Drivers caught using a phone within two years of passing their test will have their licence revoked under new rules in England, Scotland and Wales.
Penalties for using a phone at the wheel double from 1 March to six points and a £200 fine.
New drivers who get six points or more must retake their practical and theory. More experienced drivers can be banned if they get 12 points in three years.

Good.

Bit steep if you’re in an industrial estate.

Why is it only new drivers that get insta-bans for being caught using a mobile? Ban them, ban them all! If driving is needed for your business, don’t be a penis and use your mobile while driving.

Good. Let’s hope they actually enforce it and look for ways to catch more people.

Why is it only new drivers that get insta-bans for being caught using a mobile?

Because new drivers already get a ban at only 6 points, not 12.

Why is it only new drivers that get insta-bans for being caught using a mobile? Ban them, ban them all! If driving is needed for your business, don’t be a penis and use your mobile while driving.

I guess it’s to instill the message from a young age. I remember when I passed my test 6-7yrs ago, 6 points in the first 2yrs would see your license revoked.

Bit steep if you’re in an industrial estate.

Eh?

What about the other traffic, pedestrians or cyclists in the industrial estate?

It’s a road. Get off your phone. Or, if it’s that desperate that you take that urgent call, pull over. Stop. Then take the call. It’ll be something that really could have waited until you got home, but never mind.

Good. See multiple people every day using phones while driving.

Only good if it’s enforced. Like the places where people know the coppers are not going to be so fine to head home after a couple two many.

How about some stiffer punishments for actually running people over. And for not giving enough room.etc…

Question. If your phone is attached to a windscreen holder, are you ok to touch it to make calls, hang up, enter sat nav details etc ? Or is it an offence to simply touch the thing.

…prizes!

New drivers who get six points or more must retake their practical and theory. More experienced drivers can be banned if they get 12 points in three years.

I don’t think they’re ever going to be as poplar as nectar points with rewards like that

Or is it an offence to simply touch the thing.

That was the inference on TV this morning. You set it before moving off and don’t touch it.

How this squares with ever more complicated in-car Sat-Nav and media systems I don’t know.

CaptainFlashheart – Member

Eh?

What about the other traffic, pedestrians or cyclists in the industrial estate?

I think it was a joke about captainsasquatch’s 49 in a 40 through an industrial estate last week….

enter sat nav details etc

You’re not allowed to mess around with satnav whilst driving as it is

Flash

See here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/49mph-in-a-40mph-limit

You’re not allowed to mess around with satnav whilst driving as it is

So how about changing channels on your radio, or moving to the next tune on a cd ?

I thought that if the unit (phone or radio) was fixed you were ok. Obviously not composing texts though.

I remember seeing one of those police camera stop type programs (a more serious version I think) and the experienced traffic officer on it was saying it’s the biggest problem they face and he had seen so many accidents because of phone use. I suppose when you’ve seen people mangled beyond recognition all because someone was using their phone you tend to gain a bit better perspective on it. 🙁

lowey – Member
Question. If your phone is attached to a windscreen holder, are you ok to touch it to make calls, hang up, enter sat nav details etc ? Or is it an offence to simply touch the thing.

You simply can’t touch a mobile phone of r any reason unless ‘safely parked’. Several groups campaigned against this when the law was brought in as there is nothing specific about satnavs, radios, ICE etc

In theory, you can be nicked if you have pulled over & stopped if you don’t meet with the legal definition of ‘parked’ which includes engine/lights off etc.

CaptainFlashheart – Member

Bit steep if you’re in an industrial estate.

Eh? [/quote]
You should be used to drac’s bizarre sense of humour by now. 😐

Question. If your phone is attached to a windscreen holder, are you ok to touch it to make calls, hang up, enter sat nav details etc ? Or is it an offence to simply touch the thing.

My understanding is that if you have to touch the phone to answer a call that’s not ‘hands free’.

Using it as a sat nav/music device etc would be covered by existing legislation abotu ‘due care and attention’ the same as a built in sat nav or stereo.

https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law

penalty is out of date on this page but elaborates on using buttons:

http://www.inbrief.co.uk/motoring-law/mobile-phones-and-driving/

My understanding is that the offence is “using a mobile communications device” so if you are using (by using they mean touching) your phone to do sat nav stuff then thats an offence. Using built in sat nav etc could be driving without due care and attention as in fact could be anything other than driving the car (smoking, eating an apple etc).

We’re still okay to shave whilst driving though, right?

Ah, it was ‘humour’. I see.
🙂

How about we use the modern mobile GPS tech that monitors movement to simply prevent phone use while on the move?

Isn’t that how jimmy carr’s lawyer got him off a phone offence? Claimed that he was using it as a dictaphone (to record a joke) rather than a telephone.
Yup…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/6350399/Jimmy-Carr-cleared-of-using-mobile-while-driving.html

Good. See multiple people every day using phones while driving.

and when you honk your horn at them they get all angry and look like they want to kill you or try and run you off the road (had an X5 driver do that to me in Bristol when I beeped as he nearly reversed into my while talking on his phone).

You’re not allowed to mess around with satnav whilst driving as it is

You are if it’s something like iDrive and the control knob is discretely positioned near the gear lever 😉

Ah, it was ‘humour’. I see

Exactly. Like bombers, Woppit’s bombings, no pudding and, er, gym pumps in the first class cabin. That sort of thing 😉

Can I still use the phone to film people talking on theirs? How else can I do the police’s job for them?

From that link above:

What is meant by a hand held communications device?

A hand held communications device is something that must at some point be held in the hand of an individual while they are making or receiving a voice call or another form of communication.

So that implies you’re ok to use a phone (as a sat nav for instance) if it’s in aeroplane mode?

We aren’t even allowed to use hands free (I have voice activated phone in my Focus) while driving for work. Apparently studies done that say hands free can be just as distracting and likely to cause accident. I use it on personal time with my personal phone but only rarely now.

It’s nice to be free of the phone while driving.

So that implies you’re ok to use a phone (as a sat nav for instance) if it’s in aeroplane mode?

No as at some point you can use it in your hands to make or take a phonecall.

Can I still use the phone to film people talking on theirs?

The trick is to lean right across the car so it looks like you were filming from the passenger seat*. hth

*it isn’t.

[video]https://youtu.be/tnNk-CBfNYc[/video]

Exactly. Like bombers, Woppit’s bombings, no pudding and, er, gym pumps in the first class cabin. That sort of thing

I’d missed the source material. And they’re bike shoes. 😉

And they’re bike shoes

I thought they were Final Approach Shoes.

Orthopaedic ones.

I’d missed the source material

I’ll have a baby robin deliver a link.

I’ll have a baby robin deliver a link.

Pushed through the letter box?

(Sorry. Derailing my own thread!)