Mounting phones on the windscreen

[Zoon]

Following a newly passed driver last night and she had a galaxy note sized phone mounted smack bang in the middle of the windscreen below the rear view mirror obstructing a large part of her vision.

I really don't understand it, has anyone else witnessed this very dangerous way of driving?

[Greendubber]

Seen it loads of times, normally it's a just eat or Uber driver.

[shovelheadrob]

I've seen cars with a Sat nav smack in the centre of the driver's field of view, they must be really "special" if they think that they can drive by following the screen icon!
Unlike intelligence, stupidity has no limits.

[Roo]

A lot of driving instructors do it as well.

[untakenname]

Until the police start enforcing the rule about nothing in the swept area nothing will be done, I notice a car on the way to work that has a Glastonbury parking sticker slap bang obscuring the drivers view!
Imo it should be an automatic 3 points if spotted along with people who dangle loads of crap on the rear view mirror.

[meatballs]

Use of a phone whilst driving has just been through courts (another post here somewhere recently). Its use of a phone for communication that's illegal and the guy was OK holding and videoing with it whilst driving... Or that was my understanding

[Retroman]

untakenname said:

Until the police start enforcing the rule about nothing in the swept area nothing will be done, I notice a car on the way to work that has a Glastonbury parking sticker slap bang obscuring the drivers view!
Imo it should be an automatic 3 points if spotted along with people who dangle loads of crap on the rear view mirror.

~

My friend just bought a 2013 Focus ST Estate and i noticed even though it's 100% standard, there's a large piece of plastic that leads from the mirror, down into the windscreen a fair bit. I assume it's for the GPS

That is in the swept area for the windscreen, even though it left the factory that way.

[RazerSauber]

I like having my phone looking at me for use as a sat navbut I keep it as out of the way as I can. I have a flexible mount thing and try to line the phone up with my A pillar to reduce the vision loss.

Genuinely saw a guy once with a screen mounted iPad with a map on! Full brightness, bang in the middle of his view. Hope he got pulled for it.

[Zirconia]

Retroman said:

My friend just bought a 2013 Focus ST Estate and i noticed even though it's 100% standard, there's a large piece of plastic that leads from the mirror, down into the windscreen a fair bit. I assume it's for the GPS

That is in the swept area for the windscreen, even though it left the factory that way.

Rain sensor?

[Prizam]

It's a joke. and the world is full off idiots.

I see it all the time. Stick a phone or great big sat-nav in the middle of the screen. Common sense has gone out the window and no police are about to correct them.

I have seen a 17" laptop on the dashboard driving down the M4 (Middle lane, naturally) with a full-on Bollywood movie being played on it.

[S100HP]

Spotted similar a few weeks back

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Retroman]

Zirconia said:

Rain sensor?

Could be.

Either way, it seems to fall foul of the current UK MOT rules.

[dogbucket]

I generally give anybody with a sat nav stuck in the middle of the windscreen a wider than normal berth. Bonus points for having it set to daytime illumination setting whilst driving at night.

[Shiv_P]

Retroman said:

Zirconia said:

Rain sensor?

Could be.

Either way, it seems to fall foul of the current UK MOT rules.

It's really not in an obtrusive position though is it, its right at the top - what are you looking for, incoming aircraft?

[agtlaw]

Ku7rt said:

It’s actually borderline illegal since it’s still using a phone whilst driving and if the police want to be awkward, they can give you the 6 points.

Completely wrong as the phone isn’t hand-held if stuck to the windscreen.

[Spare tyre]

dogbucket said:

I generally give anybody with a sat nav stuck in the middle of the windscreen a wider than normal berth. Bonus points for having it set to daytime illumination setting whilst driving at night.

I thought it was just me that got irritated by that

[4rephill]

A classic example of someone who thinks they know the law:

Ku7rt said:

It’s actually borderline illegal since it’s still using a phone whilst driving and if the police want to be awkward, they can give you the 6 points.

And someone who actually does know the law!

agtlaw said:

Completely wrong as the phone isn’t hand-held if stuck to the windscreen.

[rscott]

Shiv_P said:

Retroman said:

Zirconia said:

Rain sensor?

Could be.

Either way, it seems to fall foul of the current UK MOT rules.

It's really not in an obtrusive position though is it, its right at the top - what are you looking for, incoming aircraft?

It's the rain sensor and it's not intrusive when driving. (Other half has a 2010 Focus...)

[Retroman]

Shiv_P said:

It's really not in an obtrusive position though is it, its right at the top - what are you looking for, incoming aircraft?

Not any more obstructive than a mobile phone positioned there really, however someone earlier said that was dangerous and also illegal. Hence my whole reason for bringing it up.

[Little Pete]

shovelheadrob said:

I've seen cars with a Sat nav smack in the centre of the driver's field of view, they must be really "special" if they think that they can drive by following the screen icon!
Unlike intelligence, stupidity has no limits.

I failed a car last week on a couple of things, one of which was a camera in the middle of the screen under the mirror. Rang the customer and he told me to disconnect it and take it off. When he collected the car I said to put it behind the mirror or up on the left hand side of the screen.
He replied he wouldn’t be able to see the screen on the camera if he did that! I gave up at that point.