Watching TV whilst diving

[DJT]

Now seen people doing it three times in just over a week! First two were transit/sprinter types on western M25 in rush hour with large tablets clearly visible on top of dash.

Just now around town a small Seat with phone in middle of windscreen. Watched the driver select a YouTube video whilst I was behind at the lights.

Just shocking and I can only assume this is very widespread now.

[paul.deitch]

Waterproof TVs, what ever next!?

[HTP99]

In France in May, our taxi driver watched YouTube videos, answered texts, updated FB and played games on his mobile. the whole time whilst he was driving.

[PF62]

DJT said:

Just now around town a small Seat with phone in middle of windscreen

Just sticking the phone right in the middle of the windscreen now seems to be the new habit, and even if just using navigation it has to be blocking their view.

[Pica-Pica]

PF62 said:

DJT said:

Just now around town a small Seat with phone in middle of windscreen

Just sticking the phone right in the middle of the windscreen now seems to be the new habit, and even if just using navigation it has to be blocking their view.

Does not the swept area have to be kept clear?

[Heidfirst]

most people are either ignorant of or choose to ignore the law & there are too few traffic police to enforce ...

[Jasandjules]

Darwin. The downside is they may take sensible people with them.

[DJT]

paul.deitch said:

Waterproof TVs, what ever next!?

Ah, yes. Ooops. Can I blame the spell checker?

[DJT]

Pica-Pica said:

PF62 said:

DJT said:

Just now around town a small Seat with phone in middle of windscreen

Just sticking the phone right in the middle of the windscreen now seems to be the new habit, and even if just using navigation it has to be blocking their view.

Does not the swept area have to be kept clear?

Kind of ironic that the car passed this MOT criteria and then the moron sticks a phone in the way. Worse still if it's streaming Game of Thrones or something.

[tr7v8]

PF62 said:

DJT said:

Just now around town a small Seat with phone in middle of windscreen

Just sticking the phone right in the middle of the windscreen now seems to be the new habit, and even if just using navigation it has to be blocking their view.

Followed a driving school car today, massive sat nav about 6" down from the interior mirror!

[Tomo1971]

tr7v8 said:

PF62 said:

DJT said:

Just now around town a small Seat with phone in middle of windscreen

Just sticking the phone right in the middle of the windscreen now seems to be the new habit, and even if just using navigation it has to be blocking their view.

Followed a driving school car today, massive sat nav about 6" down from the interior mirror!

Not that long ago one of the points highlighted by the anti 4x4 brigade was the size of the A-Pillars could block out a small child..... yet no one seems to campaign about a huge 6" gadget or more blocking out half the sun placed on their windscreen.

I always buy brodit mounts and mount satnav/phones onto my dash - even in hire cars, I take a vent clip and phone holder with me - hate having stuff on the windscreen blocking my view.

[DJT]

Been a big fan of Brodit since my first to hold my Dell Pocket PC with TomTom installed back in about 2004. That seemed like witchcraft back then.

[caelite]

I'm a big fan of windscreen mounts to be honest, means even if I glance at the map, or the song that is on my screen the road is still very much in my vision. As opposed to looking at the dash, or much worse sitting it on my knees or between my crotch as appears to be the fashion since the big crackdown.

I tend to place mine as close and as low as I can on the right A pillar.

[Ed/L152]

Without any traf pol on the road they're unlikely to get caught, unless caught on dash cam and dobbed by another driver.

On another note it's silly to enlarge the A-pillar blind spot further by mounting devices next to it.

[ThorB]

I travel to work on heavily congested roads and I would say that 30% of drivers are engaged in another activity whilst in charge of a vehicle - definitely not scientific.

One of my recent ones was a woman behind me who was driving forward without looking up from her phone. I was sure she was going to drive into the back of me, so was avidly watching my rear view mirror. At 10 mph this wasn't an issue, it was when she almost took out a cyclist that I got out of my car and suggested she look in the direction she was piloting 1.5 tons of metal. She had absolutely no idea why i was so upset. Similarly the cyclist had no idea how close he was to being taken out by this moron.

[DJT]

In slower moving traffic on more minor roads I've seen people slow down and start wandering between the kerb and central white lines. They often appear to be leaning towards the central console. I assume trying to programme the OEM infotainment/sat nav. A design fail from a safety point of view - especially in a cheaper car where the screen is not very responsive and takes quite a bit of prodding (my experience from a number of hire cars).

[InitialDave]

caelite said:

I tend to place mine as close and as low as I can on the right A pillar.

I usually do this too, doesn't really block anything in your view other than a bit of bonnet/front wing.

[Blackpuddin]

Slightly O/T but the complexity of modern touchscreens in cars seems extraordinary to me. Operating basic car functions in some systems has become at least as distracting as operating a mobile and yet there is zero industry standardisation over any of it. Nobody's going to come out with a major change to the other basic controls – pedals, H-pattern gearshift etc – but every touchscreen is different. That is bonkers.

[mikecassie]

Blackpuddin said:

Slightly O/T but the complexity of modern touchscreens in cars seems extraordinary to me. Operating basic car functions in some systems has become at least as distracting as operating a mobile and yet there is zero industry standardisation over any of it. Nobody's going to come out with a major change to the other basic controls – pedals, H-pattern gearshift etc – but every touchscreen is different. That is bonkers.

This. I hate touchscreens, you need to look where your finger is before you can operate the touchscreen and select whatever you want to select. It's cheap engineering. For me, the old buttons are still the safest way.

[rxe]

Problem with touchscreens is that they have zero feedback. You can't work out where you hand is. Simple example, I was belting along a fairly deserted M25 on Saturday morning, when a combination of middle lane owners club and a couple of heavies required more concentration - I wanted to turn the music down (it was loud). In my 15 year old car I can do this without taking my eyes off the road. In a more modern car, I'd have to take my eyes off the road precisely when I wanted maximum attention.

I've seen an uptick in really blatant phone usage in the last few weeks. Not just yakking on a phone, but loss of control on the motorway. Two transit vans nearly stacked in front of me on Saturday morning, one was watching a tablet, and was still watching it 20 sec after nearly crashing as I went past him. The other was a Range Rover doing about 20 on the M25 (in the inside lane at least), weaving all over the place, again watching a tablet.

But don't worry kids, as long as you keep to the speed limit, you'll be fine.