Mobile use while driving

[FarAwayHills]

I am so cross and fed up of seeing people using their phones while driving I counted 5 today on a pretty short journey. Having read the news today regarding the tragic death of a mum and her 3 children due the a lorry driver using his phone, I am insensed that people continue to do this. What the hell can be that important.

I am not a technical person but could there be some way that devices could be automatically disabled while a vehicle is being driven. It seems like the only way because people just can't help themselves and fines and penalties are clearly not working.

AIBU to think more needs to be done about this?

This is Rospas page in case anybody missed it when I posted it last night

www.rospa.com/road-safety/advice/drivers/distraction/mobile-phones/

I don't know why some people think it's ok to use a mobile as a satnav whilst driving. What's the difference between glancing down at that and reading a text? Surely both take your eyes off the road?

I don't know about reading a text, but glancing at a Sat nav doesn't take any longer than glancing at a speedometer, and I presume no-one is opposed to that.

Since there's no difference between using a mobile as a satnav, using a portable satnav, and using a built-in satnav, I suppose you think sat nav's should not be used in moving vehicles at all. I disagree with that: as long as there's never a need to touch the screen when moving, I think a sat nav probably improves safety if anything, as it reduces the drivers cognitive workload.

"Today 13:41 Theoretician

Surely posters can see the police can't do anything about you reporting people you've seen? How could they prove it?

By getting you to stand up in court and testify?

(Though possibly they could prove it from the phone logs as well. Google automatically logs your phone location and they can cross-reference that with the call log.)"

The person who witnessed it's word against the person who (likely) denies they did it? You can obviously see why the police wouldn't follow it up/ CPS prosecute.

The reason for phones as sat navs/ sat navs being banned is because there is not enough evidence that they cause accidents, and you can't make a law without evidence. Evidence that doesn't come from
Children's TV programmes, usually.

If it was down to me I would make it illegal to even have a mobile in a car when driving it would be a criminal offence to have a mobile in your car while driving

Mobile would be kept in the boot when driving andIf your caught with a mobile in the car while driving I would give an immediate ban of 3 years after that you would. retake the licence and 6 points would go in your new on the licence when you get it back as well

I would also have a fine of £5000 and if the fine isn't paid then tough shit you don't get the chance to retake the licence untill it's been paid in full

I would also have the offending car sold and the money from it given to charity

Only by making the penalties for doing this really tough and making it unacceptable will people start to care about it

You can fit a charger in the boot and this means the car could be charged and would work on Bluetooth which im not against

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/132875 - posting this on behalf of Seth's mom
Blitzing again as I have got less than 2 months to get 100,000 signatures for debate in parliament or petition will expire and so will hope for changing minds to save lives.

Seth was my baby the youngest of my 3 boys, my Valentine boy, just came a day early. The first time I picked him up from his cot in hospital he reached out his arms to wrap them round my neck, I used to call him the best hugger in the world and he was so full of love, everyone loved him. The staff on his last Summer camp nicknamed him 'Smiler' and so did others in school and elsewhere as it was right for him.

Please take time to read and understand the background the research, and how to share. Thank you😀

Seth, my 7 year old son (nearly 8), died from his injuries after being hit by a car n December 2014 and he may have lived if the driver had not been chatting on the phone. We do know she would have been distracted, thus her reaction time slowed and the coroner found this contributed to his death. It is Important to acknowledge that the driver could have been any one of many of us who have been told in the past hands free is okay, she was not speeding. It was a tragic accident.

The latest research shows clearly that using phones hands free whilst driving is as unacceptable as drink driving as the impact on the driver is the SAME. The evidence of this is so strong that as the media has reported the government is planning to introduce harsher penalties based on this research and so I have also contributed in interviews. Help me to make this clearer in law to ban all mobile phone calls so that
It is clear that the risk is unacceptable, that lives are too precious. Seth was too precious, saving life needs to be put before a phone call. Below is my petition which I have made it public on my page so it can be copied and shared. It can also be shared by e-mail & online elsewhere, PLEASE sign & keep sharing, and specially pass on to any groups who will share, so it gets heard.

Mobile would be kept in the boot when driving andIf your caught with a mobile in the car while driving I would give an immediate ban of 3 years after that you would. retake the licence and 6 points would go in your new on the licence when you get it back as well

As per my post yesterday what happens when I break down or get lost at night? Why should I have to get out in the dark to find my mobile in the boot of my car? Once I've found it can I then take it into the car to use it or should I stand at the side of the road?

