using mobile phones whilst driving
 

yesterday while waiting to cross Whalley Road in the Oaklea area , in the 30seconds I watched the traffic pass by I spotted a young woman driving a 4 x 4 her head bent over to her left shoulder as her mobile phone was wedged there while she chatted. Four vehicles later a young woman driving with one hand on steering wheel , in the other hand her mobile phone and she was busy texing. Just when will these people learn , had there been an accident what excuse would they come up with.
I know the police can not be everywhere but I think it is high time these law breakers were made an example of and heavily fined. They are accidents waiting to happen.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Unfortunately this is an all to common sight about time it was clamped down on.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

As you say the police cant be everywhere and they have to catch them using the phone before they can do anything

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

The thing is before mobile phones, if you wanted to ring anybody you had to ride round looking for one of those red boxes, people are just lazy today, if they're caught using a phone it should be an automatic 6 month ban for first offence, that would focus some minds

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

i think its pathetic, every modern phone now has a loud speaker setting on it, why the hell can't they use it? thats what its there for afterall

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

For many years before this became an issue, I used to drive whilst on my mobile, I have done so since mobiles first came out (though it looked more like holding a brick to your ear in the early days), as a result, answering my phone whilst driving is very natural to me, so much so, that I have to stop myself from answering when I receive calls as I drive, I think that the experience of having done this for many years has conditioned me in such a way that I am more than capable of driving whilst on the phone, But I still think it is wrong, and dont do it, I also discourage others from using the phone whilst driving.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I sure you're right.The Law isn't tight enough. Anyone caught using a mobile phone whilst driving,automatic ban.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Whilst out and about today I have seen 7 people driving and using mobile phones......one of them was driving past the police station in Accrington and a police van was coming in the opposite direction....did the policeman do anything?
No.....of course he didn't.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

the mobile phone law isnt enforced unless its a quiet day and the police are bored or need to get arrest figures up infact the mobile phone law is about as effective as teh child seat law

both are ignored

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

The fine show be a lot more than the cost of have a proper hands free kit fitted.

I use my phone a lot in the car which has a bluetooth wired in kit.

It is just the same as talking to the passenger except you dont get the urge to look at them like I see a lot or drivers doing

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

i'll agree with you on that neil ..

i see drivers going through rising bridge using their mobiles more often than not im stood in the middle of the road at a pedestrian bit .. and i keep on thinking one day someone is going to hit someone stood there waiting to cross the road. Today just under an hour ago .. i was stood there waiting to cross .. and a man came past more interested in the pub rather than looking where he was going in fact he was 'rubbernecking' as in looking over his shoulder at the pub .. next car came along man driving looking at his wife/girl passenger and laughing ..next car came out of northfield road 2 men talking and laughing ..

Im only a pedestrian stood in the middle of the road waiting for them to pass .. but theyre more interested in talking to their passengers or looking at whats going on at the side of the road .. rather than looking ahead and watching where they were going ..

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

i was behind some moron impressing his girlfriend by not looking at the road but looking directly into his womans face with his tongue hanging out bouncing up and down like a complete tool who nearly ran into teh car infront 3 times and swerved into the opposite side of teh road a few times as well in a poxy banged up corsa heading into rishton where the road is particualrly bendy.I think he was either having some sort of seizure of his woman had left somthing in his rectum from teh previous night

the only thing missing was his mobile phone which i half expected to make an appearance at some point but thankfully the stupid idiot turned off into rishton

unfortunatly my rocket launcher button is mereley an imaginary feature on my car so the idiot lives another day to probably kill somone eventually :rolleyes:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

There is no money to be made off the phone and child seat laws so as has been said they dont bother unless quiet. I wonder what the male - female ratio of those caught is.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I dont use bluetooth anymore, since i watched a programme that proved beyond doubt that, the mobile phone being held in the hand is NOT the primary reason for accidents occurring whilst talking on the phone, but is the CONVERSATION which distracts the driver from his surroundings and the fact that they are actually driving, in particular if the driver is having a heated debate/discussion, the danger is in the act of conversation, not necessarily holding the phone, texting or dialling numbers is a different argument.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

if that was true no one would pass tehir driving test fo r crashing because not only do learners have to concentrate on teh road they have to listen to tehir instructor and talk back to them

people who cant talk and drive are severely lacking in the brain department because despite women been great multi takskers us men aint bad at it either

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I cant agree with you on that one. Holding a phone to your ear while trying to indicate and make a turn at a junction is not easy.

