IF you are Texting you are not driving

LASTOLITE

LASTOLITE

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Bill
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After witnessing countless people using mobiles while driving this week and one ipad : - o I am amazed there are not far more accidents because of the use of mobiles.....
 
The advert is being run in the USA for what good it will do I dont know but its rife over here and getting worse. The police seem to be blind to it too as i was driving behind a police car on the M6 going north and I could see it going on, so why couldn't they......Its so easy to spot and especially in the dark!! I cant believe people do it at night - dont they know their face is glowing.
 
Overtaking a lady driver on the M61 Wednesday, she had paperwork spread all over her steering wheel and was flipping through it. She was wandering all over the inside lane at 55 mph.
A few miles down the road, she overtook us (I was doing just under 70) at a fair rate of knots with her phone now on the steering wheel punching the keypad!
The fines/points threatened just are not a big enough deterrent it seems.
 
The ones that really bug me, are the clowns that are using phones as they leave a car-park, witnessed this on countless occasions :mad:
Why can't they just make a call or send a text, then set off driving ?
 
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LASTOLITE said:
The advert is being run in the USA for what good it will do I dont know but its rife over here and getting worse.
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It's a huge issue in Canada, and is now finally classed as a driving offence, but it doesn't stop people at all. And the same with the police here; they seem blaise to the whole issue. General driving standards in Alberta are bad as it is, but when you then add distracted driving, I'm amazed it isn't like a demolition derby on the roads.

I was driving behind a car yesterday morning, dawn time, so still a little dark. Car in front doing 40 in a 70, then speeding up, slowing down, and all the time the driver has their head bowed. Drove past...texting constantly. Driving was 3rd on their list of priorities as they also had a cup of coffee in their right hand!!!

There can be a glut of ad campaigns to make people aware, but until they are actually in a crash, or the punishment is very severe, then it'll never stop. A $172.00 fine & NO points on your license in Alberta is NO DETERRENT!

This is the current Alberta campaign :rolleyes:

hi-crotches-kill-852-8col.jpg
 
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It isn't getting worse.
It simply isn't getting any less simply because of the (weak) legislation.
 
People will still do it,because they know they will get away with it.

A 2 year ban plus a £2000 fine and you have to retake your driving test
 
Never gonna happen.
 
The police over here take it very seriously. We lose points and get a fine if caught, I think the reason it is still rife over here is because there is such a huge range for the police to patrol that they cannot possibly catch everyone.

I also met a guy who was complaining about losing his licence because he had been caught once again (lost his last point).

Perhaps that is the system that you guys need?

I think it is $330 plus 1 point if caught?
 
I agree with the concern expressed here. I'm a little bit worried by the use of hands free phones in cars but if you are using a hand held phone/tablet while driving a car, you are a dangerous idiot.

I suggest a change in the law so that anyone caught has their car impounded immediately and, from wherever they may be at the time, they have to find alternative transport, plus a big fine and points on the licence.

Dave
 
simonblue said:
People will still do it,because they know they will get away with it.

A 2 year ban plus a £2000 fine and you have to retake your driving test
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I would agree with retaking the test to regain your driving license. If you are stupid enough to make enough mistakes to get 12 points under the totting up system you have proved that you need retraining and going through the theory test, provisional license, lessons and full test would give you that time.
 
On the day the original legislation came out I was driving in my car with a police officer to serve some papers when my mobile rang.............

Steve
 
We have bigger issues in Alberta, namely drink driving. A guy was followed by the police a while back for what looked like DUI. When finally caught, he was 3 times over the limit and had a 7 year old kid in the car, sitting in the front seat. This was also the middle of the afternoon!!!!
 
having nearly been killed in a head on crash with a drunk driver who was 3 times over the limit ,and the year before that rear ended in my 2 day old brand new car by a driver in a van on a mobile phone ,i was actually stopped at a red light and saw him on his phone in the mirror .i have absolutely no sympathy for any of it .in either case there licence should be taken away for at least 5 years and then made to re-sit there test .
it will never happen though i think a very high percentage of drivers these days especially the eastern european ones that seem to favour bmw and audi cars have never sat a test and theres no way to prove otherwise .grim but fact
 
last year i was waiting on a taxi in a supermarket car park and a not so nice person was on hs chuffing phone and nearly hit a lady with a buggy... he parked and walked towards me.. me being a twit confronted him.. told him he was being rather silly.. i got told he was going to give me a make over in tones of blue.. but me being me didn't back down i then posted a pic of said nice person on his phone driving out of the car park with him sticking his finger up at me onto the local police FB page.. he was arrested...
 
viv1969 said:
It isn't getting worse.
It simply isn't getting any less simply because of the (weak) legislation.
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As I mentioned on the other thread, I am a Traffic PC and this is by far and away the most common offence we deal with. It's also the one that we go to court most often about too. When I patrol I'm usually on a bike and as I go past vehicles I glance in. Usually takes about ten glances to see someone using their phone.

