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

[GingerBeverage]

…in the last couple of years.

Because I hear about speeding fines/points all the time, and yellow box fines, and LTN fines - but never phone fines.

Have they given it up?

My friends daughter got a 6 month driving ban! Almost lost her job.

I totally agree. The screens that show the text you’ve received so you can read it? I don’t know how they’re allowed.

You have to be “safely parked”, which includes engine off, but I’m not sure about keys removed. Maybe it’s technically the rule but I think you’d have to have a very picky police officer to have a problem with a parked car, engine off, hand brake on, but keys in the ignition.
I do that all the time - get in the car, put the key in ignition just so I don’t have to put it somewhere else, use my phone to set up the sat nav or put on a podcast, put phone down, start car. I don’t touch the phone once actually driving.

You wouldn't be in trouble, touching the phone whilst it's in a cradle is not covered by the legislation.

The offence is "holding and using".

I dont always set off when the traffic starts, Im not perfect. I dont get my phone out of my bag while driving, I dont even use hands free.

So you're wrong

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

Yes this

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.

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

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)

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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!

I know someone who had exactly the same.

Seems a bit of a trend!

Still seeing loads of people on phones while driving.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gvl11z4p5o