Discussion
Not sure this should be in the ba driving thread!
Anyway tonight on the M6 from junc 10 to 10a the hard shoulder was a live lane.
But there was a guy (assume a guy) in a white BMW swerving and drifting all over the lanes, sometimes signalling, mostly not.
Now I just kept back when I realised that he was unpredictable and might cause an accident.
I felt I should tell someone but I could not stop - no hard shoulder, and my car doesnt have bluetooth hands free (yeah rubbish) I considered calling the police to alert them because I suspected this guy was either intoxicated or ill at the wheel, but I would have been commiting an offence myself to do this, and my memory is terrible, I'd forgotten the reg by the time I got to my destination.
Would anyone have seen this guy on the cameras on the m6?
Should I have called it in anyway?
Anyway tonight on the M6 from junc 10 to 10a the hard shoulder was a live lane.
But there was a guy (assume a guy) in a white BMW swerving and drifting all over the lanes, sometimes signalling, mostly not.
Now I just kept back when I realised that he was unpredictable and might cause an accident.
I felt I should tell someone but I could not stop - no hard shoulder, and my car doesnt have bluetooth hands free (yeah rubbish) I considered calling the police to alert them because I suspected this guy was either intoxicated or ill at the wheel, but I would have been commiting an offence myself to do this, and my memory is terrible, I'd forgotten the reg by the time I got to my destination.
Would anyone have seen this guy on the cameras on the m6?
Should I have called it in anyway?
DervVW said:
Centurion07 said:
Seriously? His driving was so bad you wanted to call the police but didn't in case you were seen by the police? 
Seriously - Sorry to disappont you
kING. CALL.2. As mentioned above, if you're making an emergency call, it's ok. But even if it weren't, MAKE. THE. f
kING. CALL. I take it you were quite happy to have this muppet cause an accident because there was a small chance that you could've got into a teeny, insignificant amount of trouble by using your phone to report it (even though you couldn't)? By small I mean so small that there is no known scientific method of measuring it. In fact, I'm led to believe that numbers don't even go that low so as to be able to measure just how small that chance was.3. If the police were around to spot you using a phone, then they would've been able to spot the tool in the BMW as well.
jmcc500 said:
I would have concentrated very hard and called it with my phone in my hand - I would hope any police in the vicinity would have been more worried about the loony weaving around than me.
I'm not sure I posess such levels of concentration: after all, we're always being told how incredibly dangerous it is to talk on the phone when driving. I reckon as soon as I picked up the phone, numerous children would immediately be killed 
martinbiz said:
There are few defences to using a mobile phone while driving, but one of the few is phoning the police to report a crime in progress.
See above. It has to be a genuine emergency. That is not the same as saying it's ok because you've dialled the emergency number. On the facts above there isn't a genuine emergency.Centurion07 said:
1. If his driving was that bad, MAKE. THE. fkING. CALL.
2. As mentioned above, if you're making an emergency call, it's ok. But even if it weren't, MAKE. THE. fkING. CALL. I take it you were quite happy to have this muppet cause an accident because there was a small chance that you could've got into a teeny, insignificant amount of trouble by using your phone to report it (even though you couldn't)? By small I mean so small that there is no known scientific method of measuring it. In fact, I'm led to believe that numbers don't even go that low so as to be able to measure just how small that chance was.
3. If the police were around to spot you using a phone, then they would've been able to spot the tool in the BMW as well.
I'd say the chance of the Police realising you are using a phone are pretty high if they are the ones you are ringing, and being prosecuted for phoning and driving is hardly insignificant.kING. CALL.2. As mentioned above, if you're making an emergency call, it's ok. But even if it weren't, MAKE. THE. f
kING. CALL. I take it you were quite happy to have this muppet cause an accident because there was a small chance that you could've got into a teeny, insignificant amount of trouble by using your phone to report it (even though you couldn't)? By small I mean so small that there is no known scientific method of measuring it. In fact, I'm led to believe that numbers don't even go that low so as to be able to measure just how small that chance was.3. If the police were around to spot you using a phone, then they would've been able to spot the tool in the BMW as well.
Dr Jekyll said:
I'd say the chance of the Police realising you are using a phone are pretty high if they are the ones you are ringing, and being prosecuted for phoning and driving is hardly insignificant.
Yes, you're right. I'm sure the police go to the trouble of personally checking that each and every driver that makes an emergency call while moving has hands-free capability in their car. 
I would call a hundred pound fine and three points pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Annoying maybe, but definitely insignificant as far as driving punishments are concerned.
allergictocheese said:
To clarify the making the emergency call point. It must be a genuine emergency (I doubt this qualifies) and it must be unsafe or you're unable to stop.
See Regulation 110 Construction and Use.
Indeed, however the CPS would simply say that it wasn't in the public interest to take the case to court, providing there's a legitimate reason.See Regulation 110 Construction and Use.
Would be far too much bad press if it was.
allergictocheese said:
See above. It has to be a genuine emergency. That is not the same as saying it's ok because you've dialled the emergency number. On the facts above there isn't a genuine emergency.
Arguably if he has witnessed driving that falls below the standard of a careful and competent driver then a crime has been committed - (careless, dangerous maybe DD) and he would have a defence to the phone allegation and should win if by a vanishingly small chance he ended up in court.Don't forget it would be up to the prosecution to prove the defendant had not witnessed a crime, not for the defendant to prove he had.
Edited by martinbiz on Friday 23 January 14:51
Witnessing a crime does not make a situation an emergency. Otherwise you could use the exemption to ring the police because you've just seen someone run a red light. Or drop some litter. The exemption is designed for situations where you need to ring the emergency services whilst you're driving and it's impractical to stop. It's a narrow exemption rather than a wide one, hence the legislation separating out the two numbers you can call and the situation where you can ring them.
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