How do they know you were driving while on your phone?

[LuckyNumberFive]

The title is quite vague but I didn't want to make it a ridiculously long title, but my query is:

Let's say you're in a car crash but haven't sent/made any calls/texts (but were just browsing social media or something on your phone), how do they know? I can absolutely see it's crystal clear if you sent a text at a period where you were driving, but other than that, does your phone record all data use in such detail? So they could see you were browsing Facebook for example, even if you didn't post anything?

I (obviously) don't drive and use my phone, but I do keep my phone in the cup holder or the door pocket and I always wondered in a crash if your phone ends up flying around in the commotion and landing on the passenger seat (for example) within reach, how do they know whether you were using it or not? Is there a way for the phone to exonerate you as such?

Just my Friday night musing, nothing serious.

They need information from witnesses in the car to determine that with certainty. Some cars will sense if the driver’s phone is being used while driving if the car is paired to the phone via Bluetooth. The pairing is how all hands free actions happen.

I know this isn’t relevant to your question, but the number of taxi drivers I see driving around my city with two phones- one on the dashboard with maps open, and the other one lower down by the ventilator playing YouTube videos, terrifies me. I know this because I cycle and having seen this once out the corner of my eye I’ve taken to peering into taxi drivers cabs and seeing how many devices they’ve got on the go.

should I report them in these instances?

You'd be amazed at how uncommon common sense is. It's a tangent but I have another relative who is a retired detective. He doesn't like to talk about his work but I asked him once if he had to solve any Agatha Christie style mysteries. No, he said... generally (say) a guy would get bludgeoned with a cricket bat, found on scene with blood on it. Interview the victim's wife, wife says he'd had a row with Suspect 1. Go to Suspect 1's house. Find a torn B+Q receipt for cricket bat in Suspect's bin. Go to local B+Q, see Suspect buying bat on CCTV. Get Suspect's phone, WhatsApp history "I'm gonna kill that fucker", Google pay receipt for the bat, etc etc. Suspect confesses, the end.

I've seen articles in the local news before of cyclists with headcams reporting things like this, and people using their phones at traffic lights

You probably need video footage. You can report using OpSnap if you local force uses that. I see a lot of people on phones when I'm on my bike too.

I feel that way about when you read about true crime from decades ago, how certain stories seemed to look like the criminal hadn't even bothered to cover their tracks. Whereas I suppose we never know what technology advances will come in the future so in another 50 years time we might be looking back thinking "how did they ever think they'd get away with that?"

Your mobile phone keeps a log of everything you do, so yes, the police can check what you were doing at a specific time.
Or at least, what someone was doing, if there were other people in the car, it might be someone else.

I think with smartphones now, you can't think a secret thought without the Internet having a stamp of it. The Internet knows what I bought my dh for his birthday and what I considered buying but didn't buy. It knows my mood, what I'm doing, where I am and who with...

It's really hard to do a serious crime these days without being found out. (I suppose the flipside is that prison sentences now are insanely short or non existent so there's that I guess)

Similar to decades ago when fingerprint analysis wasn't as common whereas now we wouldn't dream of committing a crime without gloves on.

Everything is always watching!

In the American Alex Murdaugh case, they examined the data on his wife’s phone and they could tell what angle the phone was at during the whole event. Which way it was facing, whether it was face up or down, the whole lot. As well as how fast it was moving.

I remember watching that show but that bit isn't ringing a bell. Extremely clever though!

When I was in a serious car accident 4 years ago (not caused by me), the police who attended asked to see my phone so they could check the last time I touched my device. They did the same with the driver who caused the accident.

I was being patched up by the paramedics at the time so didn't check how they did this exactly but they handed my phone back to me and said I was fine.

Yes

Interesting! I wonder (hope) they ask for this info as a matter of course then!

I watched all of it on Court TV.

He chucked her phone out of his car window after he killed her and they could tell that it was being held by the angle before it went out of the window. They could tell where the phone was at all times within meters and every movement and keystroke. For example he accidentally opened the camper for one second. Then they read it all out in court and I watched the whole thing!

That's extremely clever!

Looks like I'm in the clear then, my phone always goes upside in my cup holder so they'll know I'm not using it 😂

Thanks. I’ve sometimes thought of wearing a helmet cam because there’s some seriously fruity driving where I live (last month someone did a u-ey around a roundabout entrance/exit nearly knocking me off). But I always thought helmet cam wearing folks look a bit odd.

Someone I know got a penalty for driving and messaging. It was a fixed camera and they even knew what app she was on.

I don’t use my phone whilst driving but it’s made me very aware not to pick it up and look at who a missed call is from or the time etc whilst at lights or in stationary traffic.

Mine has my satnav on it (i set the destination before i leave) and also connects to my car to play music. Would that make it look like i had been on my phone if i was in an accident?

Forensics can probably tell quite a lot about how you're interacting with a phone prior to an accident, but it will vary significantly between models and manufactures. There's also a huge amount of (potentially incriminating) detail recorded by the car's multiple ECUs,

My advice is to use CarPlay / Android play, or turn the phone off to reduce the possibility of being charged with an offence.

I believe public opinion is slowly changing, and I dearly hope it's viewed like drunk driving in the future.

If you want to understand more about the law and how it relates to using a mobile phone while driving, there's a great thread on reddit