The way it's going to be solved is quite simply money. At the minute it's a £100 fine and three points, most people aren't bothered about the fine it's the points they don't want. What they don't realise is that the offence code 'CU80' on their licence for three years is now starting to have a lot of impact with insurance costs. As I understand it insurance companies are whacking on as much as 50% extra for all three years as a result of a CU80. I also know that any people don't declare their points to the insurance companies, this won't work soon as later this year they're getting limited access to DVLA database and will be able to check points themselves. In London, this means that using your mobile phone could easily cost you a couple of grand......just so you could let your partner know that you were five minutes from home.....

If you want to see how much it would cost you try a quote on confused dot com with and without the offence.

There are also much more severe penalties for HGV drivers in London caught on the phone. They get a 'ban' from the Transport Commissioner usually for 14 or 28 days which means they can't work
 
fabs said:
British version was discussed here a couple of months ago, was more powerful IMO

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/texting-whilst-driving.529097/
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I didn't see that video or thread but yes I agree more hard hitting.


As I see it we Brits just dont see whats good for us. I mean it would seem that the only way to make us Brits do the right thing is for the nanny state to legislate...its barmy we have a real streak in us that does not want to listen and we sure as hell dont want to be told what to do.

After a woman arrived at a petrol station she gets out of her car and her phone rings while talking on the phone she starts to fill her car with petrol, All the pumps stopped and over the PA she is asked to turn her phone off. She was not happy. Not sure she give a monkeys about the fact she had held everyone else up.
 
Wookee said:
As I mentioned on the other thread, I am a Traffic PC and this is by far and away the most common offence we deal with. It's also the one that we go to court most often about too. When I patrol I'm usually on a bike and as I go past vehicles I glance in. Usually takes about ten glances to see someone using their phone.

The way it's going to be solved is quite simply money. At the minute it's a £100 fine and three points, most people aren't bothered about the fine it's the points they don't want. What they don't realise is that the offence code 'CU80' on their licence for three years is now starting to have a lot of impact with insurance costs. As I understand it insurance companies are whacking on as much as 50% extra for all three years as a result of a CU80. I also know that any people don't declare their points to the insurance companies, this won't work soon as later this year they're getting limited access to DVLA database and will be able to check points themselves. In London, this means that using your mobile phone could easily cost you a couple of grand......just so you could let your partner know that you were five minutes from home.....

If you want to see how much it would cost you try a quote on confused dot com with and without the offence.

There are also much more severe penalties for HGV drivers in London caught on the phone. They get a 'ban' from the Transport Commissioner usually for 14 or 28 days which means they can't work
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Oh I get it...I do.
But I might still maintain that there aren't more people texting / talking on ythier phones whilst driving. ..just that the number of prosecutions you're able to secure now has rocketed.

Bit concerned though by a moyorcyclist having to glance up to ten times into the car next to him. That doesn't exactly sound encouraging as far as road safety is concerned.
 
the black fox said:
a very high percentage of drivers these days especially the eastern european ones that seem to favour bmw and audi cars have never sat a test and theres no way to prove otherwise .grim but fact
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Which bit of this is a fact and how do you know it if there's no way to prove it?


Steve.
 
I think (dangerous, I know!) that Wookee meant that 1 in 10 cars are being driven by people using their phones. Since I've been an enforced passenger, I've noticed loads of people texting, phoning, using laptops, watching movies, many of them mums on the school run (the drivers, not the movies.)

Have to agree that something more needs to be done to improve driving standards. Personally, I'm in favour of regular (5 or 10 yearly) retests (simulators would probably do for hazard perception and road sense) and mandatory annual sight tests. Driving is a privilege not a right and it's abused horrendously by far too many.
 
I don't have all that much sympathy for anyone convicted of a motoring offence such as talking on a phone etc because it can be avoided, same goes for DD though I do feel sorry for some where you see the morning after effect, as truth be told in hindsight I've probably done that one myself in the past...
 
Nod said:
I think (dangerous, I know!) that Wookee meant that 1 in 10 cars are being driven by people using the phone.
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Ah!! Now that makes much more sense! *slaps forehead*. :-)
 
MWHCVT said:
I don't have all that much sympathy for anyone convicted of a motoring offence such as talking on a phone etc because it can be avoided, same goes for DD though I do feel sorry for some where you see the morning after effect, as truth be told in hindsight I've probably done that one myself in the past...
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Why, they ingested the drink. If you know you are going to be driving the next morning, don't drink so much, or better still don't drink at all.
 
