Using a mobile phone whilst driving is far, far more dangerous than smoking. I've had a driving licence since 1964 and have no qualms about smoking whilst driving, but under no circumstances would I use a mobile phone.
There is a vast difference between only having one free hand to change gears, steer and concentrate on a mobile phone clamped to your ear whilst engaged in a distracting conversation than smoking.
My only regret is the demise of quarter lights.....
Edited by Stuartli on 07/08/2009 at 23:56
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it's not the act of holding something in your hand that's the real problem...it's the concentrating on something else to the detriment of what's happening on the road
IMO hands free kits shouldn't be allowed either
..but there again Great Aunt Ethel yapping at an inopportune moment is never going to be legislated against is it...or someone listening intently to a debate on the radio...or as what sadly happened recently, a young mum being distracted by her offspring
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>>..it's the concentrating on something else to the detriment of what's happening on the road>>
But that's exactly the point I made.
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IMO hands free kits shouldn't be allowed either
Are you also saying that a one manned Police car shouldnt use the Police radio either?
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Are you also saying that a one manned Police car shouldnt use the Police radio either?
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difficult one, through necessity...but ...yes... there should really be two people in it....one to drive, the other to do everything else... e.g. look at computer screen/map screen/answer radio, etc
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Using a mobile phone whilst driving is far far more dangerous than smoking. ..... have no qualms about smoking whilst driving but under no circumstances would I use a mobile phone.
My ex used to smoke... one day she flicked the dogend out the window, it promptly flew back in, landed on the backseat, at which point she turned in her seat to find and retrieve it.
the problem was - she was driving, and she VERY nearly crashed.
IMO smoking should also be banned in cars, and I believe smoking whilst driving can be more dangerous than using a mobile.
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... Funny thing is all the faces were blurred out and the cars were not identified so I couldn't see the point of it. What ever happened to name and shame?...
A newspaper will be very wary of accusing someone of carrying out a crime, which the story is bound to do.
If you showed the faces, you can guarantee one of them wouldn't have been using a phone, he would have been holding his glasses case, or rubbing his ear with a Mars bar to alleviate some little-known medical condition.
Or you'd snap the one man in the district who has special dispensation to use a mobile at 2pm on a Tuesday.
It's just not worth the possible bother.
If any of those drivers are subsequently convicted, then it's a different matter.
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Just because the newpaper didn't show the faces / reg numbers doesn't mean that they can't send the originals to the BiB - if they could be bothered taking action.
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I've read this thread with interest, and have two questions - someone suggested that using a mobile phone while driving is a crime - is this correct, or is it a moving traffic offence?
As for needing two police officers to witness the offence, if the phone is used in evidence it can be used show whether or not it was in use at the time of the offence, so even a memeber of the public reporting an offence should enable the police to investigate without any police officer actually witnessing it.
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if the phone is used in evidence it can be used show whether or not it was in use at the time of the offence
But you'd still need to prove that the time of the offence was the same time as when the phone was used.
EDIT: to clarify, phone records show it was used at 1pm. Must have witnesses to prove defendant was driving at 1pm.
Edited by Focus {P} on 13/08/2009 at 14:13
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The Lancashire police claim they have no power to examine mobile phone records. Presumably they do have this power if an accident occurs, so this may have been just a lie to shut me up, as I suspect was the tale about needing 2 police officers to witness the offence. You do have to sympathise to some degree; the offence is so prevalent they'd be spending aeons dealing with people denying they had any phone at all, keeping a phone specially to use in the car so they can show the records of a different phone when challenged, using someone else's phone in the car etc.. An alternative view is that the offence wouldn't be so common if anyone was ever prosecuted for it.
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Our local police(Essex) have been running a successful campaign.Two officers in plain clothes at the side of a road-radioing to a team of uniformed officers further along the road.If the officers see a mobile phone being used,no belts,no tax,overloading/insecure load or generally unsafe,the vehicle gets stopped by the uniforms-it's been very,very successful.
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