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About LinkBacksRead more.Half of drivers claim texting does not affect their concentration!
Read more.Half of drivers claim texting does not affect their concentration!
I'm not supprised that the number of people using their phones at the wheel is increasing as there is never anyone around to enforce it. Sadly they don't realise just how stupid it is until they nearly kill someone.
^^ as Flash says I think the problem is this is almost never enforced.
There was a reported drop after the law was changed to make it illegal, but I think that people have realised that the odds of being caught are so incredibly low that they can get away with it..so they will. They are not thinking about how stupid they are being and how they are endangering others.
This is sadly exactly the same as the other traffic safety laws - Speeding and mobile phone usage is just not properly enforced, and its been that way for so long that people don't think its actually a bad/dangerous thing and so they do it..it is so incredibly frustrating when I am driving along and I see some idiot steaming down the outside line at 90mph+ and on their mobile phone..yet I can do nothing about it.
We need much more education on the usage of mobile phones and speeding, both are incredibly dangerous things to do and yet both are on the rise
+1 to the above.
Sadly, most places seem to think GATSO's are a suitable replacement for traffic cops, whose numbers are constantly shrinking despite the number of cars on the road constantly rising.
Depends if you've got a coppa behind you or not as to how much you pay attention.
Seriously though, google maps while parked up with the engine running is not going to cause an accident. I had a fine slapped on me for speaking to someone on my phone while at a T junction. I had had the phone on loud speaker, but picked it up because I'd had come to a stop at a set of lights I new took forever to change, and that's when the boys in blue pounced. They were tight, but seriously, that's not dangerous to ANY other road users. At worst when the lights change I'd get a beep from the guy behind, and then have to hang up on the call.
The law needs to be revised IMO. You can change a radio station, chuck in a CD, and program your GPS, but not drink a cup of tea from a travel mug or use your phone when stationary.
Sadly the only solution I see to this is Big Brother-esque.
Networks know when a call is being made or a text sent... link up info from the networks to cameras on roads which photograph your numberplate - like the C-Charge cameras in London, I'll bet they can also tell how many people there are in a car... or a roadside camera could probably see in your window and photograph you doing it...
If your registered vehicle is spotted moving, with your phone showing signs of use, and your average speed is too high for you to have moved between two cameras without stopping (or speeding) then you get a fine...
Something like that anyway! Like GATSO+++
More traffic cops around would do the world of good, or even a PCSO equivalent..traffic wardens in vehicles for example?
The main reason we don't have that many anymore is due to cost, and a PCSO equivalent is much cheaper than a "real" police officer, and for traffic offences they would be suitable I would think.
If we could double their numbers that would be a great start as a deterrent, along with educating people as to the risks of doing it. I agree that the only other approach is big brother esque, and we really need to stay clear of that, would be a horrible place to live.
Sorry but I agree with the cops, if you're driving then drive, if you want to make a call or reprogram your sat-nav, or in fact do ANYTHING that takes your eyes off the road then pull over. Yes it's using up your oh so precious time, but better that than someone's precious life.Originally Posted by Tattysnuc
At the junction you could have caused a problem or accident if you weren't paying full attention when you did pull away... lights change, someone beeps, you swear and roar off... not noticing the other vehicle coming from the side... oops...
You're in control of a 2 ton killing machine at an intersection, just about one of the most hazardous features on any road. Not dangerous at all, except for the fact you situational awareness will be almost zero when you pull away, and that's if you bothered to put the phone back down. Fair cop in my mind.Depends if you've got a coppa behind you or not as to how much you pay attention.
Seriously though, google maps while parked up with the engine running is not going to cause an accident. I had a fine slapped on me for speaking to someone on my phone while at a T junction. I had had the phone on loud speaker, but picked it up because I'd had come to a stop at a set of lights I new took forever to change, and that's when the boys in blue pounced. They were tight, but seriously, that's not dangerous to ANY other road users. At worst when the lights change I'd get a beep from the guy behind, and then have to hang up on the call.
The law needs to be revised IMO. You can change a radio station, chuck in a CD, and program your GPS, but not drink a cup of tea from a travel mug or use your phone when stationary.
Parked up, means side of the road, engine off. Unless you park differently to the rest of the world.
Sorry, no sympathy at all.
