On phone in stationary traffic

Im glad you got 6 points and a £200 fine, enjoy your insurance premium next year.

People that use their phones while driving infuriates me, it's selfish and dangerous. So many people have lost their lives due to someone just checking social media or making a call.
My husband has a camera and if he sees people using phones whilst on his motorbike he records and sends to the police.

It's really annoying when the lights go green and the car at the front doesn';t move. Then you pass them and realise the driver is so engaged in their phone they have not noticed the lights have changed. It's not a rare occurance around here.

It's not illegal to touch or use your phone while driving. It's not actually illegal to hold your phone, the offence is "holding and using".

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An unreasonable decision as you have not been banned for a period. Others are treated far too leniently I think and two wrongs don't make a right.

You are being very unreasonable and I can't believe you are trying to play the victim in this situation! 😂

Hopefully you've learnt your lesson

@Mycatmyworld One time I was in a lovely area and had opened Rightmove at the lights and typed in the neighbourhood before I came to my senses and chucked my phone in the passenger footwell out of reach. That was silly and really sobered me up to the fact that I might actually have a problematic addiction to Rightmove.

If I receive a message while driving I just ask Siri to read it for me, after that she says do I want to reply? If I f do, I just talk & then she reads it back & asks do I want to send or amend simple , why anyone needs to touch a phone when in a car is beyond me

honestly @Charttopper if the way you were caught actually was due to this deranged cyclists “evidence” (did the letter say how they caught you?) I think you could have grounds to push back on this and if there is a chance you can get those demerit points scrubbed I would take it - otherwise you’ll lose your licence if you for e.g. get two speeding fines in the next three years, or even less if you already have demerit points for something else.

I mean I would definitely ask to see all the footage to see if it checks out with the story - being filmed by a private citizen is a strange way for evidence gathering for prosecution. It could constitute harassment, no way to know whether the video was tampered with etc - what’s to stop any old weirdo with a vendetta just sending in an AI video of you on your phone in the car? There are solicitors who deal with challenging fixed penalty notices OP, perhaps you could talk to them and see if you have any grounds to challenge given the odd nature of how you were caught - man filming you without permission and being super weird about it.

OP, if you had had a thread about a man coming up to your car and filming you in stationary traffic no mention of phonepeople would have agreed with you his behaviour was wierd and unsettling.

To find the Phone users, he has to film and look in every car. He can't see from behind as he approaches them!

I don't think about my phone while driving, it's in my bag with 'I'm driving' switched on. It can wait until I get to my destination. I wouldn't be able to accidentally answer my phone.

You had a baby in your car and used your phone Jesus Christ !
u deserved those points and fine !
doesn’t matter if your stationary it’s against the law !!!

I'm curious how the OP thought that the cyclist was going to steal her baby out the car and make off on his bike while filming his crime...

Actually she mentions 'someone else' but if you're really that frightened of being ambushed in your car, wouldn't you want to keep an eye on who is around you? I wonder if the OP has the same thought every time a car pulls alongside her. Car parks must be a nightmare!

Can you set your car to auto lock the doors when you drive off?

It can be dangerous because I know someone who crashed into the car in front after looking up from reading his phone during stationary traffic.

Anyway, we’ve all done it rarely but you were too blasé and got caught.

No one dies from shoplifting, fraud, illegal parking, secual assault but they have laws for that too

So we want society where one law is more serious than another we should all just do what we want?

No you can’t challenge it, the laws clear, if your engine is switched on and I’m pretty sure that includes stopped with stop/ start, you cannot use a mobile phone unless it’s hands free, frustrating though it seems, it is what it is

Look OP, I basically agree with you that checking your phone in stationary traffic is not dangerous and shouldn’t be treated as the same as people who scroll through insta at 70mph on the motorway and swerve about. But that’s not the law. So you choose to risk it (as many people do so I get why it feels unfair), you have to accept the consequences. There is no appeal.

If you're worried someone might steal your baby then locking the doors at every set of traffic lights is probably sensible

And stop using your phone whilst in the car

The fact people need a course in common sense as well says a lot about society

@Charttopper it is my peri brain. My age begins with a 5 and as you said "my baby" in the back I don't think we are the same age, I wish I was your age. My baby has just gone out by himself, he is 19

Well she wasn't aware of a cyclist because she was looking down at her phone for a start.

You’re in the wrong.

I know the police by us use a white van to get pics of people from above and it would not surprise me if they used a bike too.