Discussion
Just wondering...
Say a member of public was stopped at a red light, and was using their phone while stationary. A police car joins the queue 2 - 3 cars back and sees them on the phone but put it away as the lights go green.
Would you:
A)pull them over and give them a scare
B)pull them over and book them
C)Ignore it as they got off the phone before moving their vehicle?
Say a member of public was stopped at a red light, and was using their phone while stationary. A police car joins the queue 2 - 3 cars back and sees them on the phone but put it away as the lights go green.
Would you:
A)pull them over and give them a scare
B)pull them over and book them
C)Ignore it as they got off the phone before moving their vehicle?
A or B depending on the circumstances; ie: previous convictions, attitude of driver, urgency of call etc etc..
I stopped two drivers today for mobile phone use. The second I followed for about a mile, in order to find a safe place to pull him. Throughout that mile, he didn't look in his mirror once. Turned out he was a solicitor...
Both were issued fixed penalties. The solicitor was very apologetic as he was looking at being reported for due care and attention, such was the distance followed and the fact he negotiated a roundabout whilst on the phone.
Street
>> Edited by Streetcop on Monday 12th July 17:36
I stopped two drivers today for mobile phone use. The second I followed for about a mile, in order to find a safe place to pull him. Throughout that mile, he didn't look in his mirror once. Turned out he was a solicitor...
Both were issued fixed penalties. The solicitor was very apologetic as he was looking at being reported for due care and attention, such was the distance followed and the fact he negotiated a roundabout whilst on the phone.
Street
>> Edited by Streetcop on Monday 12th July 17:36
What if you saw a car in a car park, with the engine on and the driver on the phone, but on closer inspection saw a large steering wheel lock still on the wheel, and said driver gave the explanation that as it was a hot day he was letting the aircon work and had no intention of driving while using the phone?
Streetcop said:
A or B depending on the circumstances; ie: previous convictions, attitude of driver, urgency of call etc etc..
I stopped two drivers today for mobile phone use. The second I followed for about a mile, in order to find a safe place to pull him. Throughout that mile, he didn't look in his mirror once. Turned out he was a solicitor...
Both were issued fixed penalties. The solicitor was very apologetic as he was looking at being reported for due care and attention, such was the distance followed and the fact he negotiated a roundabout whilst on the phone.
Street
>> Edited by Streetcop on Monday 12th July 17:36
I'm glad someone is pulling people over for this.
I didn't agree with a specific ruling for mobile phones, but i am VERY convinced that people cannot drive safely when using a phone held in their hands or under their chin.
If you see a car do something stupid lately 9 out of 10 times IME it has a person using a mobile phone at the wheel. Its usually always where they need two hands or more concentration, i.e. roundabout, hill start etc.
Watched a guy yesterday in Bath trying to do a hillstart on a very steep hill, pulling out from a T-junction obscurred by parked cars, with the phone under his right ear. His first three attempts resulted in him going more backwards thatn forwards. Then he burnt his clutch trying get up the hill then turned right whilst chaging to second - still with his right hand holding the phone, allowing the wheel to spin back to centre, aiming him at the wall of a house. He then snatched the wheel and whipped it to the right again narrowly missing the curb and the parked cars on the other side of the road....
It never once occured to him to even put the phone on the seat to get out of the junction and carry his on with conversation when on the straight road again...
That would have been better than nothing! It seems to be more common now, unless its bugging me so much that i just notice it more.
>> Edited by Buffalo on Monday 12th July 20:07
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