1st March getting caught on a mobile phone whilst driving = 6 points and £200 fine ...........should be double ! And some insurance companies won't pay out, if you crash whilst on phone ........even hands free !!!!
They should be lined up and and shot with a taser. Insurance not paying out is harsh for the poor bugger they hit though.
I think it's getting worse! Any time as a biker spent filtering see's more drivers on their phone. And for what? Are any of the calls/messages a matter of life or death, that they can't pull into the nearest safe place! The answer is No! I don't think the increase in points is enough quite frankly & I guess the folks grieving for loved ones who have lost their lives in rta's where this is the factor will probably agree!
Totally agree Lozzy, only the other day I'm driving behind a woman on a dual carriage way she's all over the road with kids in the back of the car jibber jabbing on the fecking phone, I drove along side for a fair distance and she was totally oblivious I was even there until I sounded my horn....she immediately dropped the phone, gave me the finger and a load of verbal wtf....first time ever I wished I was a cop!
Yep...that seems to be the standard reaction! That & the....whoops I'm a bit embarrassed because i know i shouldnt be doing it...... so I'll just put the phone down & look anywhere other than at that biker next to me shaking their head!
The worrying thing about red 5s experience is that the drivers kids will pick up on this and see it as a normal thing to do when driving. My parents always made me and my sister put on seat belts even before it became law . It is second nature to us now.
How many bikers are righteous on the bike because they cant use their phones but have picked up the phone when in the car tho..... I find myself annoyed by it on the bike (more prob due to the increased risk we are exposed to and our natural defence) but i'd be lying if i said i've never picked up the phone in a car. Be surprised if everyone on here says they haven't either. That said - 6 points will be a huge deterrent. And rightly so!!
Its no point having worthwhile deterrents though if the rules are not enforced. Cameras cannot discriminate and they cannot detect phone users. Lack of coppers on the road means that these phone b@stards are going t continue to get away with it because they know the chances of being caught are slim. Punishing them post crash is a bit like shutting the door after the horse has bolted. Bit late and pointless when people are already dead or seriously injured, thr lesson has been learnt the hard and painful way..
Yep i know where youre coming from @Jimbo Vills & I've done some stupid stuff but....no I've never done it...& I'm not being righteous, it's just I've spent a lot of years dealing with the aftermath & consequences of being distracted at the wheel. Maybe if folks who get caught on their phones had to accompany the police officers who have to go & tell the relatives of persons killed or badly injured by someone using their phone they might think twice before answering that irrelevant txt or call.
Couldn't agree more. But unfortunately i'm not in charge of law enforcement in this country. Because as well as folk who cause accidents whilst on their phone being severely punished... i'd also take a lot more serious crime in this country a great deal more... well serious than it is! As Lozzy said, being involved in the consequences makes you realise the impact of the actions, but i know plenty of coppers who ride... and speed. Guess we all have a 'it'll never happen to me' attitude but have to man up and take the consequence if you take the risks and the worst happens.
I agree with you and after 40+ years in the legal profession as a traffic cop and now crash invstigator I am not going to sit here and pontificate about being whiter than white. Hell I have been known to ride at 31 MPH in a 30 limit and 43 in a 40. I have even crept up to the dizzy heights of 77 on a Motorway In all seriousness, we have all broken trafic laws in the past and even any copper says they haven't I will call a liar. But when it comes to mobile phone use, it seems that like speeding it is regarded as a socially acceptable thing to do even though the consequences can be dire. Again, I totally agree. I would go one step further and make them go to the Mortuary with the OiC and do the identification to the coroners officer and then make them attend the post mortem. I have lost count of how many hours I have spent in the Mortuary with a body of someone who had everything to live for but for the inconsiderate behaviour of selfish arrogant and ignorant individuals who think the rules only apply to everyone else. What I don't understand (and I apreciate that this does not cover the text aspect) but why do people need to use their hand held mobiles when many vehicles now have bluetooth built in or a bluetooth headset is available for under a fiver. I am not advocating any calls whilst driving, but it has to be better than having a phone stuck to their ear thereby reducing control, and at least (for the moment anyway) it is legal.
Exactly.... which I think harsher penalties will help swing cultural attitudes. If the authorities are taking it more serious, generally the masses do too. Wasn't so long ago that drink driving was more socially acceptable but now you'd rather have an std than admit to drink driving offences in public... all about perception imho. But I do think it’s slightly ironic when I see bikers shaking their heads, pointing the finger and claiming the moral high ground at car users on phones when the majority are habitual speeders for their own gratification on a Sunday morning blast, which statistically I’d wager has a far more frequent and no doubt serious consequences. But we all make our choices right….
In my opinion there is a world of difference between a biker stretching their legs so to speak with 100% concentration on what they are doing and some cretin downloading facebook, texting etc essentially driving blind!
You stretching your legs.... say 90mph on a clearway which you deem 'safe' to do so.... on the basis you are concentrating, have local road knowledge and relative experience to do so would no doubt be 99/100 safe. what if someone pulled out not paying attention and you both end up with the worse consequences. Namely you killing a young family etc etc etc... how do you think you would be perceived by the general public and their families? Speeding hooligan biker..... See, like you say, it's your opinion, someone else's might be totally different for a different offence. which goes back to what TC was saying about social acceptance. the problem with talking on your phone or speeding, is generally there is not normally a consequence, until the unthinkable happens. As i said - we just all think it'll never happen to us. I'm not defending phone users....but i think many of us criticise and do it ourselves. i know i do on occasion (but know i shouldnt) .. nor am i saying i'm an angel on the road because i really am not. Andy clearly has strong views on it. I could tell you some stories of us together in scotland.
I openly admit to using hands free in the car which although still legal, I know I shouldn't. But then there is a difference between operating a vehicle with one hand whilst operating a hand held mobile and watching where you are going and looking at a screen placed on your lap to having both hands on the wheel and holding a conversation which is no different in many ways to chatting to a passenger. What I can honestly say is that I have never looked at or sent a text whilst mobile or looked at the internet. Probably helps that I do not have my mobile phone internet enabled
I have to agree with Jimbo on this one. Although I don't agree with people using the phone on the move, I do find it more than slightly ironic that a sports motorcycle forum try's to take the moral high ground. Whilst we all like to think that being a biker makes us a better road user stastistics say otherwise. If we were all sensible road users there'd be no need for 200 bhp bike's for road use, a Honda C90 would get us to the max permitted limits. By the way, I think the phone/car manufactures should get together and make it impossible to use a phone in a moving vehicle ( yes including passengers, as that can be as distracting as whilst driving). We managed without for the first 100 years of car use I'm sure we could manage again. Ramble over.
The technology is available but no one is going to be the first to use it because it will no doubt affect sales. Legislation is required to force them all to do it.
your phone knows where you are and what you are up to... so could lock off once over 10mph etc... problem solved. doesnt help though if you are on a train or a really good jogger ha guess you could text a mate or log on to facebook to get an over ride cosde prove you are not the driver and disable the block......... oh wait...