Sentencing in the UK is lax for many crimes in my opinion, especially crimes where others are physically hurt. That's a legislature/judiciary issue.

As for talking to passengers, radio etc again I can only comment on personal experience. My father drove for almost 40 years, he only had one accident and that was a drunk driver hit him side on and he was parked at the time! He wouldn't talk to passengers, wouldn't have music on, took regular breaks and planned journeys in advance. His reasoning was he was responsible for a 1.5 ton of lethal moving metal that can potentially kill many people even in one accident. If you've got music on you can't hear what's going on around you, be that an annoying noise the cars making indicating a minor issue that could become a major one (and also potentially dangerous), an approaching emergency vehicle, or some idiot roaring up behind you who's way you need to get out of the way of!!

I'm no angel and will confess when I drove I liked a little music on, but I'd have it on low. Other than that I generally follow his example. Only minor accident I've had was I'd not been driving long hit some black ice and lacked the experience to get myself out of hitting a bollard as a result.

There's absolutely no need to use a phone while driving none! The exemption for an emergency, what possible emergency could there be where it's more important to make a phone call while driving rather than maintain full control of your vehicle? I can't think of one.

you can't make a law without evidence

Oh, yes you can.

PinkSparklyPussyCat
In a word yes get out of your car and make the phone call and if you have broken down then that would be obvious you have broken down not actually going to be moving anywhere so in a stationary car using your mobile wouldn't be a issue

Your Hardly going to kill someone by using your phone if your car isn't going anywhere because it's broken down

Using a mobile in a moving car is the act of a selfish cunt ( iMO) who thinks that their needs trumps everyone else's

And as I said built in sat nav / or Bluetooth is perfectly acceptable ( iMO)

Ifailed
Emergency services are able to use their radios in the car, they're often on their own so have to. They will have a sort of bluetooth system though so don't have to look at it. They are not allowed to use mobile phones though.

The duchess so so sorry for your loss.

dylan Wasn't you reference to "string 'em up" and "lock 'em up and throw away the key" the actual straw man here? No-one was suggesting either.

You mean:

"I'd want them hung ! A life for a life"

Portia

or the posters advocating 10 year sentences for using a phone and whole life tariffs for an accident involving a telephone.

posting it on behalf of the mom - just shows how being distracted by your phone can have the deadliest of consequences

Interesting article
www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/17/penalty-points-fines-double-drivers-using-mobile-phones-200

I was actually thinking of my safety Magpie. I'd hate to have to get out of my car in the dark to look for my mobile in the boot of the car when it could be in my bag and I could pull over and use it? It happened to me once and I felt very vulnerable getting out of the car in the dark (God knows where I was!) as there were no street lights and no one about.

I agree pink-if you've decided you're not going to use your phone, why does it matter whether it's in the boot or in your bag? As long as it isn't in your hand I don't see an issue.

Yes well obviously having had to identify a family members body I would say that Dylan.

Also agree with pink. Why would I need to put the thing in the boot of the car, rattling around in there when I have made a perfectly conscious decision not to use a phone while driving. The phone doesn't rule me, I am still in charge of my faculties (mostly).

Hands free is fine otherwise using a mobile when driving is not. Drivers and pedestrians both need to take responsibility for safety. I often wonder how smoking while driving is allowed, seems nuts to me.

I think that if it's in the boot and working with blue tooth there is absolutky no need to get our if the car to use it if it's with a proper blue tooth kit

I agree it will take time to change people's attitudes but if I had my way that's what I would do as I posted above
Very very harsh penalties for using a mobile phone and probably the possibility not to drive again afterwards .

I would make it as difficult as possible to get back behind the wheel of a car if someone killed / injured someone from using a mobile phone while driving by implementing fines , bans retaking the driving tests in fact I would make them take an advanvce course before they past

I would triple the cost of the test for someone leaning to drive again and should they pass I would put 6 points on there new licence for 10 years

dylan apologies - I'd missed that from Portia. However I must've missed the whole of life tarriff calls - where were they? and 10 years for using a phone (which I don't agree with btw) isn't the same as "lock 'em up and throw away the key" is it?

I think that if it's in the boot and working with blue tooth there is absolutky no need to get our if the car to use it if it's with a proper blue tooth kit

Not everyone has a bluetooth...

magpie you haven't addressed what's wrong with the phone being in your bag if you're not going to use it. My cat isn't clever enough to have Bluetooth.

My car also doesn't have Bluetooth... oops.

One thing that always amazes me is how many people I see with nearly new very expensive cars with a phone to their ear - surely these upmarket cars have bluetooth?