Safe Speed Forums

Last night whilst walking through town I noticed a car parked on the Zig zags, opposite side of the road facing the oncoming traffic. As I got closer I could see that the car was trying to pull out into said oncoming traffic. On getting closer still I noticed three kids in the back not strapped in, how did I know that? because they were kneeling on the back seat looking out of the rear window. OK still nothing new you see it all the time. What did it for me, as I got even closer was to see the lady trying to pull out into said heavy, oncoming traffic was on the phone! (Yes handheld) I felt powerless to do anything, but felt I had to do something. All I could think of at the time was to knock on the window and tell her to get off the phone, she nodded and carried on, I left it at that. While some would say it's none of your business and perhaps it's not, but if you saw a drunk setting off in his car you would do something wouldn't you? I was fuming for hours afterwards and please excuse me for using this forum for venting my anger.

Ingear, what would you have done? booked her on the spot or issued a verbal? Anyone else, what would you have done?

Max

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Tailgaters - Please Pass
You have an Accident to go to!

Classic example of what the 'Safety Cameras' CANNOT detect

As an ex cop I can only say that if I was still 'on the job' I would certainly have booked her !
('And' breath-tested her to boot ! )

Even 'off duty' I would have identified myself and given her some 'Acid' !

Don't know if you would go so far as reporting what you witnessed and be prepared to give evidence in court (If it came to that) assuming of course that you noted the car and drivers details ?

This is the reason why there are so many calls for the return of 'Trafpols' AND Beat officers !

There are far too many blatant disregards for the law by the likes of the one you described who are fully aware that there is little or no chance of them being detected and dealt with.

Finally, I can understand your anger over the incident as my blood began to boil as I read your input on here.
I regulary see loony antics being performed on our roads by moronic imbeciles similar to the one which you have described, but until we get a RETURN TO SANITY regarding ROAD SAFETY this type of behaviour will continue and, shamefully, lives will be lost because of it !

Hanbo.

Sad to say, I probably wouldn't have done as much as you did, Max. I've knocked on someone's window twice - got blanked once and a mouthful of abuse and threats the other time. I'm with Hanbo... more trafplod and beat coppers to deal with this sort of thing. Maybe there are enough coppers about but I suspect they're all sat behind desks filling out forms . I'd only add that the sort of behaviour Max described has often made me wonder if learning to drive shouldn't include some sort of intelligence test . After all, would you want someone that stupid to use a shotgun? No? So why let them drive a ****ing car?

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

Yesterday morning I pulled up beside another car, gave a wee beep to attract attention and advised the driver of the other vehicle that their brake lights were not working. The response "Yes, I know, it's not the bulbs, its the connection between.....blah, blah, blah....................."

I tried again, "Look, if you have to stop in an emergency the car following you might not notice you are braking and could end up in your back seat. You really need to get them fixed"

Response? "Yes, I know."

WTF? I'm sorry, but who in their right mind would drive a car with no brake lights?

I've always tried to let other drivers know about this sort of thing because it's often something they don't know, but what do you do about the ones who know but drive anyway?

I used to think that my 'line in the sand' would be if I got abuse. I say "your brake lights don't work", other driver says "FCUK OFF", I call the local cop shop and report the conversation, the faulty lights and the abuse... Easy, no guilt, only the tossers get reported; but is that right?

She would have been treated to the full works.....much per Hanbo's post.

Fixed penalty for the mobile phone use (£30 (thank God they are going to increase and add points as the penalty as introduced was a bad joke) and fixed penalty for each non-wearing of seatbelts ....may even have decided to go step further so as to get a max fine ... like refer it on .... for court proceedings since we are talking THREE kids! Then she would have received the ful blast of my acid lecture .... with no sugar coated pill....

Not a lot else you could have done ... if you had reported it .... would depend on what was available to take look-see ...... we do try to accommodate these type of call in the overall plan .... but admit it can be bit hit and miss.....

Perhaps somebody who knows they've got to get it fixed, but doesn't have time today since they have to get to work.

"My brake light wasn't working" won't tend to cut it as an excuse with the boss.

From the conversation I had with the driver I suspect that this had been the situation for more than a few hours. I got the impression that, since it wasn't an easy fix, the driver had just decided to wait until it was convenient to get it fixed, regardless of the possible consequences.

Says It all really. Nearly a year after this mobile phone 'Law' came in Drivers continue to Flout it. If anything MORE are doing it according to the RAC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4034353.stm

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RoADA Member -GOLD 2008
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.

Its all getting daft. There has only ever been "theoretical" evidence that it is a problem. When the legislation was being drawn at the time it was noted that there is no actual accident statistics to support it.

I have seen the police on mobiles driving cars, a wheel clamper van driver as well. The law is useless as it stands...if it were ever needed at all.

No specific law to stop women putting make-up on, men shaving, eating food, talking to the kids in the back seat or reading a map. All of which I see every working day. Existing laws seem to cover that....

My Boss was leaving the company car park on his mobile (doing about 5mph) A police car spots him and swings into the car park. The dumb-ass cop tries to bust him for using his phone. Didn't realise that he was still on private property....priceless..

