To ask if you, or anyone you know in UK, has been caught using a phone while driving

Scary isn't it? The 20mph limits are usually where there's a school or shops/residential - the chances of encountering a pedestrian or cyclist is so much higher than a faster road. And electric vehicles are usually twice the size and weight of a petrol car.. they'll go straight over a kid on a bike like they're not even there. It's a dangerous combination.

The expensive electric cars may have all the automatic stopping tech, but as more electric cars are being mass-produced, cheaper & cheaper, not all are as advanced, or produced to a high standard; the tech may not be as reliable as we think.

I commute on a bike, from my vantage point i can clearly see all the people who have their phones on their laps or holding the phone just below the dash so it can't be seen, texting away. Many have kids in their car, driving past schools and cycling kids. I'd say 10% of rush hour traffic are on their phones.

My friends sister got a knock on her window when using phone at red lights and was threatened by police with a fine but didn’t follow through

I know someone who had exactly the same.

Seems a bit of a trend!

There are studies that show we are distracted for up to several minutes after looking at a phone. These devices are addictive and designed to keep us scrolling. I'm aware I'm typing this from one now!

But this is why the penalties for using them are so harsh, even if you're not actually "using" the phone. And even if you "just" look to check a message quickly or to change your music, you can be unfocused for a fair while.

Mine goes in my bag in the back seat. I have an old fashioned separate satnav. I connect my phone by Bluetooth through the cars sound system for if anyone calls, although they rarely do!

a work colleague got fined and points last year for using their phone whilst stopped at traffic lights

I doubt you’d be fined for that if it was a really long, totally stationary, engines off kind of jam. Once as a child (actually before my parents even had mobiles) we were stuck in a traffic jam for so long people got out and played badminton on the hard shoulder. We literally didn’t move for hours. I imagine nowadays every driver would be on their phone, and it wouldn’t be dangerous. Everyone was engines off and out stretching their legs etc.

Many years ago before you could plug them into your car and do hands free.

No but I have nearly been run over on a zebra crossing by a driver watching YouTube

This same thing happened to me.
my cradle broke and I had phone in cup holder. I had sat nav on and couldn’t hear it properly so I picked phone up and moved it. Police pulled me over and said that any “phone in hand” no matter why or how long was an offence, even though I just moved it. 6 points and a fine. I won’t do that again.

Yes, the van driver who put me in hospital for a week for extensive surgery was using her photo at the time

I wouldn't have known, but learned later that witnesses who saw it happen also saw her using the thing and informed the police who turned up - and the police did nothing

Was it in her hand? Lots of people use a phone as a sat nav but it needs to be on the cradle (and in driving mode/do not disturb really)

Yep, my colleague got pulled over for using her phone as a Sat Nav

The parked on motorway incident I was thinking of, really was 'parked' on the motorway. Stuck there ages with plenty of people out of there cars standing around. Seems madness that I would be fined for using my phone in such a situation.

Yes this

No, it let's me read the text on the screen. I can the dictate a reply, with the words appearing on the screen to check. All while the car is moving. Obviously I don't do this but it annoys me every time text comes up and asks me if I want to read it.

Ha yea my builder was caught twice using his phone. He’s such a numpty won’t use hands free. I really don’t know anyone who would use their phone driving - speed yes (especially on London where it’s 20mph it’s easy to slip over that on a long straight road).

Are you sure it doesn’t just read it out to you and let you do a voice to text reply? That’s not much different to talking to a passenger or listening to the radio

I got a telling off when I was at the McDonald’s drive through window reading my dh order off my phone. Police pulled up next to me. Asked if I was allowed to use Apple Pay, they just sighed and drove off.

One of the first times I suspected a driver was using a phone was in a traffic jam - I couldn’t see her phone but I could see in my rear view mirror that her head was down staring at something in her lap. Her car was stationary but she didn’t notice when the queue of traffic began to move. It was quite frightening as she was behaving unpredictably & not like a normal driver.

I have seen this since & the same thing happens - the driver can’t predict when the queue will move so they doesn’t move when they should as they are distracted. If you are stopped in a jam you are not parked. Being brutal about this, if you want to read or otherwise use a phone while you travel, then you need to be on a bus or train or someone else needs to be driving.

West Midlands Police used to do some interesting stuff on road policing - I think they might have had officers sitting on a bus so they were higher than car drivers & could spot drivers on phones. I tried to find the link for that & couldn’t - but it did look like that force has had a recent crackdown. I wish this (& other road safety issues) were reported on more, as it would be more jnteresting to see the difference between forces.

It would also be interesting seeing the demographics of who is using phones in cars - most of the ones I see look like they are dressed quite smartly for work & are driving nice cars (so not people you would imagine to be breaking the laws).

I’ve never used or really wanted to use my phone while driving as it’s never felt safe, but I do remember listening to a report I think on Radio 5 about a collision caused by a lorry driver on his phone where the victims died that was utterly heartbreaking & really showed just how dangerous it can be. After hearing that, I’ve found it inexcusable. It’s not like other driving offences where there’s a scale from honest mistake / misjudgment to reckless & highly dangerous as phone use is such a binary choice.

There is a big difference between leaving a sensible space and an obvious phone gap.

Just watch the next queue of traffic you're in.