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I used to commute to work by motorbike, and along the M25 so would regularly see directly into the cockpit - I would lose count of texters and callers and lane swervers - I've seen it all, drivers eating cereal from a bowl with spoon in hand, people reading the newspaper behind the wheel, I must've seen a thousand girls applying make up. Staggers me.
Driverless cars can't come soon enough
I spotted a school bus driver on his last year, he went right through the school crossing patrol as they were trying to stop traffic ignoring them completely. I did something unusual for me as I was furious and tweeted the company, an hour later they asked for details. An hour after that I got a private message to say that he had been sacked. 😯
GrahamS - Member
My ten year old 'top of the range' Focus doesn't either.
Odd. My nine-year-old absolutely not top-of-the-range Focus has Bluetooth and voice-activation.
It doesn't matter whether a car is top of the range or not, what matters is if the person who originally bought it spec'd it or not.
My 2008 Smax Titanium doesn't have bluetooth as the original owner didn't upgrade.
I have a bluetooth dongle for playing music through, but not phone calls. I can still make calls hands free on the phone though. Although I still don't like doing that....
In the van earlier and waiting for oncoming traffic behind a parked car, the last driver that passed was a swarthy looking gentleman on his phone, driving an older BMW X5.
He was even too busy to say thank you.
Now I don't wish to stereotype, but...
What are these Bluetooth dongles of which you fellows speak? I have a car which is Bluetooth enabled for phone but won't play tunes - which I'd prefer.
I used to commute to work by motorbike, and along the M25...
Used to do the M25 regularly between the A41 and M1. Obvious bad driving aside, there were a few common culprits. A gent in a Mini S-Works springs to mind - utter, utter twunt. If he's still alive I'd be surprised, I just hope he took no-one else with him.
anyone else old enough to remember the "don't be an amber gambler" adverts from before the sequences were changed?
Yep. These days people are amazed/annoyed if you stop for amber (i.e. obey the law) - but some of those same folk will no doubt moan about lawless cyclists jumping lights 😕
It doesn't matter whether a car is top of the range or not, what matters is if the person who originally bought it spec'd it or not.
Yep - I was just surprised.
What are these Bluetooth dongles of which you fellows speak? I have a car which is Bluetooth enabled for phone but won't play tunes - which I'd prefer.
Mines just a bluetooth audio receiver that plugs into the aux socket.
Yep - I was just surprised.
I was bloody pee'd off when I realised mine didn't have it!! Spose if I want fancy stuff I need to buy a new car and spec it myself!!
Since the Police decided the only thing that mattered is not exceeding an arbitrary number on a small metal sign it's been a complete free-for-all on our roads.
I think it should be legal to "Pit" other motorists you see on the phone....... 😆 I'd buy a cheap transit, fit a massive set of bumpers and spend many a happy afternoon putting the phone mongs into the barriers 😉
[quote=deadlydarcy ]What are these Bluetooth dongles of which you fellows speak? I have a car which is Bluetooth enabled for phone but won't play tunes - which I'd prefer.
Here's the one I have:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391419890718?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
As I mentioned before that will also do calls if you want, but I've set my phone just to use it for tunes so it still uses the car system for calls - works fine connecting to both and stopping the music when a call comes in.
I'm fairly sure the bluetooth phone is part of the standard spec on a Mondeo - mine certainly doesn't have any other add-on features.
It doesn't matter whether a car is top of the range or not, what matters is if the person who originally bought it spec'd it or not.
Yep. My car's a funny spec actually, it's not quite top of the range but one level down. But the original owner added leather seats, which would have cost more than just upgrading to the next trim level, which came with leather seats. 😕
Maybe they just wanted to keep the classy, walnut effect dashboard sections...
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Since the Police decided the only thing that mattered is not exceeding an arbitrary number
I don't think the Police decided that at all - budgets did - speed limits are just one of the few traffic laws that can be easily enforced with very limited manpower.
Whether I am cycling or driving, I keep an eye out for offenders, much to Mrs W's amusement / frustration. In the car you can usually spot them a mile off as they are swerving around their lane or doing 40 mph in a 70 limit.
I reckon, from my experience, about 10% of drivers are using.
They usually get a 'honk' from me and as I drive a white T5, they usually jump out of their skin. I don't suppose it does any good. Their right to share some kittens on FB is much much more important than the life of another human being.
A note to the 'hands free' users. A sales man I know had a head on accident with a van which was coming around a corner on the wrong side of the road. The van driver sadly died in the accident. The salesman was using his phone on the hands free. Legal to do so, yes?
As the phone conversation was proved to be 20 minutes long, the salesman did 3 years at Her Majesty's for manslaughter.
I don't understand why when they brought the new law in they didnt make it mandatory that all new cars are fitted with handsfree. Would add a couple of £ to the cost of the car and within a short number of years no one would ever have an excuse.
What annoys me most is professional drivers using them. Should be an instant ban if that is your job.
In sicily we had a man veer towards us as he was looking at his ipad that he had on his steering wheel.
Plenty texting while driving but I always wonder why people text if it is that urgent.
