine to their daughter as it was a distraction to drivers adn could cause an accident. Yet that very same council 100 yards up the road put up giant advertising bill boards.

Sorry for the rant but there seems no consistency in anything theses days.

Distraction is one of the major causes of road accidents. And anything to deterr the use of mobiles whilst driving is positive in my mind. It can't be long with radar/GPS technology before your mobile becomes automatically disabled when you are in control of a vehicle, there must be a way that can be achieved?

Another way might be for the satelites to be able to track calls being made on the run.I know,I know at first glance one could say, but it was the passenger using the phone. But there will be ways to get over that I am sure.

I would also restrict all in car audio systems to a limit where you are still able to hear traffic around you. That will be a right controversial one I bet!

I don't think restriction or bans help in any way with regard to more than just mobile phones. The idiots who cause the accidents will use their phone regardless, so the rest of us will just suffer. There's not one 'right' way for everyone, and there never will.

Originally Posted by Pedrosa

Distraction is one of the major causes of road accidents. And anything to deterr the use of mobiles whilst driving is positive in my mind. It can't be long with radar/GPS technology before your mobile becomes automatically disabled when you are in control of a vehicle, there must be a way that can be achieved?

Another way might be for the satelites to be able to track calls being made on the run.I know,I know at first glance one could say, but it was the passenger using the phone. But there will be ways to get over that I am sure.

I would also restrict all in car audio systems to a limit where you are still able to hear traffic around you. That will be a right controversial one I bet!

They're rules which very much suit yourself and motorcyclists, it's really no different to them putting limiters for top speed on all vehicles.

It's easy to support the rules which suit yourself but a little bit of tolerance goes a long way. We're just being pushed closer and closer to a police state because everyone likes to see everyone else as in the wrong.

Did anyone watch Car Wars on the BBC last night?

At the very end they explained what happened to the criminals they caught and what punishment they recieved.

Did anyone notice how leinient the sentence was in each case.

So potentially causing an accident carries with it a far harsher penalty then actually knowingly committing a crime.

[Bluepete]

The way this has been reported is causing a bit of a stir isn't it!

All that has happened is that the existing law regarding dangerous driving has been updated with the fact that an aggravating factor to be considered is that of using a handheld mobile phone.

People will not be prosecuted for dangerous driving if found on a phone, that will still be dealt with by means of an endorsable fixed penalty.

However, if the standard of driving falls far below that which is expected BECAUSE you are on a phone, then it will be dangerous driving and dealt with through the courts.

The important thing to consider is, the maximum sentence is two years. Who ever gets the max sentence for anyting though? It doesn't take much Googling to see very short sentences for all sorts of major offences.

At the end of the day, using a handheld mobile IS illegal, everyone has their own opinion about it and people will carry on doing it every single day, no matter what the consequence.

Keeps me in a job I suppose!

travelling along the motorway in the pouring rain the other day i was in front of a police car, and passed this woman who was weaving around all over her lane. when i passed her i took a glance in, and she was talking on her phone and trying to light a cigarette at the same time as looking down to what was presumably the radio. the police just overtook her and carried on.

people do it because they know they can get away with it even if there is police about. it seems stupid making a thousand new laws if nobody is going to enforce them. it just becomes a total farce.