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No difference in my opinion judging by some of the knobs who stare at their car door handle whilst doing 30 past a school at 3pm
Or those who sit in the left hand lane of the motorway at 70mph oblivious to anything going on around them, because after all they are doing the speed limit
Phones is an easy subsect of poor driving to target. Just being a shit driver so much less so
I would make you use the phone as a key to start the car and then be blocked once the engine start.
I currently have three phones. How's that going to work?
The bloke was eating his bloody breakfast – cereal, out of a bowl, with a spoon, while driving. I kid you not.
I once saw an 18-wheeler weaving about the place. When I passed him, he was reading a newspaper.
People, man.
Can anyone think of a reason why something like this would not work?
Realistically what do you suppose would be the odds of people thinking "it's only a week, I'm unlikely to be caught" and carrying on driving regardless?
Compulsory cameras inside all vehicles, focused on the drivers lap ,then live streaming to billboards along the roadside. 😆 🤣
Pornhub is on the phone.
You make good points about screen based cars, Countzero.
We discussed this at length a few weeks back. I am the first person to advocate technology and I think touch screens in cars is idiotic. You can get points and a fine for fiddling with your phone, yet it's perfectly fine to be seven levels deep in a built-in menu whilst doing 70 in the third lane. It wouldn't even be so bad if they weren't universally shite.
The touchscreen was to me at least; a jumble of icons and sub menus, admittedly if my school-boy Spanish had been better I might have been more speedy, but ultimately I didn’t think it was safe to drive through the centre of Barcelona.
Sounds like the car I had in Spain. After a bit of wrestling I made it into the settings menu and changed the language to English.
Courts are very wary of the impact of sentencing on the families/dependents of defendants - hence the high number of drivers still on our roads who retain their driving licence having exceeded the points tally.
The cost of living crises means that for a lot of families a short ban might mean the difference between eating/not eating, paying rent/not paying rent, etc... due to the behaviour/offending of the breadwinner.
those who sit in the left hand lane of the motorway at 70mph oblivious to anything going on around them, because after all they are doing the speed limit
Assuming it's clear ahead, what's the problem with driving 70 in the left lane? Undertaking?
Pointless doing a driving ban, I got 3 weeks ban for a broken wrist plus a heft fine for leaving the car in the car park.
As a tandem stoker its very interesting looking into cars. Drivers with dogs on their laps. Chatting on their phones or texting from their lap, eating, drinking, lighting cigarettes. So many are just treating a drive out in the car as an extension of being in their comfortable armchairs at home.
I have waved at drivers on their phones before now, as though I was a friend, neighbour or relative, maybe not a good idea as it confuses them even more.
A few years ago a friend was taking me out for the day, we set off driving and within a minute she picked up her phone and started to text. I snatched her phone, screamed to stop and I got out of her car. Luckily I wasn't far from home.
Bunnyhop, did you keep her phone with you? 🙂
I was out walking the dog with my girlfriend a few weeks back and as we stood at a zebra crossing waiting for the traffic to stop before stepping out, a car just rolled straight over it. The driver was sending a text message, holding his phone on front of his face resting his elbows on the steering wheel. He didn't look left or right and I don't think he even realised he'd just driven over a crossing. Unbelievable.
The cost of living crises means that for a lot of families a short ban might mean the difference between eating/not eating, paying rent/not paying rent, etc… due to the behaviour/offending of the breadwinner.
I've got very limited sympathy for this.
What if they crash into the breadwinner of another family.
What if they crash and kill themselves?
Does the same sentencing guideline apply to domestic abuse cases?
If you can't drive, you shouldn't be driving.
fine based on affordability is better. Remember that for some people these devices are largely disposable and for others are a major investment
That's non sequitur. They've already afforded the phone. The financial impact of the punishment is whether they get a cheap <£50 handset from cashconverters to replace it or another £1000 iPhone.
