The solution to people using mobiles while driving, isn't it obvious?


sdrio

New member
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.
 

Ralph

New member
Was cruising through the center of some town yesterday a fancy dressed bint in a big flash car with two
sprogs in the back was busily texting away at 20/30 mph in traffic, maybe I am jealous or woman are
just better at multitasking, maybe the car had the auto brake thing?

:confused:
 

Guru Woodman

New member
Make it mandatory that every car has a device that blocks cell phone reception in the vehicle except for emergency.. problem solved.
 

allyw71

New member
Make it mandatory that every car has a device that blocks cell phone reception in the vehicle except for emergency.. problem solved.
That's all very well, but there is no reason why a passenger can't use a phone while travelling in a car. Ensuring it doesn't affect people standing near a road could be a problem too.
 

Ralph

New member
The amazing thing is hands free is cheep and available for any phone I
suppose driver are just to lazy to stick it in there ear or don't want to look un cool.
 

allyw71

New member
I bought cal66 a Bluetooth audio head unit for her car last year, and its fantastic. You just pair your phone to it and you play the music files, use google maps for navigation, make and receive phone calls all hands free and it all comes through the cars speakers.
 

sdrio

New member
I bought cal66 a Bluetooth audio head unit for her car last year, and its fantastic. You just pair your phone to it and you play the music files, use google maps for navigation, make and receive phone calls all hands free and it all comes through the cars speakers.
That's also a good proactive way to deal with it - it still slightly baffles me that so many people don't buy these things.

Having said that, it wouldn't solve the problem that to my mind creates the biggest distraction - texting and surfing the net. One I quite often also see is people playing games. Amazing.
 

Ralph

New member
It's nothing new really, about 50 years back I was in the
passenger side of a lorry in heavy traffic and the driver was
writing a letter.
 

Irksome

New member
Yesterday I saw a guy driving a RR Ghost (with an illegal number plate arranged to read Gho55t or something similar) holding his phone at eye level having a Facetime video call whilst driving down a busy dual lane road at 30'ish!
 

sdrio

New member
Yesterday I saw a guy driving a RR Ghost (with an illegal number plate arranged to read Gho55t or something similar) holding his phone at eye level having a Facetime video call whilst driving down a busy dual lane road at 30'ish!
Hah. that's just taking the P.

That's a ban if he got caught, I'm sure.
 

Irksome

New member
He might get 6 points for driving without due care, but I doubt he'd get done for dangerous or reckless driving - presumably he'd be able to afford a decent brief!
 

Ralph

New member
He might get 6 points for driving without due care, but I doubt he'd get done for dangerous or reckless driving - presumably he'd be able to afford a decent brief!

Thats it you can buy justice as they say,so like many things in the UK if you can afford the best brief you can get away with murder,
look at MP's expenses thing, we would do time for that, they get way with paying a token amount back and a big rise to make up for
it.
 

dazzor

New member
Yes, I too do the London commute thing and yep, a scary number of twats text'n'drive.

One woman was on a roundabout and when a situation occurred whereby she needed grab handfuls of the steering wheel to manoeuvre around other cars she refused to relinquish her grip on her mobile and totally compromised her ability to navigate her car properly. A completely ridiculous state of affairs.

Lots of us fart about with our phones, myself included but not when you're driving. Something needs to be done for sure
 
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FierceGerbil

New member
Bad driving habits can be cured overnight. Make it mandatory for cars and trucks to have a 10 inch spike mounted to the center of the steering wheel. I promise it will make drivers extra vigilant in using good driving habits.

Seriously though, here in the US some states are using unmarked police vehicles, usually SUV's, to catch distracted drivers and other infractions. It does save lives but phone usage is still one hell of a problem IMO. That's why I treat all drivers like they're trying to kill me. LOL! Not to that extreme but I am a cautious one.
 

spencer

New member
Ban everyone using a mobile wilts driving for a month that will soon stop it. advertise it on tv and radio people will soon get the message.
 

sdrio

New member
But the problem remains - whatever the penalty, (and I'm pretty sure a £100 fine and 3 points is enough to get peoples attention) you have to have an effective way to catch people doing it.

It just struck me that the people who see it most are us, the bikers. I guarantee if I took the time to count I will see 50 drivers doing it on every single journey I do into or out of London.

You could say the same for speeding, I suppose, but while I'm not making an argument for that to be legalised, a speeding driver usually has to be going fairly beserk to be a serious danger to anyone else around him, whereas most of the near misses I have are phone fiddlers not paying attention to what's going on around them. As a biker, it's a far more serious issue.
 

shadowmonkey

New member
Why don't they just free lance bikers with video evidence of people on the phone and pay them for every conviction that's won and upheld, then everyone would be watching everyone and policing ourselves then more people will not use a phone because they are not sure if Tom, Dick or Harry is watching them!
 

sharky

New member
Ban everyone using a mobile wilts driving for a month that will soon stop it. advertise it on tv and radio people will soon get the message.
That's the penalty you get in Greece. They take away your driving licence for a month + 4 penalty points + 100 euro (72 pounds) fine.
You don't mess with loosing your driving licence for a month, it affects all pockets the same, but there are not enough checks done. I see "professional" drivers driving a fully loaded bus while using no hands free. They should be treated differently...
Why don't they just free lance bikers with video evidence of people on the phone and pay them for every conviction that's won and upheld, then everyone would be watching everyone and policing ourselves then more people will not use a phone because they are not sure if Tom, Dick or Harry is watching them!
That would be sweet even if there was no reward. So many times I see people on the road that totally disregard the road rules and there's nothing I can do about it.

How about enabling the ability for private companies to be able to issue traffic tickets? There will be no stone unturned with this one. It would also work wonders with tax evasion.
 
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