Woman threw water at me

[ijustheartdietcoke]

I was cycling and came to some trafficlights. A woman was looking at her phone so I banged on her window and shouted get off your phone. She tried to throw water at me and drove off, would police be interested?

Soul I can only repost - for the THIRD time on this thread - what molecule said:

A fellow speeder's friend was checking her texts at traffic lights, car stationary. Lights changed, she sped off, straight over a cyclist who she killed. She got a six year jail sentence. This was a middle aged, middle class mother of two or three children, not a 17 year old daft lad showing off to his friends

So for all you saying it is quite ok to use your phone at lights, it is not. They are exceedingly distracting and can be fatal. We were told the phone should be out of reach at all times you are in the car on a public highway

Read. That. Again.

I imagine that if we asked the police what we should do in this scenario - they would advise not banging on windows and yelling at the driver.
They would probably say take their reg and report it.
If it's too vague for them to follow up, that's how it is and I would leave it up to them.
We shouldn't be putting ourselves at risk, getting involved in heated confrontations. These situations can escalate pretty quickly and it's not a safe situation to put yourself in.

So? You could replace "looking at phone" with talking to children/passengers, changing radio station, eating something, day dreaming, anything.
Because you've heard of one case where you think it was the phone that caused the accident doesn't mean that phone cause accidents in general when starting from traffic ligts.

When I'm stationary at lights, I'm still noticing who has cycled up behind me and gone into a blind spot, I'm noticing pedestrians who look like they may jay-walk on front of me, I'm noting the other streams of traffic that I need to pay attention to, when the lights change, I'm ready to go a quick reasses and go safely.

If you're on your phone you're somewhat zoned out, you may not notice the lights change until you get beeped, you jump to attention, do a superfast mirror change and pull away from the beeper quickly..

.. it's not as safe!

Even though I think the OP is in the right, I can't help chuckling at the thought of her opening her mouth to deliver a pompous telling-off, only to get a face-full of water.

Thanks seamstress I was about to repost, as this minimising of the use of mobiles whilst stationary at traffic lights is really pissing me off.

Next time you stop have a think about the situation. You might me slightly zoned out thinking about children etc, or even shouting at them, but you will still notice on one level or another what is going on outside your vehicle. But check your texts and then start replying and you are looking down and may be totally absorbed. Yes you are stationary but you are not when you suddenly realise the lights have changed.

The law is there for good reason, mostly it doesn't kill anyone to check your texts, but sometimes it does. I'm not a cyclist and can complain vociferously about the packs we get round here, but I don't want to see even one of them killed because of someone's need to check their texts.

No one would think about not wearing a seat belt but I remember the massive opposition when the law was introduced. Of course most people aren't involved in serious or fatal accidents so couldn't see the reason to be made to wear them. Tis the same thing, and mindsets need to change, same with drink driving, I can remember friends of my parents' saying how they drove better after a few drinks. In fact drink driving is a better analogy as that also kills others.

But check your texts and then start replying and you are looking down and may be totally absorbed

See now we have leapt to actually texting rather than looking at a phone. You can't make up things someone is doing in order to argue they are wrong to do it.
You can have a look at your phone, put it back down again and move off perfectly safely and carefully. You can do almost anything, including, looking at your phone, and move off without looking and cause an accident.
It's naive and simplistic (and dangerous) to imagine "illegal things dangerous and not illegal things perfectly fine". Use your own brain, don't hand it over to the law and random jumped up cyclists.

I'm not sure if this thread is driven by defence of breaking the law or antipathy between cyclists and drivers.

However, the long and short of it is using your phone in a car that's not parked up is illegal. There is no real argument. There are no shades of grey, it's black and white. I can't think of any other law where people would so vigorously defend breaking it.

'It's ok m'lud, he was pissed as fart behind the wheel of car, but it was stopped at traffic lights'. Well that's ok then.

'Your honour, she was 15 but mature for her age, so no harm done.' Good on you mate. You're not really a nonce.

There are reasons that you have blanket laws with defined parameters.

The truth is, if you don't want to be pulled up by others or the police, don't break the law. If you are checking your phone whilst the car isn't parked up, you're a shit driver. No ifs or buts, you are as bad as the twat who speeds or one that can't parallel park.

You're a shit driver with no defence.

It was illegal and potentially dangerous for her to be using her phone but it is absolutely not your job to be banging on her window and telling her off. Not because you are a cyclist but because ypu are not a police officer.

The truth is, if you don't want to be pulled up by others or the police, don't break the law

No the truth is if you are breaking the law, thats between you and the plod, not between you and some random twat on a bike.

I''d ring 101 and report it.
People talking on the phone while in control of a vehicle is illegal and really winds me up i wish the policing was stepped up. It's one thing to change the law but another to actually police it.
Saying that the police can check her phone to prove she was talking at that time. Most junctions with traffic lights in towns have cameras now so what she did to you could have been filmed. They may tell you not to approach anyone again though.

If you're that annoyed by people using their phones at traffic lights (rightly so, too) then take note of their vehicle reg and report them to the police.

Don't bang on car windows and behave like a mentalist busy body!

She was being U but also - I would never have done what you did. I am a cyclist too and the last thing you want to do is invoke the ire of a driver. They always see red and react dangerously. I would have ignored her.

Theonlyliving

You're reply shows that your only problem with this is that the OP is a cyclist. Breaking the law is a matter for society as whole, not just the police.

Nice that someone has compared glancing at a phone whilst stationery at lights to drink driving and statutory rape

I don't see anyone objecting to the new law, but the way in which the OP went about deciding to police the roads herself. She was wrong. The driver was wrong.

If we all keep on ignoring people using mobile phones whilst driving, then people will keep on using their phones. It has to become completely socially unacceptable just like drink driving. I have knocked on someone's car window as a pedestrian because they were using their phone at zebra crossing, not paying attention to the road. and shouted at people too. And i have taken photos of them and reported them to the police. My local newspaper has published photos of people using their phone whilst driving around a large and quite tricky roundabout where I live. If we all ignore and look the other way, people will keep on doing it. Op, I would have done the same as you. And reported it as well. Some idiots will shout at you for what you did, throw water (and worst) at you, but you did the right thing.

Absolutely shocked at some of the responses- regardless of what OP did- do people not watch the news? Using your phone when driving is illegal. End of. Throwing water in someone's face is also illegal- it's an assault. So yes report.

placing someone in a state of fear or alarm is a breach of the peace and illegal. banging on a car window would certainly count so by all means report but be prepared to be the one who ends up with a criminal record.

Hahaha. A criminal record for banging on a window. This thread keeps on giving.

This thread is about what the OP did.

She sounds fucking nuts, tbh.

I think the reality is that we have to have a blanket rule about not using phones in any way whilst driving, even if stationary in traffic jams, because anything else would be unworkable.

Precisely.