There is no excuse anyway (well actually there is one acceptable excuse - making a call to the emergency services').Would add a couple of £ to the cost of the car and within a short number of years no one would ever have an excuse.
within a short number of years no one would ever have an excuse.
There's no excuse now.
well actually there is one acceptable excuse - making a call to the emergency services').
Nope still no excuse.
well actually there is one acceptable excuse - making a call to the emergency services').
Nope still no excuse.
Seriously? You can think of NO circumstances under which a call to the emergency services may be necessary but stopping may be impossible/more dangerous than calling the emergency services?
I do see a lot of totally clueless morons on the phone, and I've collided (lightly with no injury luckily) with one pedestrian who was glued to his as he stepped out in front of me as well as had many near misses (I try to anticipate these things or I would've had a number of accidents! The guy I didn't manage to miss was hiding behind street furniture before he stepped out)
I do personally use the handsfree from time to time, which I don't consider more dangerous than talking to a passenger, in that I'll ignore them if something demands my attention on the road.
Seriously? You can think of NO circumstances under which a call to the emergency services may be necessary but stopping may be impossible/more dangerous than calling the emergency services?
I can't think of when it would be impossible to stop no.
Seriously? You can think of NO circumstances under which a call to the emergency services may be necessary but stopping may be impossible/more dangerous than calling the emergency services?
I can't think of when it would be impossible to stop no.
I didn't say impossible, I said where stopping would be more dangerous, but how about your accelerator jams and brakes fail? What if your car was wedged in front of an HGV?
Generalisations always have some exceptions.
Clutching at straws there a bit, you really didn't mean that did you now.
Hang on....
Just let me....
Get round this...
roundab-YEAH YOU **** OFF AS WELL YOU ****!-out - ****ER!
No.
Have you ever tried texting & taking the gherkins out of a big mac at the same time? Its well dangerous innit!
Handsfree has been shown to be just as distracting, so don't even use that these days. Can't wait for driverless cars myself, but in the meantime how's about mandatory in car cameras, at least that way any guilty party involved in a crash wouldn't be able to escape the evidence
Really winds me up seeing people on their mobiles whilst driving. The main culprits tend to be mothers with their children in the car texting away. Expensive car drivers, usually Range Rovers, that must have bluetooth connection as standard talking on their phones.
Not sure what the answer to the problem is with so few police to enforce the law maybe an instant ban with the use of CCTV to bring prosecutions for those caught would act as a deterrent to make others think twice.
The law (C&U Rule 110(5) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/regulation/2/made) says differently.drac - Nope still no excuse.
I can't think of when it would be impossible to stop no.
I think you need to work on your imagination a little (the law says "it is unsafe or impracticable for him to cease driving in order to make the call" rather than [i]impossible[/i]).
e.g. you are on a fast dual carriageway (or motorway with no hard shoulder) and come across a vehicle that has crashed off the road and is smoking heavily but has no obvious occupants. Would you stop on the carraigeway (where your vehicle is a hazard, and in some cases will be breaking other laws, or would you drive for 4 miles to the next exit to find a safe place to pull off and call the emergency services?
or, you have somehow upset the driver of another vehicle who is aggressively following you, flashing his lights, sounding his horn and gesticulating whilst his passenger is waving a baseball bat at you?
or, you pass under a footbridge where "yoofs" are firing at cars with an airgun, and chucking debris on the carriageway, on a high speed road with no place to stop?
or, you witness someone hacksawing bikes off a car at a remote trail centre and load them in a transit van, where you have no mobile signal and follow them from a distance until you get signal, but continue to follow them so you can provide the best location information to the police.
or, you are staying in a remote holiday home with no mobile signal, and no landline. You have a fire. You repeatedly dial 999 as you drive away to try and get a signal, with the intention of stopping as soon as you get a signal and it is safe to do so?
The law accepts that there are [i]some[/i] situations where a [i]genuine call to the emergency services[/i] should permit the use of a handheld phone whilst driving. I think you can be sure that none of the people you see just driving around are making those calls. I actually mentioned it because I thought some STW smart arse would point out that in law, there was one excuse!
You have quite an imagination.
We've spoken about this a lot recently of course.
In terms of modifying behaviour, since I've started driving a van, I've stopped cycling on a particular road near me. Being high-up in the van means that I can see just how many drivers are fiddling with phones, and I'm not risking this particular road any more.
One other thing, separate to phone users and RLJers, are yellow hatched box sitters. Where did they learn to drive? The box should be kept clear at all times.
Agree that there's just no enforcement these days.
I'm fairly sure the bluetooth phone is part of the standard spec on a Mondeo - mine certainly doesn't have any other add-on features.
The audio bit at least depends on age on the Mondy. I had a 58-plate (new shape but pre-facelift) Mondeo with all the Converse+ bells and whistles including voice-activated Bluetooth phone connectivity. What it didn't have was BT audio support; they added A2DP audio on a later revision (2009 maybe?), it's a physically different module.
poly - Member
e.g.