Same could apply to the car really. 12 points and the car gets crushed might focus some peoples minds.
I’ve got very limited sympathy for this.
I'm not convinced it's true.
The courts will a) follow guidelines and b) go "what happened last time?" if there aren't any. The notion that you can come up with some random bullshit excuse about a driving ban being a bit inconvenient and get away with it is a nonsense. Exceptional Hardship is a plea, but "exceptional" is the crux there and anyone with a successful plea will be looking at massive hike on fines instead the ban.
Politicians aside, anyway.
One from CyclingMikey. Some car display touch devices come out worse than a hand held phone for reaction times.
Have to say I try to stop now if I need to interact with the sat nav. I should set up voice control but I hate talking to gadgets.
https://twitter.com/MikeyCycling/status/1693178286678130794?t=-bUMz6BUvYEQVSrWVoSP-Q&s=19
"...figures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) show that nearly 9,000 drivers still hold a licence despite exceeding the 12-point threshold. Britain's worst offender to still be legally permitted to drive has 68 points but a further six have more than 50 points and 39 have between 30 and 50 points." stats from 2021
I'm not sure how you get or afford insurance when you have excessive points?
One from CyclingMikey.
What's the source for that graph?
I’m not sure how you get or afford insurance when you have excessive points?
Rich people exist. And influential politicians. Which is often the same thing.
It'd be interesting to see who those people are.
Ah, I've just seen the flyspeck font.
The report it's here (55 pages):
On the iX nearly everything was controlled from the touchscreen, even the climate control and it was a bloody nightmare to use on the move so I just set it to minimum and left it there for 2 weeks.
“Hey BMW , I’m hot”
“Hey BMW , I’m cold”
“Hey BMW, set temperature to ……”
“Hey BMW , open driver/passenger/rear window”
Technology is a wonderful thing if you know how to use it properly 😉😁
I’m not sure how you get or afford insurance when you have excessive points?
AFAIK there's a market agreement between insurers that the current insurer will always provide a price to cover the risk. That's not to say it's cheap. Or that the cover is anything other than basic (lower than third party only). But at least it's there.
In that part of the market, premiums are up-front as well. And (believe it or not) I think the general idea is that they are reasonably good risks to insure. This is all anecdotal info from some brokers I used to work with who dealt in the "non-standard risks" (i.e., shit) motor insurance world.
“Hey BMW , open driver/passenger/rear window”
.....at which point the windscreen wipers come on full tilt....
I was on the inside lane of the A56 on my way to work a few years ago when a girl (probably early 20’s) overtook me at 70mph+ with her phone balanced on the steering wheel. She was happily texting away or updating her Facebook status or whatever.
Just further up the road it bends round to the left, she was too busy on her phone to notice, drove straight into the central reservation then bounced, spinning, off the Armco on both sides of the road, unbelievably not hitting any other vehicles.
Me and another bloke stopped and got her out of the car, she was actually ok, then phoned the police and an ambulance. When they turned up, we both gave statements saying she’d overtaken us both while happily texting away, phone balanced on the wheel. No idea if they did her for it
This is what was left of the car
…..at which point the windscreen wipers come on full tilt….
err, no they don’t, the window opens as instructed. The current BMW EV voice activation is as good as it gets, in my experience, even gets the weegie… 😁
The current BMW EV voice activation is as good as it gets
I bet it still doesn't understand "turn the left indicators on"
Keva
Free Member
Bunnyhop, did you keep her phone with you? 🙂
No I threw it into the cup holder. She came to look for me later. She had no idea why I was so cross. After explaining that being a cyclist we are vulnerable road users and she was not paying attention to anything on the road. We're still friends, however, I'll never get into a car with her again.
Earlier this year I was waiting at a zebra crossing for a Mum with toddler and push chair to cross when I was hit by a car from behind.
I was absolutely shocked that the driver hadn’t seen my trace r rear light pulsing on daybright and when I questioned whether he was on the phone, got very aggressive and abusive towards me.
