On phone in stationary traffic

[Charttopper]

NC for this. I'm wondering if any legal folk have advice or whether you all think IABU.

A few weeks ago I was stopped at traffic lights for some time in standstill traffic so I briefly picked up my phone to look at a message that had come through. I was on my own with my baby in the back. Suddenly I was aware of something to my right and when I turned, there was a man in a high vis jacket on a bicycle, stopped right next to my door, and bending down to stare at me through my window. He didn't engage, just stared straight at me for what felt like an age. His position meant that I couldn't get out of the car and it felt very intimidating. I didn't know what his intentions were, or what he'd do next.

He then cycled off ahead and stopped by the windows of one or two other drivers and did the same thing. I felt quite shaken by the experience.

I later learned that he either reported me or was an undercover policeman as he had filmed me on my phone with his helmet camera.

I have now received 6 points and a £200 fine. I accept that the law states that checking your phone including when stationary is an offence so I am not disputing that there should be a consequence.

However, I can't help but feel that 6 points is a disproportionate punishment given that I was stationary and not actually causing risk. If I was moving it would be a different matter but I was not driving without due care and attention, i was stationary with the break on.

Secondly, the method of capturing this footage - a man staring into a woman's car, on her own with a baby, and instilling fear and blocking her in surely is not acceptable?

Can I challenge any of this?

@Laura95167
@InWalksBarberalla

He wasnt a police officer. He was a cyclist, member of the public

Oh come on op you know fine you're bang to rights here

Round here, yes. They even did a campaign requesting dash cam footage of dangerous or illegal driving.

@CallMeFlo
Yes.
And he made a complaint to the police who accepted his evidence.

seems you tried to be a smooth criminal

I completely agree. We've just got a new car, our first with a touchscreen. I have no intention of using it for phone calls or reading texts, although that's legal - I did get it to read one text, while at traffic lights, and found it very distracting. But even setting the music on the touch screen takes too much attention, so I think I'm back to using the radio or selecting an album before I start off. (Flicking through radio stations is fine as I can use the button on the steering wheel, and it's a simple scroll through the stations.)

I agree with you OP and further more, I’d bet at least 50% of the ‘perfect drivers’ on this thread will have done something similar at some point. So much virtue signalling, it’s hilarious. 😂

Having said that, what’s done is done so I think it’s best to just suck it up. We all make mistakes and this was yours.

but if the drivers were perfect etc

Yes im aware of that thank you. Ive read the thread.

The 2 posters I mentioned however have both made reference to the person taking the photo being a police officer. Im pointing out he wasnt.

When I was a child drink driving was considered to be acceptable.
Now it’s not and rightly so.
There may come a time in the future when mobile phone use when driving will become equally unacceptable.

Oh my god, you are hilarious! You were caught and I say good on the man for catching you. Would you have felt better if it was a woman on the bike?!?

He looked in your window. That’s not that intimidating - women are not pathetic maidens who can’t cope with someone looking in their car window. Particularly when a car is a massive, lockable weapon of a machine vs… a bike.

You broke the law and so you have to face the consequence.

Busted !

Call me cynical but this is yet another thread which is guaranteed to get people frothing but never returns after the op

Especially odd for someone allegedly so glued to their phone they had to check it in the car 🤔

Theres a lot of threads like that recently

Or it could just be the 86% who think she ibu

"He reported me or was an undercover policeman"

I agree with you op. It’s a harsh penalty when speeding (which is far more dangerous) isn’t treated as firmly.
I hate the vigilante type policing too, it leads to wealthier villages being able to afford to police their area whilst poorer areas lose out.

Fair enough - but the OP had said he'd might have been an undercover policeman. And in my area the police do operations like this focusing on mobile phone use whilst driving from time to time - they get heaps every time.

You did the crime, pay up

This is true. Years ago I once set off to work - as a fairly new young driver back then - and whilst in very slow moving traffic jam I realised I didn't think I had my purse. I rummaged around for it in my bag on the passenger seat. Drove (slowly albeit) into the back of the car in front!

I once saw a car at red traffic lights rolling backwards while the driver stared at their phone, not even noticing they hadn't put their brake on properly.

He wasnt an undercover police officer. A plain clothes police officer wouldnt film her then report it. He would identify himself as a police officer Issue the ticket and submit the footage as evidence.

He was clearly one of a growing number of cyclists reporting drivers

Yes but not by peering in windows, filming the driver & cycling off without so much as speaking to them

OP.
Secondly, the method of capturing this footage - a man staring into a woman's car, on her own with a baby, and instilling fear and blocking her in surely is not acceptable? Really? 🫣This sounds very dramatic.

I’m amazed how many people still use their phones while driving and whilst in stationary traffic. There’s no way people don’t know that it’s not allowed.

I fully get that it’s annoying and frustrating to get caught checking your phone in a risk free moment, but claiming that you felt threatened because the cyclist was a man is a pathetic excuse and only goes to minimise the real threat that women face by dangerous men.

And it doesn’t change the fact that you checked your phone.