Changes in the Law.

[brucemillar]

Normal school run this morning along the usual main roads and Motorways.

What was unusual was the staggering amount of cars that were parked up on verges, pavements, layby's etc. I do mean staggering, I have never seen so many parked cars. I started to wonder if perhaps there was some event about to happen, that I had no knowledge of? Then we noticed......

In every case the drivers were still in their cars and ON THEIR PHONES!!!

We counted twenty cars parked up like this.

Is this a consequence of the changes in the law for use of mobile phones?

Is it legal to pull onto the verge on an 'A' road, to take a call?

I thought the hope was that drivers would switch off their mobiles while in the car and NOT be distracted. What I saw today, suggests that the drivers of these cars would normally have taken the call while driving, but are now pulling over, to take the call.

 

[Charles Morgan]

My money is on them all get bored with doing this and they will slowly revert back to the old ways especially when the heat is off.

I just switch my phone off in all cars I own without handsfree.

 

[Adrian5405]

Yesterday I watched a "UK Mail" delivery driver driving down the bus lane whilst holding a phone to his ear.
I'm sure his bosses would have been pleased if they knew.

 

[ss201]

The scary side of this development is how many of those car drivers previously used their mobile phones during the school run?

 

[Giantvanman]

Any of them with their engines running are still liable for a ticket.

I agree with Charles; once the initial fear wears off and the flurry of enforcement for the new rule ends, people will carry on as normal......still needs enforcement and we live very much in the age of priory policing and when it comes to an officer's personal targets, set by senior management, that'll be way down the list, if it appears at all.

 

[moonloops]

You still get a ticket if parked with engine off.

 

[KennyN]

Yesterday morning i watched a driver using her phone three times over a 1.5 mile stretch of road.

1st set of lights it was a frantic textathon.

I assume the person that received the text decided to call her which resulted in a 3 min call whilst driving and holding her phone in front of her face , i can only think that makes it ok rather than holding it to her ear.

3rd set of lights was another textathon resulting in her not being in the correct lane and nearly side swiping a 40t truck.

As mentioned , some just dont give a fcuk and dont care of the implications of their actions on others.

The fact that there are hardly any plod around to catch them makes it a risk worth taking , for some.

Kenny

 

[brucemillar]

Any of them with their engines running are still liable for a ticket.

That is what I understood the situation to be. I wonder if we will see a sustainable increase in convictions?

 

[st13phil]

You still get a ticket if parked with engine off.

Anecdotally, this has happened, but the circumstances are important.

The problem is that, even after all the years that the mobile phone usage regulation has been in place, there is still no legally tested definition of what the word "driving" means in the context of that legislation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[E55BOF]

You still get a ticket if parked with engine off.

If I were parked up, using my mobile phone, with the engine off, I'd not accept a fixed penalty ticket. In what circumstances are you 'driving' if the car is parked and the engine is switched off?

 

[HumberMart]

If I were parked up, using my mobile phone, with the engine off, I'd not accept a fixed penalty ticket. In what circumstances are you 'driving' if the car is parked and the engine is switched off?

Most new cars these days have auto stop/start.

This muddies the waters even further.

Having seen car drivers (and even police scooter drivers) driving though crowded shopping streets in the middle of Amalfi whilst texting, nothing surprises me anymore.

 

[219]

You still get a ticket if parked with engine off.

No : the engine running is one of the criteria which determines you are 'driving' .

 

[st13phil]

Most new cars these days have auto stop/start.

This muddies the waters even further.

^ This.

It all comes down to the definition of "Driving", which is unclear and untested in law (AFAIK). Perhaps "upping the ante" to 6 points and a £200 fine will encourage someone to appeal a case through the Appeal Court and get clarity?

Having seen car drivers (and even police scooter drivers) driving though crowded shopping streets in the middle of Amalfi whilst texting.

In Rome I watched a guy on a maxi-scoot nail the throttle off the line when the lights changed, only to take both hands off the 'bars so he could dial a number on his phone which he then deftly jammed between his helmet and ear before grabbing the throttle and nailing it again as the rest of the traffic caught up with him

 

[219]

The legislation is quoted in the link below - in particular FAQ no 10

" In exceptional traffic jams, such as a lengthy stoppage on a motorway, it would be clear that someone wasn't driving if the engine was off. "


https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/health-and-safety/NOT22MobilePhones.pdf

 

[Giantvanman]

I wonder if we will see a sustainable increase in convictions?

Not likely. There will a short period (length will be area dependant) where a campaign of enforcement will be undertaken after which it will get rolled into 'normal policing' duties.

The news today carries reports from (I believe) HM Inspectorate which states that policing is in dire straits due to lack of numbers.
As ever with new laws and rule changes, it needs someone engaged in enforcement but when they are directed to pursue 'more important targets' then the likelihood of a sustained increased in conviction numbers is about zero.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

My sister was burgled last week and she caught the little ***** in the act and in doing so they tried to run her over with her own car. She phoned 999 immediately and it took the police TWO HOURS to turn up because of how thin they're stretched so I can't really see there being a major crackdown on anything, all they do is a big media campaign that says there will be.

 

[Delayed Steve]

My sister was burgled last week and she caught the little ***** in the act and in doing so they tried to run her over with her own car. She phoned 999 immediately and it took the police TWO HOURS to turn up because of how thin they're stretched so I can't really see there being a major crackdown on anything, all they do is a big media campaign that says there will be.

The police were stretched because they were out trying to catch people driving and using mobile phones.
The same way that certain police forces have solved all serious crimes in their areas ,so they reward their officers with a BMW and tell them to look for people speeding!

 

[E55BOF]

The police were stretched because they were out trying to catch people driving and using mobile phones.
The same way that certain police forces have solved all serious crimes in their areas ,so they reward their officers with a BMW and tell them to look for people speeding!

Would you like to see no police traffic cars on the road? I wouldn't...

Would you like to see the police never stop anybody who was speeding? I wouldn't...

The police have inadequate resources, and that won't change in the foreseeable future. It's all a question of priorities in the allocation of those resources.

In the case of SPX's sister, the criminal had completed his crime and was gone. If the police had arrived after five minutes, would that have made any difference? No.

I can quite see why she waited so long. Irritating, annoying, disappointing? Yes, BUT: we don't know what other incidents the local police were dealing with at the time. I think we can reasonably assume that there was something with a higher priority, and an officer was sent to her as soon as possible.

If a patrol car stops a speeder, and something more urgent comes up before the paperwork is started, I think we can reasonably assume that the speeding stop will be abandoned at once.

First aiders are trained to look first not at the casualty screaming, but at the one who is just lying there not moving. Same principle.

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Police are too busy spending money on plain liveried HGV trucks to nab people on their phones on the motorway

Or pulling people over twice a week let's say no more about that one, lol

 

[190]

Whether the clamp down on mobile phone use is sustained or not, as far as I'm concerned it's welcome and over due. We can't rely on the perpetrators of mobile phone use seeing the light only after they killed someone so I hope the media campaign continues.