Quite the sort of examples I was thinking of, but as Drac insisted on only ever calling people when it was IMPOSSIBLE to stop, I gave a couple of examples (which have happened to people). Of course these and the events poly listed are unlikely, but any sensible person would use judgement rather than absolutes.
Back to the main point of this thread though, it's a pity a lot of people have incredibly poor judgement.
went to the bother of reporting someone who was facebook messaging as she drove alongside me (I was on the bike) after she started drifting towards me, I shouted but she seemed oblivious so braked and pulled back out of her way. I gave time, place, make, model, reg and description of driver.
Haven't heard a thing back 🙄
But yeah see [b][i]loads[/i][/b] of people doing it, one of the reasons I avoid the road wherever possible
[quote=Drac ]You have quite an imagination.
No imagination required - I called the police after being side swiped on the motorway. Yes I could have stopped on the hard shoulder, but stopping on the hard shoulder isn't generally considered to be the safest thing to do.
I like to stop/ride alongside the driver's window and wait to see how long it takes them to notice me staring at them like a psycho.
I see it every time I'm out, plus jumping red lights, failing to indicate, and cutting other drivers up.
That and running reds a few seconds after they have changed.
Like the jackass taxi driver who went straight through the red light on the pedestrian crossing outside the Natural History Museum in London last Saturday, as several people, including me, were already on the crossing!
Drac - Moderator
You have quite an imagination.
Clearly, Drac, you lack any kind of imagination at all, because these are all perfectly feasible scenarios that any motorist could encounter, it really doesn't take much imagination at all.
I've been a passenger in a car leaving London late at night, following a car that was weaving slowly from one lane to another. At the time neither I nor the mate driving had mobile phones, otherwise we'd have phoned the police and got a patrol out while following at a safe distance.
If I came across the same set of circumstances on my own, then I'd phone with the phone stuck to the dash mount and talk via the speaker, as I have no BT facility, nor no I particularly want one, as I get virtually no phone calls at all while driving, and the phone is usually plugged into my DAB car radio, which has no BT.
I regularly see people on bridges over motorways and dual carriageways, and reports of yobs lobbing chunks of concrete or bricks at cars underneath isn't uncommon, so I'd be wanting to get the police on the case as soon as possible, and there's no way I'd be slamming the brakes on at 70mph and pulling over, even if there was a hard shoulder, as that would tell them they'd been reported and would be having it away on their toes.
No vivid imagination required in either situation, but I'm sure you'll continue to argue otherwise.
I remember having in interesting conversation a couple of years ago with a [s]lady[/s] woman in an elderly Micra who was in a bidding war for an E Class Merc on ebay. On a relatively busy road, whilst driving.
Driving into town along the M4 the number of young woman Mini drivers lit up by the blue glow of a smartphone is quite astounding.
Makes my blood boil seeing people on the phone whilst driving. It should be an automatic 3 month ban along with those ignorant ^£%£$ who don't indicate left at roundabouts whilst you are sat waiting to proceed.
Our work has just instigated a no using company phones hands free when driving. Sackable offence.
Stopping at an amber feels risky these days - I usually check my rear view mirror before doing it in case I get rear ended.
Any UK driver who likes to claim that cyclists are a bunch of lawbreakers is a rank hypocrite!
Self-driving cars will be with us soon enough. In the meantime I'm glad my commute is on a fully segregated cycle network, makes all the difference to an enjoyable ride.
One of the guys on the 4Runner Facebook page had this happen last week. Woman was texting and hit him full chat without touching the brakes, bet that surprised her.
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Last year I was heading home, and was puzzled by the head on the dashboard of the car in front. Got closer, and saw the driver was video-calling someone. On an iPad. Suckered to his windscreen.
They should make it 3 points and a £200 fine.
If you are caught again within 12 months it doubles to 6 points and £400 fine , caught again within 12 months and its 12 points ( should be a driving ban ) and £800 fine.
Insurance companies should then be persuaded to really load up premiums for those caught as the risk of an accident is increased.
Special traffic cameras could be developed to catch people who do it , with modern ANPR technology , digitized images , and facial recognition software. They could use the old 'tax disc' readers that used to be toll booths.
Special project would probably pay for itself if the fines were realistic , simply down the numbers involved . Be fine on A roads , multi lane roads harder but not impossible.
I give phone users a the horn of retribution.
It is my (probably) wrong belief they are texting back g/f's and wives who get all huffy if a text about going to Dani's BBQ next Sunday evening is not responded to in a timely manner, and you must be having an affair if you don't reply within the allocated 9 mins.
I hope that woman didn't cause any chasis damage to the Surf, but I fear it will have.
Anyway, yes. Pet hate of mine. It became really hammered home when I used to commute to work by bike. You just see a shocking number of people at it.
I rarely cycle on the roads any more but still see tons of people on their phones while driving. My "favourite" is the sneaky social media checker. Typically sat at the lights but often spotted in slow moving traffic he or she will bob their head down, then quickly back up again as if unseen. Repeated constantly, presumably for the duration of their journey.
I regularly play a fun little game which involves a quick cheeky honk of the horn each time they drop their head.