Driving Whilst Using a Mobile

[tony wright]

Had a close call this afternoon with a young girl doing exactly this. Driving through the Town center with cars parked either side of the road, but with enough room for two cars to pass easily in the middle. I was travelling at no more than 10mph when the car approaching me drifted across my side of the road luckily I was alert enough to hold the horn till she looked ahead. She obviously crapped herself and ended up dropping her phone and grabbing the wheel with both hands followed by a sorry gesture. My thoughts after calming down were if she had hit me the chances are she would deny using the phone and it could go 50/50. So question is, could I then ring police and ask them to check her phone to see if it was being used at the time and apportion full blame to her?

[mp3manager]

Get a dashcam.

[kiethton]

mp3manager said:

Get a dashcam.

This

The police don't have enough resources to solve proper crime, let alone a civil dispute

[ging84]

tony wright said:

Had a close call this afternoon with a young girl doing exactly this. Driving through the Town center with cars parked either side of the road, but with enough room for two cars to pass easily in the middle. I was travelling at no more than 10mph when the car approaching me drifted across my side of the road luckily I was alert enough to hold the horn till she looked ahead. She obviously crapped herself and ended up dropping her phone and grabbing the wheel with both hands followed by a sorry gesture. My thoughts after calming down were if she had hit me the chances are she would deny using the phone and it could go 50/50. So question is, could I then ring police and ask them to check her phone to see if it was being used at the time and apportion full blame to her?

Depends what you mean by used

Even if there was sufficient grounds and the inclination to investigate, all they could look at would be phone call and sms records.
What would that tell them?
The accident happened about 12:30, she sent a message at 12:27 and made a call at 12:32
Were either of those when the accident happened? or was the text send just before setting off, and the call to someone to let them know they've been in an accident.
And even if you did have an accurate way of time stamping the accident, that does not prove the phone was being held at the time, and completely misses the increasingly common scenario of a smart phone being used for something other than phone calls or sms.
And even if you could prove that the phone was being used handheld, that does not prove it was 100% thier fault, and even if it could for a low value claim, your insurer may not be interested in taking on the fight.

Get a dashcam.

[Pip1968]

I would have thought if it was seen that she had been continuously using her phone (even if allegedly before and after) then insurers would find against her whether or not it was 100% her fault. My reasoning is that she is clearly not in control of a motor vehicle.

Everyone seems obsessed with dashboard cameras as if we are not watched enough.

I am sure if you took a picture post accident where she hit you everyone woul dbe able to see in was on your side of the road.

Pip

[tony wright]

If she had actually collided with me there would of probably been a good witness as it was through a busy Town center (makes using her phone worse) and traffic was flowing both ways. Just thought the police would of been interested but accept it would be difficult to prove and would really pee me off to accept a 50/50 claim. May look into a dash cam for my new car.

[JagerT]

have

[helix402]

Centre.

[nipsips]

Pip1968 said:

I would have thought if it was seen that she had been continuously using her phone (even if allegedly before and after) then insurers would find against her whether or not it was 100% her fault. My reasoning is that she is clearly not in control of a motor vehicle.

Everyone seems obsessed with dashboard cameras as if we are not watched enough.

I am sure if you took a picture post accident where she hit you everyone woul dbe able to see in was on your side of the road.

Pip

This isn't the case.

Even if you are on the phone, speeding or drunk etc it doesn't mean that you are 100% responsible, or indeed at all responsible for causing an accident.

Images to show she was on the opposite side of the road would help, and also dash cam footage/witness evidence would be taken into account - but even if you could prove she was on the phone it wouldn't mean squat.

For example, you could be sat stationary in traffic on your phone when someone rear ends you. Or you could be driving along a road drunk when someone pulls out of a side road and hits the side of you.

[alock]

Pip1968 said:

I would have thought if it was seen that she had been continuously using her phone (even if allegedly before and after) then insurers would find against her whether or not it was 100% her fault. My reasoning is that she is clearly not in control of a motor vehicle.

Are you saying that if I'm sat in traffic with the handbrake on and a car collides with me then the insurance should automatically rule against me?

If not then we are back to examining the facts of each incident and making a judgement call.