The Police weren’t interested as I didn’t have video footage even though I had an independent witness (the Mum)!
Texting.
This is something the old Nokia phones did better than today's generation of phones.
444 2-6 666-66 6-999 9-2-999
Or...
444 222-2-66-8 8-2-555-55 66-666-9 444 2-6 3-777-444-888-444-66-4
All done without looking at the screen.
Easy.
All of this properly. First whack up the fines substantially. Proven use of phone like this is 10k quids. Plus smashing phone, public notification of this and 5 year driving ban. I would argue that if kids are in the car it is a safegaurding incident and if a business vehicle the company is penalised as well. Same sort of thing for speeding . Lets say 1k for every mph plus 10k for every point of licence. This would very soon allow for a paid, self funding motoring police force. I could have taken in a good 100K in my 10 minute walk this morning on quiet, rural roads . Just heard half a dozen speeders as I type this.
Stuff hardship. This is a deliberate action as you chose to get in the car. Give it a few years and people would soon toe the line.
I would go with the imobolising trick. We managed to get from A to B before phones quite happily. No excuse that one.
I cycle quite regularly from home in Surrey into London and the number i see using phones is astronomical. It's all ages, all colours, all creeds, both sexes and when acknowledged they are always in the right or abusive!
Cycling Mikey does a good job on YT, but on this topic i'm slightly to the right of Genghis Khan! If caught there should be a fine and an immediate 12 month ban no excuses. Caught again? A larger fine and a 2 year ban. Sadly though, with the police cuts you never really see a traffic police officer any more. I have seen cameras that try and detect mobile users at lights etc, but no t often and have no idea how successful they are?
We've all had near misses on this forum or know of people who have had worse due to the selfishness of people who cannot literally leave their phones alone for an hour. I'm amazed at the number of drivers who do not use the Bluetooth function that comes with the car. Using your mobile or other device or messing about with whatever can be fatal and for what? Totally avoidable and unnecessary.
a far better deterrent than points and a fine would be immediate confiscation and destruction/recycling of the
phonecar
fixed that for you
a far better deterrent than points and a fine would be immediate confiscation and destruction/recycling of the
phoneperson
Fixed that for you
Fine a percentage of income and a years driving ban.
Driving back through the 'Derbyshire Dales'on Bank holiday Monday we were catching up to a big 4 x 4 type car weaver along the road, on closer inspection there is a 'stick' hanging out of the driver's window. It turns out to be a go-pro type 360 degree camera. This idiot is driving, one hand on the wheel, wibbling all over the road and filming. Absolutely bellendery at its finest, a complete danger to all other road users.
Yesterday I saw a woman applying mascara, eyes on her vanity mirror while driving over a narrow bridge (one way system with traffic light), huge car, own reg, so easily to identify. Completely selfish, stupid, idiotic road user.
My ultra responsible daughter has an app on her phone which senses movement and will not allow her phone to be used , by any one , while she is driving. Just saying .
Sadly though, with the police cuts you never really see a traffic police officer any more.
The new AI roadside cameras will catch them though
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-66508840
Had a guy recently close pass me whilst shouting into his phone held up in front of his face.
off on a tangent but anyone who takes a call in this fashion shouldn’t be allowed out in public.
Banning people from driving doesn’t work if there is no clear way to enforce it. Guy that drove in to my house was already banned. I see that worked out well. I’d vote for community service cleaning out sewers.
The new AI roadside cameras will catch them though
Genuinely happy to see technology being used this way.
I expect the biggest barrier to this being in widespread would be the number of people needed to validate the results before sending a nip.
Steady ramp up with the fines paying for more infrastructure?
Won’t happen though, not on a run up to an election. War on motorists they will say.
It's not only technology.
I cycled past the traffic in Rusholme and there was a person marking uni exam paper on the steering wheel.
It will be comforting for their students to know how carefully their work was marked.