I just installed a bluetooth head unit in my car as i do a lot of long journeys on motorways. Thing is brilliant and i am dead chuffed with it, the only downside being i tend to miss turn offs when im talking and driving as its also my satnav >_<
With regards to speed and speed cameras im not really in agreeace. Personally i think that it would be safe to have a higher speed limit on motorways (say 80-85), especially seeing as most people (myself included) tend to drive at that speed anyway. I have never had an accident but as observation from my travels, most of the accidents i have seen have had nothing to do with speed, just carelessness between vans/lorrys/slow or old drivers and general malfunction of something on the car.
I think speed cameras could have been a really good tool for A roads and B roads where there are a lot of accidents due to careless driving or dangerous conditions but what they have ended up being is piggy banks. They just seem to appear in areas where its a bit sneaky and offer no real safety as people just put their foot down once they are past them.
Variable speed cameras are a bit different, whilst they are a pain and in all fairness they take quite a bit of concentration away from the road and onto the dashboard dials, for their purpose of around roadworks i think they are quite effective.
It's been demonstrated in a study that talking on a phone impairs your reaction times more than being just over the drink-drive limit. There are many inconsistencies in the law, this is one of them. It's hard to enforce so it really is debatable whether it's worth it being illegal - but generally I think it is, if the car is being driven. Being stopped in a layby with the engine on and on the phone is not a hazard to anyone and it's being prosecuted for that which does no-one any good, for example.
Lumping speeding into the equation is a whole different matter and completely not applicable IMO. For starters you have to assume that "speeding", i.e. going above the arbitrary limits set by the government (mostly in the 60s and 70s when most cars had vastly inferior handling and braking distances compared to modern cars) is inherently dangerous, when quite frankly, it isn't. Doing 90mph along a quiet dual-carriageway/motorway is not dangerous in almost all modern cars, depending on the driver. What makes it dangerous is those drivers then tailgating other cars, or undertaking, etc - all dangerous manouevres unrelated to absolute speed, and IMO it's those manoeuvres that those drivers should be prosecuted for - not speeding.
As for some drivers not being safe to drive at 90mph, well it's the same as some drivers not being safe to drive at 70mph (e.g. the inexperienced, those with relatively poor eyesight but still legal). What should be important is being able to adjust your speed so as not to exceed your own limits, rather than blindly following a sign that says it's safe to do whatever speed (which is essentially how they are read).
I'm sorry but what you've just posted is a contradiction.I think speed cameras could have been a really good tool for A roads and B roads where there are a lot of accidents due to careless driving or dangerous conditions
Speed cameras check to see if you are speeding. They do absolutely diddly squat about careless driving and dangerous conditions.
Bloody idiots! I would give em a right smack if i could.
Was almost took out at a round about when a van driver was on his phone, i was on the roundabout and he just went right in front of me (didnt check i was there to busy on the FLIPPING PHONE!!!). So me avoiding to crash into him meant someone behind had to try not to crash into me aswell >.<. Thankfully nothing happened but i see this to often.
I always try to get out my phone and take a photo (if im on the street) when i see someone on their phone driving but by the time that happens they are gone. I hope one day i do get one of them!.
Same as the useless chavs on motorbikes with L plates that are carrying pillions its dangerous (poor riders) and illegal due to them on L plates, right mockery this state is in tbh!
On A and B roads the speed limit tends to be 60Mph however many of the bends will not be safe to drive around at 60Mph. If you stick a speed limit there it wont do much, stick a speed limit there and a gatso and people are forced to slow down before it. Thats the kind of thing i was aiming at.I'm sorry but what you've just posted is a contradiction.
Speed cameras check to see if you are speeding. They do absolutely diddly squat about careless driving and dangerous conditions.
Remember the whole reasoning the government used to bring speed cameras into the system was to improve road safety!
I mentioned speeding as thats the other motoring offence that lots of people commit daily, and is just as difficult to enforce without big brother tactics.
It's also another one that people often think is safe when it isn't - on quiet roads hen it's empty is one matter, but on busy motorways and inner cities? Very dangerous even in very modern cars. It's often not the speeder that causes the problem too..it's people doing the limit who make a mistake that the speeder cannot react to in time, therefore causing an accident.
I agree that the limit should be raised, bit will argue forever against people who break the limit whilst it is 'supposedly' in force
thats what this guy said!Half of drivers claim texting does not affect their concentration!
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