Was reading some stuff recently about how in the UK they've still not managed to find an effective way of stopping people using their phones in cars. They're proposing doubling the number of points, bigger fines etc. The issue is always the same though - it is very difficult to enforce. Most cops can't actually see when someone is quietly facebooking on a phone on their lap.
Well, I can. I drive my bike almost exclusively in London. I do it during the rush hours, so spend most of my time filtering through or overtaking slow moving and stationary traffic. I can see what the drivers are doing.
Do you know how many people are messing about with phones in traffic during the rush hour? The answer is pretty much ALL of them.
So it struck me that is an answer - the police use unmarked patrol cars to catch motorists doing the things they wouldn't do if the saw a marked car. Why can't they use unmarked motorbikes to do the same? It's not unprecedented, quite a few forces use unmarked bikes for things like catching other bikes doing daft things. Why not send a dozen of them out into towns to catch people using phones?
I'm pretty sure a couple of thousand tickets in a week would start hammering the message home a lot better than it is now. Using a phone in a car has been illegal for more than 10 years, but people still totally ignore that.
Probably not so effective out of towns, but it's a way to start the psychological ball rolling.
Well, I can. I drive my bike almost exclusively in London. I do it during the rush hours, so spend most of my time filtering through or overtaking slow moving and stationary traffic. I can see what the drivers are doing.
Do you know how many people are messing about with phones in traffic during the rush hour? The answer is pretty much ALL of them.
So it struck me that is an answer - the police use unmarked patrol cars to catch motorists doing the things they wouldn't do if the saw a marked car. Why can't they use unmarked motorbikes to do the same? It's not unprecedented, quite a few forces use unmarked bikes for things like catching other bikes doing daft things. Why not send a dozen of them out into towns to catch people using phones?
I'm pretty sure a couple of thousand tickets in a week would start hammering the message home a lot better than it is now. Using a phone in a car has been illegal for more than 10 years, but people still totally ignore that.
Probably not so effective out of towns, but it's a way to start the psychological ball rolling.