Wednesday 3rd April 2002

Phone Clampdown

Police in south Wales have been stopping people for driving whilst on the phone. They are reported to have stopped almost 500 drivers during a two week clampdown. 370 of those drivers were issued with fixed penalties and two have been charged with dangerous driving.

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[HAWTHORNS TVR]

As far as we know, it,s not illegal to use a mobile when driving, so what have these drivers been given tickets for? where they all driving without due care? One of our people was stopped for this recently by a plod ordinair. It turns out that as this plod had no additional "car driving training" he was not considered as an "expert witness" and therefore not able to pass judgement on good or bad driving.Motorway plods are on the otherhand "experts"

[PetrolTed]

Well, legal loopholes aside, stopping people doing it sounds like a good thing to me!

[JMorgan]

Been going on for a few weeks. Enough traffic type around to do it I suppose. Found this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/wales/newsid_1853000/1853543.stm
Also Dyfed Powys police were using helecopters to spot speeding bikers according to the news. Going to happen through the summer as well. Police man being interviewd says something like we welcome bikers etc but no naughty stuff.

>> Edited by JMorgan on Wednesday 3rd April 19:10

[Jason F]

Good, its about time something that is dangerous is clamped down on..

Must say I find it hard to see how they can justify a Chopper for nailing speeding bikers though, given the costs to keep it running.

[JMorgan]

Bank hols and the like when they expect a few.

[oakers]

you are missing the point with the helicopter. If the force is one who keeps the dosh it rasies from speeding, it can only be spent on road safety measures. By using ther helicopter for road safety ie speeding everyone can see it is money well spent. The police can then save the money it would have spent on the helicopter to spend in compensation for victims of racisum and sexisum which the police still have to pay their own officers. Or am I being too cynical?

[Rod Barrett]

The rights or wrongs of using a hand held mobile whilst driving is not the point . There is no law currently against it, if it is a danger then make it unlawfull otherwise it's not beyond a possibility that some plod may deem eating a ham roll as driving without due care. Lets not have the plod on the beat making these sort of judgements, make the law clear so that plods can enforce it ,make roads safer,and leave us motorists with at least some basic rights like being able to eat a Mars bar when driving , without the threat of being charged for the horrific crime of doing two things at once!!

[JMorgan]

Paper story not so long ago, driver done at lights (apparantly rolling slowly) for drinking water, few more years ago and girl putting lipstick on, at lights rolling slowly. Can't remember the charge.
Found the link for the water
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_774000/774655.stm

>> Edited by JMorgan on Wednesday 3rd April 21:04

[Jason F]

quote:
The rights or wrongs of using a hand held mobile whilst driving is not the point . There is no law currently against it, if it is a danger then make it unlawfull otherwise it's not beyond a possibility that some plod may deem eating a ham roll as driving without due care

Do you honestly want to see

Law against eating mars bar whilst driving
Law against eating snickers bar whilst driving
Law against drinking coke whilst driving
Law against drinking lemonade whilst driving
Law against listening to loud music
Law against smoking whilst driving

The law is driving with undue care and attention in order to ensure that many things can be encompassed and save the statute book from getting filled up with many idiotic things. Eating a Ham roll would be undue care and attention I'd say.

Saying that, New Labour (i.e. The Tory Party) seem to relish the idea of implementing law upon useless law and controlling everything we say and do and even see.

And sadly, I did think that using the copper chopper for nicking speeders just meant that they had to nail a lot of 'em to pay for the upkeep of the Chopper. Is Cynicism still cynicism if it is justified ???

[JMorgan]

I think the chopper bit was for one day and used as spotter to call in traffic cops and as a bit of publicity/scare tactic, only guessing at the tone of the news report.

[Nightmare]

quote:
Eating a Ham roll would be undue care and attention I'd say.

agreed...but only in the hands of someone who stopped paying attention because they were eating it. That's the problem I have with people saying mobile phones are dangerous...well they aren't (aside from the deadly ninja throwing phones from Japan of course) People 'zoning out' while talking, or just not paying attention because they're chatting with their mates IS - but then those people tend to be dangerous behind a wheel full stop. Chaging a CD can be incredibally dangerous...but I'm sure most of us can manage it without ever looking away from the road - but then we're aware we're doing something which might remove our attention from the subject in hand.....I don't think a lot of people do - but thats not necessarily tied to mobiles is it?

cheers
Night

[JMorgan]

The girl done at the lights in my 20:57 link was at the lights. What worries me is the way the law is applied.

[relaxitscool]

The offence is 'Not in proper control of Motor vehicle' You can contest it and argue it in court but I bet a bench of magistrates would find you guilty, unless you came up with the defence I suggested in another thread.

Police Officers don't need additional driver training to become expert witnesses in this area. For instance, 'Due Care and attention is the std of driving that is expected of a reasonable, prudent and competent driver.' So, if you or I think that persons driving has fallen below the standard that can be reasonably expected the offence has been committed, its just proving it that can be an arse...

[outlaw]

quote:
Good, its about time something that is dangerous is clamped down on..

Must say I find it hard to see how they can justify a Chopper for nailing speeding bikers though, given the costs to keep it running.

it just show how much cash they make out of it if they can afford to use a chopper

[MajorClanger]

quote:
Paper story not so long ago, driver done at lights (apparantly rolling slowly) for drinking water, few more years ago and girl putting lipstick on, at lights rolling slowly. Can't remember the charge.
Found the link for the water
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_774000/774655.stm

>> Edited by JMorgan on Wednesday 3rd April 21:04

The same story was reported in brief on the following site.. but look at the picture at the bottom of the cop who thought he should be on CHiPs!!

www.car.driver.co.uk/police.htm

[JMGS4]

quote:
Do you honestly want to see
1)Law against eating mars bar whilst driving
2)Law against eating snickers bar whilst driving
3)Law against drinking coke whilst driving
4)Law against drinking lemonade whilst driving
5)Law against listening to loud music
6)Law against smoking whilst driving

The law is driving with undue care and attention

1-4 are already covered by driving without due care if the plod wants to.......
5 is covered, as one must be able to hear the plods music and fairy lights (above your cd/radio etc) radio must not be too loud and must not interfere with neighbours
6 is already law in Scandinavia!!!
Just my tuppence
John

[AlVal]

heres what I think takes the piss

they'll do you for eating a mars bar
but smoking is ok

what crap - in an emergency you can drop the mars bar