Worth reporting to the Police?
Discussion
Driving along last night... White van... driver with mobile phone clamped to his ear... Couple of feet off my back bumper... Making me very nervous because I can see that he isn't paying attention and I'm being distracted from what's going on in front while I keep an eye on him. Anyway, I slowed down a bit so a large gap could develop between me and the car in front and then nailed the thottle to put enough space between me and him that his numberplate was visible for my OH to make a note of... I also got the company name from the van. Will the police be interested if I inform them?
I had exactally the same thing happen to me yesterday, white van man on the phone. The trick i find is to build up a massive gap in front and do the minimum speed possible. Then peg it through a traffic light junction with a 2/3 minuite wait just before the lights change, forcing them to wait whilst you drive straight through, how they flash their lights in fraustration on the other side of the junction as you drive off.
herewego said:
Probably more effective to call the company.
definitely do this, depends on company i suppose but where i work thats going to get you a disciplinary as company policy says no mobiles handheld whilst driving. simple check of the phone records and yep thats a problem.had someone tailgate me the other day - he wasn't on mobile but sat a couple of yards of my bumper in a LWB highroof Transit, stopping distance equal to a bus. i accelerated to make a gap and he just followed, soon as i could got into lane 1 (2 lane m'way) and he proceeded to do same to next car ahead. dumbass driving cos i had the reg number, time and company name which emblazoned over the van. am calling them today to discuss their staff's pee poor driving. you'd think the driver would have more sense - not like its a plain white van which'd be hard to trace, the name and phone number was all over this one!
Edited by refresher on Friday 8th June 12:01
herewego said:
Probably more effective to call the company.
I've done that before, when a van driver was on the phone and smoking at the same time, and when a van driver pulled out of a junction straight into the path of the guy in front of me and caused mayhem. On both occasions I've had very grateful people on the other end of the line who explained that the driver would be spoken to. I think companies generally would rather sort their people out themselves than have the police involved.wideload said:
I had exactally the same thing happen to me yesterday, white van man on the phone. The trick i find is to build up a massive gap in front and do the minimum speed possible. Then peg it through a traffic light junction with a 2/3 minuite wait just before the lights change, forcing them to wait whilst you drive straight through, how they flash their lights in fraustration on the other side of the junction as you drive off.
"White van man" stop at traffic signals? When on the 'phone? When you have given them a gap ahead of you to overtake into (not that they need a gap, but you get my drift)? I wish I lived where you do, it seems more orderly than round here - StreakyWhat would you expect the police to do if you report it?
The evidence about an offence will only come from you.
That means you will have to be prepared to give a formal statement that may take an hour or so to complete and then wait to see if the driver is processed and summonsed to court. You will then have to be prepared to give up a day at court to be a witness to the offence if the driver of the van pleads not guilty.
If you are not prepared to do this, then don't bother reporting the incident!
The police will do nothing without your evidence. They cannot!
The evidence about an offence will only come from you.
That means you will have to be prepared to give a formal statement that may take an hour or so to complete and then wait to see if the driver is processed and summonsed to court. You will then have to be prepared to give up a day at court to be a witness to the offence if the driver of the van pleads not guilty.
If you are not prepared to do this, then don't bother reporting the incident!
The police will do nothing without your evidence. They cannot!
herewego said:
Probably more effective to call the company.
I've done this once before, when I saw a minibus with a company logo nearly plow into a bunch of peds on a crossing.Who knows if it was just PR, but I got through to the general manager who was very apologetic, who said he knew who was driving on that day, and would be having a word with the person concerned.
I know that the company I work for is now taking the "driving for work" thing very seriously as part of the health and safety policy. There are several things included in the policy that will lead to disciplinary action being taken against staff who foobar
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