So, would you eat an apple whilst driving?

[Tinker]

Here

Or do you think it is outrageously dangerous and highly irresponsible?

WWW: I think that's an important point - and amongst the things I have done behind the wheel, I don't do them going round corners.

Yes, think it was more a case that the police didn't want to back down. And I eat loads of stuff when I'm driving!

I really can't see how this prosecution was in the public interest. What a shocking waste of £10K.

Blimey, must tell dh to stop chewing gum when he's driving. We all know men can only do one thing at a time!

To quote Caligula at the start of this thread

"If you're holding something in your hand, you do not have full control of the car. You are supposed to have full control of the car, so it's quite right you get points or prosecuted if you don't. The only reason for removing your hand from the steering wheel whilst driving is to change gear."

Couldn't agree more. People always make excuses and complain about an infringment of their civil liberties, etc, etc - how would they feel if they or someone close to them was involved in an accident where the driver was doing something other than giving their full attention to their driving.

Personally, I don't think that she was fined enough and that she should have to retake driving lessons and pass her test again. There are far too many complacent people out there who do things without thinking, and that's the whole point - they do not think. My friends son was hit by a car when the driver was having a drink from a can. He has permenant brain damage and the driver got away with a warning. That's disgusting - should have been banned for life, and prosecuted...if you ask me!!!

Joash, have you - hand on heart - never, ever done anything in the car except drive with both hands on the wheel? Never changed a tape, passed something to someone else, eaten something, pushed your hair out of your eyes?

Never sneezed at 70mph?

joash
I totally agree with you.
Like i said, my dh has seen many accidents caused my ppl driving and not having full control. He was involved in one only a few weeks ago, a women was drinking a hot cup of coffee, and spilt it, the first thing she did was swerve, stright into the path of a oncoming car. She wasnt injured, the other party was.
Its hard to not have a sweet or something in the car, but how would everyone feel if something happened to your family, dd/ds/dh etc, just because the driver wanted some food?

I always understood there was a rule about not having something in your hand, but if that is the case then surely the worst thing to be holding is a lit cigarette? If you drop a biscuit on your lap/floor you've just made it dirty, but if you drop a lit cigarette then you've got a problem. I have never seen anyone stopped for smoking while driving & TBH I wish the police would concentrate on this more.

I regularly eat in the car- crisps, biscuits- but wouldn't have opened hot drink, or anything that involved having to lean over/look down. (My car is an automatic so I don't need a gear-changing hand )

This current case does seem a waste of 10K IMO

joash, many many horrible things happen in this world, we cant control all of them. yes it was horrible what happened to your friends son, but are you really saying that you thing the person driving should be sent to a place where he is likely to be raped, beaten, etc etc. tit for tat? for what, a mistake?
we all do stupid things in life. it does not mean we should be made to suffer in the way you are advocating.

I do this all the time

today during the school run, my daughter was throwing a tantrum. she started before we left the house. she was buckled in the car seat, screaming her head of. getting me really really stressed out. i dont think i had one hundred percent attention on the road, i was tring to, but hand on heart, probably didnt. had i had an accident, and someone got brain damaged becauseof it, you think i should be made to go to jail, where i would be beaten up raped, etc etc. etc. my kids would be without a mother, etc etc. all because i wouldnt let my daughter have the sweets she wanted?
that is the society you are advocating joash.
bad things happen in life. deal with it like an adult. not a whinny spoilt little brat....

There is a book called Fatal Error by Thomas Munch-Petersen
which he wrote after having an accident while driving up the M1. Doing 70 mph in the fast lane, he leant over to get some mints out of his jacket pocket. For a moment he took his eyes off the road. That moment - 1.96 seconds to be exact - three people died in the pile-up and Munch-Petersen was charged, and convicted, of dangerous driving. He got three years.

People treat driving a lethal machine far too lightly. It may seem injust and heavy handed but it is a small price to give a good wake up call for the very many drivers who are wickedly careless every day.

I agree.

I cannot understand why people who are otherwise law-abiding appear to believe that as soon as they get behind the wheel of a car, they can pick and choose which laws to obey.

I've eaten and drunk in my car, I've done 80 on the motorway, but if the police catch me, I won't whine about being prosecuted for breaking the law. I'll deserve it.

But is it actually against the law to eat and drink, if you do not commit an offence like dangerous driving or causing an accident?.....

I guess it depends on the circumstances. If you're doing 80 in the outside lane, going over a blind hill or turning a corner, then I suppose it would be considered dangerous, if you're doing 50 on a quiet motorway, it might not be.

The police do use their discretion about these things, but it also depends on their mood!

I once fell off my bike while eating mintolas. I wonder if that's illegal too these days? Have never done it since as the whole experience was a bit of a shock and my mum went ballistic.

You may laugh, but I remember reading a story last year about a cyclist being prosecuted for doing something like 36 mph in a 30 zone!

Got fined, I think.

Wow- his wee legs must have been going like the clappers!

Q: "bad things happen in life. deal with it like an adult. not a whinny spoilt little brat.... "

Jeez - hope none of your loved ones ends up brain damaged or worse from someone not giving their full attention while driving.

What an utterly ridiculous thing to say.

I've seen horrific, and I mean horrific, police video (uncut, proper police video as my Dad is a senior police officer) of car accidents and I tell you what, it was enough to make me think twice every time I find myself starting to rummage for something, turn round to the kids, try to change a CD, and I pull over every time.

We need some hard hitting TV ads in this country imo.

Will this thread be apple gate d'ya think?

It was either start this one or 'Shall we discuss Michael Howard's immigration policy?'

stitch

Those comments were well out of order....

Perhaps we do need hard hitting adverts like gobbledigook says so that people will think twice.

Glad someone else picked up on that, I was just too gobsmacked to know what to say about it.

If you shoot someone and give them brain damage, that's bad, but if you give them brain damage by driving badly at them, then that's just one of those things and their relatives should just deal with it.

If any of my children were ever left brain-damaged by a careless driver, I'd be entitled to deal with it like a whiney, spoilt brat. As would any mother.

I completely agree with Caligula, if you get caught then just deal with the consequences - she paid a standard fine so they hardly wiped the floor with her.

Whether you are holding a phone, an apple or the nuts of your worst enemy - you are not fully in control of your vehicle (unless you do actually do the nuts thing then you are probably not concentrating on much else).