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nilagin said:
Why, they ingested the drink. If you know you are going to be driving the next morning, don't drink so much, or better still don't drink at all.
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It's easy to be judgemental about it but the reality is sometimes its just something that doesn't even enter your mind, you know maybe because their/your judgement is impaired by something...
 
MWHCVT said:
It's easy to be judgemental about it but the reality is sometimes its just something that doesn't even enter your mind, you know maybe because their/your judgement is impaired by something...
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Exactly, so don't drink in the first place. If you can't help it seek help.
 
nilagin said:
Exactly, so don't drink in the first place. If you can't help it seek help.
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Going out and having a few drinks and not realising your still over the limit the next day is not about having a drinking problem, and I'm not trying to defend people who have got caught morning after effect or not all I'm saying is we are talking about on the whole people that are horrified they have done it not someone who has actively gone out knowing they are over the limit but still driven..

I'm not defending these, people as they are guilty, a good friend I've mine was caught out on the morning after affect, and I called him names that I'd not repeat here for it, it has no defence you are guilty but as is so often in life there are shades of grey in life not everything is completely black and while...

Hell I've recently had a conviction, not for drink driving or using a phone I should clarify though, I'm ashamed of it but I am guilty even if I do believe there were mitigating circumstances to the situation I found myself in
 
Nod said:
Personally, I'm in favour of regular (5 or 10 yearly) retests (simulators would probably do for hazard perception and road sense) and mandatory annual sight tests. Driving is a privilege not a right and it's abused horrendously by far too many.
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I am also in favour of regular retests nut unfortunately it would significantly increase the number of tests being taken. If everyone was tested every five years, that would be about ten times as many tests as now.

An answer could be the way it is done in some American states where you renew your licence every five years and might be randomly chosen to take a road test.

I think an annual sight test might be too often. If you have a class C or D licence, the medical report including a sight test is required every five years after the age of 45. I think this is often enough.


Steve.
 
MWHCVT said:
Going out and having a few drinks and not realising your still over the limit the next day is not about having a drinking problem,
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Depends on how many you rate as a few. In my opinion to be over the limit the next morning, then they do have a drinking problem, as they don't know when to stop. Alcohol isn't the be all and end all of a good night out. It's not exactly a guarded secret that it takes hours for the effects of alcohol to disappear and the more you drink, the longer it takes.
 
nilagin said:
Depends on how many you rate as a few. In my opinion to be over the limit the next morning, then they do have a drinking problem, as they don't know when to stop. Alcohol isn't the be all and end all of a good night out. It's not exactly a guarded secret that it takes hours for the effects of alcohol to disappear and the more you drink, the longer it takes.
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But there also is a huge number popular urban myths that many put credence to helping such as water before bed or a meal afterwards etc that muddy the waters...ultimately no one is perfect and mistakes to happen...I don't really think that it's needed to discuss drinking issues as being and alcoholic and drink driving while not mutually exclusive are not always linked, you can get done for drink driving and not have a medically defined drinking problem
 
MWHCVT said:
But there also is a huge number popular urban myths that many put credence to helping such as water before bed or a meal afterwards etc that muddy the waters...ultimately no one is perfect and mistakes to happen...I don't really think that it's needed to discuss drinking issues as being and alcoholic and drink driving while not mutually exclusive are not always linked, you can get done for drink driving and not have a medically defined drinking problem
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I was going to suggest imposing the breathalyser kit law they have in France, but I see that has been suspended as French stockists couldn't keep up with demand. Obviously France has a drink problem.
 
nilagin said:
I was going to suggest imposing the breathalyser kit law they have in France, but I see that has been suspended as French stockists couldn't keep up with demand. Obviously France has a drink problem.
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Personally I'd be happy we every car having a built in breathalyser style imobiliser but some how doubt that would happen in my lifetime, but even then there would be plenty of ways people would bypass it I'm sure
 
viv1969 said:
Ah. Sweeping Statement Saturday.
Excellent :)
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Not really. The idea behind the self breathalysers was to test yourself before driving if you'd had a drink. If the shops couldn't keep up with the disposable replacements, there must be a lot of people in France driving after having a drink. That surely is a problem.
In my opinion, if you've even had just one drink, then you don't drive, even though you'd be under the limit.
 
Yes. It's all so simple...black and white :rolleyes:
 
The truth of the matter is we stop caring a long time ago,look even you kill somebody thought dangerous driving what the worst that's going to happen,in most cases maybe 18mths in prison you come out carry on with your life,and you get your driving license back.

:(
 
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