1st March - 6points for mobile phone use at the wheel
Discussion
Surrey Road Police put out a pretty useful series of tweets explaining their take on what "using" means. They clarified that they don't interpret using your phone as a satnav while in its cradle as an offence.
https://twitter.com/i/moments/833997017030545408
Their feed has some replies to user questions in it.
https://twitter.com/i/moments/833997017030545408
Their feed has some replies to user questions in it.
elvismiggell said:
Surrey Road Police put out a pretty useful series of tweets explaining their take on what "using" means. They clarified that they don't interpret using your phone as a satnav while in its cradle as an offence.
https://twitter.com/i/moments/833997017030545408
Their feed has some replies to user questions in it.
thats confused me more ...https://twitter.com/i/moments/833997017030545408
Their feed has some replies to user questions in it.
this seams clearer
"a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function"
so if you dont hold it (cradle) its fine to use
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/regul...
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Wednesday 22 February 15:08
Dave Hedgehog said:
thats confused me more ...
this seams clearer
"a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function"
so if you dont hold it (cradle) its fine to use
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/regul...
I think their summary is harder to read than the tweets and answers as they happened.this seams clearer
"a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function"
so if you dont hold it (cradle) its fine to use
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/regul...
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Wednesday 22 February 15:08
My takeaway was;
A mobile phone in a cradle acting as a satnav is definitely fine. Tapping it with a single finger to accept a call is also fine.
If it's in your hand, it's definitely not fine.
If you're using more than a single finger, or judged to be distracted by it you're probably on dodgy ground, but they may use other legislation for that.
elvismiggell said:
Dave Hedgehog said:
thats confused me more ...
this seams clearer
"a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function"
so if you dont hold it (cradle) its fine to use
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/regul...
I think their summary is harder to read than the tweets and answers as they happened.this seams clearer
"a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function"
so if you dont hold it (cradle) its fine to use
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/regul...
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Wednesday 22 February 15:08
My takeaway was;
A mobile phone in a cradle acting as a satnav is definitely fine. Tapping it with a single finger to accept a call is also fine.
If it's in your hand, it's definitely not fine.
If you're using more than a single finger, or judged to be distracted by it you're probably on dodgy ground, but they may use other legislation for that.
If it affects your driving then they have other offences such as without due care and consideration etc.
Stupid piece of legislation in my opinion. All it does is encourage people to attempt to conceal their phone usage, particularly van and lorry drivers, by holding the phone bellow the window line making it into an even larger distraction. Mobile phone usage should never have been split from driving without due care. At least under that offence the danger can be examined on a case by case basis and penalised accordingly. Black and white laws only breeds contempt for enforcers. The contempt is multiplied when the risk to livelihoods is increased.
Seems pretty straight forward to me. Just turn the thing off. Unless you often wait for calls from Hollywood Directors or your wife is a day away from birth.
What's soo important?
Van drivers concealing. It's obvious, the nodding head, not setting off in sync with other cars etc. Personally I think the punishment should be 9points.
What's soo important?
Van drivers concealing. It's obvious, the nodding head, not setting off in sync with other cars etc. Personally I think the punishment should be 9points.
grumpyscot said:
All we need now is some police cars on the road to catch offenders. (Seeing a police car in Scotland anywhere other than in a major city is now a rarity, and I haven't seen a traffic car for months now)
You must be in the wilderness then as I see several police cars every day if not every hour in the Central belt.surveyor said:
Your not on dodgy ground. You are not holding the device, therefore you have not broken the mobile phone legislation.
I'm going to hang mine from a piece of string tied to my rear view mirror. As it swings backwards and forwards I can jab at it with my nose. There's no law making this illegal so it must be safe.alock said:
I'm going to hang mine from a piece of string tied to my rear view mirror. As it swings backwards and forwards I can jab at it with my nose. There's no law making this illegal so it must be safe.
There's no specific law, although I suspect it would fall under driving without due care and attention. Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff