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PostPosted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 22:00 
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Now as we know Lord Ahmed who happens to be a decent chap He was jailed but then released after a week or so.



OK! Mike Rutherford shares my view and the Mad Cats' views on texting and hand held phone using muppets. Nice to know that others share our views and that even Allan Ramsay (Roadpeace member and cyclist) also accepts much of our COAST and educational opinions :lol;

Why? Because he says texting drivers at 60 mph plus are

superb rant in Auto Express wrote:

dangerous idiots who deserve to be fined, robbed of licence and given a criminal record




But then he says that Lord Ahmed did not deserve to be jailed. :?

Why does he say this?


Well .. cor blimey !

rant in Auto Express this week wrote:

Citizens who attain dangerous idiot status do not normally go to jail. Such drivers . whether at 40 mph ouside a school in a 20 moh zone at chuch out time //. cyclists jumping red lights opr pedestrains playung in traffic rarely get a second glance. fromt he justice system




But Rutherford claims that he did not know that texting or picking up a phone whe driving is a prisonable offence.


Umm it is if soemone DIES as a result /


But wait a second .. I tell myself. :Lord Ahmed did not hit the car when texting. His textes were sent minutes before ..

STILL AN OFFENCE - but not directly causing the death of that person all the same/ :scratchchin: The person he killed was drunk. had left the car parked in L3. Then walked across the motorway :scratchchin:

Now the nub seems to be that if he had not replied to the damned text message - would he have collided with the j-walker some alleged minutes later?

Rutherford asks for the law to be clarified and suggests the law dictates placing phone in glove box. I suggest swtitching off completely on the basis that all phones have voicemuial or message sayin a call has been missed.


I do understand Lord Ahmed's situation. His bad luck in that he collided with the drunken person and had been stupid enough to send to send text meassages minutes before impact.


Moral of this sad tale of tragedy and just maybe a rough justice?

Switch off the phone. You can catch up later. A missed call is not life v death situation nor the end of our worlds as we know it. :wink:

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:25 
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I can't understand why anyone would need or want to send a text message while driving a car. At least with a phonecall you have your eyes fully on the road. So much can happen in the few seconds you'd spend looking at a phone... Okay I'm no angel and like most I've rummaged for sunglasses/glanced at a open atlas/changed a cassette, but these are all done with the merest of glances and all can be considered to greater or lesser degree immediately necessary or desirable. The point of a text message is it's a casual, non-urgent means of communication.

Now I'm unable to multitask to the level required to have a phone conversation and drive safely, although its highly desirable for someone in my position to answer call so I often to used to answer the phone with a brief "hello, how are you, can I call you back in 20 mins?". But people are different and I'm willing to accept there are people out there who can do both safely (abeit many who merely think they can), but the texting is something else... anyone who considers it acceptable has a serious risk-analysis problem.

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:45 
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hairyben wrote:
I can't understand why anyone would need or want to send a text message while driving a car. At least with a phonecall you have your eyes fully on the road. So much can happen in the few seconds you'd spend looking at a phone... Okay I'm no angel and like most I've rummaged for sunglasses/glanced at a open atlas/changed a cassette, but these are all done with the merest of glances and all can be considered to greater or lesser degree immediately necessary or desirable. The point of a text message is it's a casual, non-urgent means of communication.

Now I'm unable to multitask to the level required to have a phone conversation and drive safely, although its highly desirable for someone in my position to answer call so I often to used to answer the phone with a brief "hello, how are you, can I call you back in 20 mins?". But people are different and I'm willing to accept there are people out there who can do both safely (abeit many who merely think they can), but the texting is something else... anyone who considers it acceptable has a serious risk-analysis problem.



:clap: You drive as we do. I tend to have the phone switched off when driving. Passengers are allowed to use them - their OWN!

Driving's a serious business and a skill in its own right. We have an obligation to ourselves to seek to improve these skills just as we do in our professional commitments.


However, Charles did not put the full article and missed out the point Rutherford was making in Auto Express this week.

Rutherford comments that it was Ahmed's fault that he was stupid enough to send the text message minutes before the collision.

But his worry is the precendent it appears to have set given the text was sent MINUTES and not SECONDS before the fatal collision. I admit that I had not thought about it until I read this article

Rutherford in Auto Express this week wrote:

A legal precedent has been set which means a driver can go to jail on the grounds he used his mobile phone minutes earlier.

Does this mean that if I send Mrs R a text message to put the kettle on when stopped in the supermarket carpark -and then have a tragic prang onthe two mile journey home, I'll be jailed for texting minutes before being involved in this crash?

Guess so. What if a half hour beforehand .. at the motorway service car park?

Clarification is needed. Might I suggest a heavy fine for picking up the mobile phone when driving and a heavier one still if found to be texting when driving. Furthermore anyone found to be using phone up to 60 seconds before impact should be fined/banned/criminalised whether liable or not.

How about saying that the phone can be carried in the car - but only if placed in the glove box


I think that this paragraph as quoted has much to discuss as Rutherford raises some interesting points as regards justice and how this precedent can affect other cases adversely. :scratchchin:

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:57 
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Now I understand the blanket 50mph limit proposed. It's to allow Ministers to text safely while driving. :x

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