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Speed camera policy Kills

It has been demonstrated more than once that ones concentration levels are very much affected whilst talking on a mobile phone. Its not the same thing as talking to someone actually in the car, you focus more directly on the phone conversation than you do just chatting to someone a few feet away. And with a hand held, you have less limbs available to control the vehicle.



Agreed. And what's more, most of the people you see doing this sort of thing don't even realise they are commiting a traffic violation Education, education education.



Pity the cops didn't wait for a few seconds until your dumb-ass boss had actually left the carpark. Would he have stopped yakking on his mobile by then?

Is shaving on the move committing a traffic violation any more than, say, lighting a cigarette? In an auto with easily controlled steering, picking one's time to do it when the hazard density is low and the resolve if necessary to let go of the razor and drive with both hands in the event of anything unforeseen, since the hand wielding the razor knows where to go autonomically I submit that one is in no less control than the habitual gear-lever-never-let-me-go drivers.

Like I said...theoretical..
Two way radios are exempt...presumably they don't affect concentration levels..



Not true..he was waiting to finnish his conversation and put the phone down before leaving the car park..


What make the law even dafter is the ambiguity:-
What is hands free (voice activated, mobile in pocket with earpiece)
When can you use a phone, stationary in a traffic jam, engine off, parked up off the road
You can make 999 calls without a hands free

In otherwords it's a mess. Nice idea but another law drawn up by committee to cover a problem that maybe does not even exist..

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Speed camera policy Kills

Don't be ridiculous - easily controlled steering? What the heck is that supposed to mean - power steering I suppose. If thats what you honestly believe then please post your daily driving itinery so I can keep out of your way.
I'm sure IG will correct me if I'm wrong here, but if you engage in any activity within your vehicle (whilst driving it) that compromises your ability to control the vehicle at some point, then you can be prosecuted.

FWIW I am strongly in favour of the hand-held mobile phone ban. Yes, there is a general rule about having proper control of the vehicle, which covers all sorts of activity such as eating apples and restraining dogs.

But mobile phone usage is something that is

(a) very widespread
(b) undoubtedly dangerous (even if only to a smallish amount), and
(c) easily identifiable

and therefore it seems reasonable to enact a specific prohibition. Also no responsible driver I know would dream of using a hand-held mobile when driving (except perhaps when stationary or crawling in a jam) and this behaviour to my mind is a sure-fire indicator of a general poor attitude to driving.

I don't see why we can't have forward-facing cameras that take pictures of oncoming vehicles and send an NIP to the registered keeper if the driver is observed using a hand-held phone. That would sort it out

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

We had hands-free phones in our trucks and one day it rang as I entered Northallerton in Yorkshire with a load of petrol. (The boss, change of run!). It was the early days of cab phones, and as I left the town on that busy market day, the call ended. I then realised that I had no recall of lights, crossings, roundabouts et al. I thanked my lucky stars and have never used a phone on the move since that day, hands-free or otherwise!
That with 30 years of driving experience behind me!

duplicate post - not sure how - this one deleted.

I'm with Oscar - the phone and driving together I cannot cope with - although perhaps others can, so I would not JUST on my own inabilities have gone for this law.

Shaving... I don't haver a problem with. What I meant by easily controlled was not only power sterring but one where there was only a couple of turns lock to lock so needing to "regrip" would have been a serious corner, not general car control and hazard avoidance on a typical road.

So - I say again, is shaving and driving against the law provided the miscreant can demostrate he was adequately in control, with full faculty and concentration? Is it any worse than lighting a ciggy or swapping over the tape in the player (or whatever else people do)?

Firstly: Steering - in other words you steer with one hand? I find it difficult to believe that anyone would condone this, particularly if the reason was to operate a razor.
Secondly: How does the individual 'demonstrate' he/she was in control? It sounds compelling when you couch it in those terms, but rather difficult to prove I suggest.
Thirdly: What the heck is wrong with doing ones ablutions before leaving home (or where ever)? The drivers seat of a car is for driving the blessed thing from. In fact, why the heck can't folks just drive their damned cars and afford it the concentration it deserves. And I won't wear that 'busy life' stuff that TV ads throw at us all the time, it doesn't excuse irresponsible behaviour. If someone collides with my vehicle and causes me inconvenience or injury, I don't give a damn how busy they are, how many thousands of pounds rest on the contract they are on their way to finalise, their first and last responsibility behind the wheel of that car is to drive it safely and within the law.
Fourthly: If you lose control whilst, say, lighting a ciggy and it can be proven that you were doing so at the time of the ensuing accident, you can be nailed for it. The fact that folks do this all the time doesn't make having a shave an equivalent act; cars are fitted with lighters and CD players (although I know of people who think even these devices should be inoperable by the driver), not shaving equipment.
Fifthly: One of the things folks have gotten very good at today is thinking up plausible excuses for just about anything. In this context I'm sure someone could come up with a scenario in which making toast, drawing a picture or even having sex whilst driving could be considered 'safe'.

I note and agree with all you say. There are (infrequent) occasions when to ablute on the hoof is desireable though, compared to the consequences (case in point Mr Bean going to the dentist). So... is it illegal or isn't it?

But they would arrive a lot later (or not at all) if somebody rear-ended them on the way to work because they didnot have adequate warning he swas slowing down.........