Yes I can inderstand your thoughts on the conversation but using the handsfree is just like talking to a passenger. Holding a phone is not.

Beside which I am usually drinking a brew and eating a bacon butty while driving to work on mid shifts which is when people tend to phone me. :D

Trying to hold a phone to my ear as well would leave me steering with my knee

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

what is your other knee doing?

hanging out your car helping to scoot you along from what iv seen of your car :D

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

hey leave her alone, she has done almost 219,000 miles and rapidly counting.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I agree ... and studies over here have shown that it is the intensity of the conversation rather than the device itself which leads to problems ... if your phone rings and someone at the other end says "Hi, what's happening, eh" there isn't much distraction, lot's less say than if one has a long glance at that hot number with the gorgeous legs and rack. But if one's wife phones, and confesses to having had an affair with your best friend, it will probably grab much of your attention.

I wonder if it is possible to punish offenders by somehow taking their phones away ... not allowing them access to cell phone service for a long period, say six months for a first offense.

A problem that has cropped up here since the law banning cell phones has come into effect, is that folks are now trying to conceal their texting ... making them even more dangerous.:mad:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

surely this would encourage the bloke to keep his car in one peice until he makes it home and is able to then drive it through teh livingroom wall and run the sod over :confused:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

im guilty of this until work fix the handsfree in my car but i do try to wait till im stopped in traffic. i have meetings to attend in the morning and the people i need ain't in work when i set off and i dont have enough time to get all the info i need when i get there. doesn't make it right but it really can't be helped. maybe its a result of the lives we lead now.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Of course it can be helped in a number of ways;

1)Forward planning.
2)12 month ban.
3)£1000-00 fine.

Go for option (1) and all will be well.:rolleyes:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

i forward plan enough thanks but im not setting off before 6am. like i said once work fix my handsfree all is good. i also like how we are all perfect drivers who do nothing wrong at least ill happily admit it. how many of you smoke while driving ?

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Don't think very much of their Managers at this very large haulage firm do they.:rolleyes: Hope they are prepared to carry the can when you have an accident whilst breaking the law.
Is it an offense to smoke while driving? :confused:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Yes, it was brought in sometime early last year although you'd never know to look at people.

If police are after easy pickings, spend a day outside the cash machine in Rishton. Not only do dozens of people park in the chevron zone creating an obstruction that everyone has to swerve around but it's almost as if people are queuing up to pull out of the adjoining street smoking whilst on the phone behind the wheel.

Having been fined for supposedly dangerous driving by telling someone to phone back as I was sat stationary at the lights this became my number one bugbear about other drivers. I wonder what the figures are for people being caught?

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I can only find this from the AA Motoring Offences : Smoking and Driving - The AA

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Not sure if there is a specific law like mobile phones.

If must be illegal if it is a company vehicle or possibly even if you are in your own vehicle while working.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

1 armed people drive with a knob thingy on the steering wheel yet us 2 handed folk arnt allowed to have one

change that law and then holding a fag or a phone wont matter :D

if anyone is wondering why a 2 handed person cant have one its because they claim if it spins around when teh car is straightening for example it could smash your wrist but this is an acceptable risk teh law will take regarding a one handed person but not a 2 handed person who would have a spare hand shoudl this event occur

oh and its ok to use one on a forklift truck where you are carrying tons of things on pallets around people.

dont mind me just throwing ideas out :D


mind you it would be rather disturbing seeing a 1 armed driver heading towards you holding a mobile phone lol

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

How do one armed people indicate, wipe the windscreen, use the horn, change CD's, wind the window down to shout obscene comments at young ladies in short skirts and eat bacon butties while driving?

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

must be clever dicks :D

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

As to taking a call leave it, if it's important they'll call back, failing that at the next safe opportunity, pull over,check the number & call em' back, if you've got someone in the car with you let them answer & take a message. Where is the difficulty in that ? :rolleyes:

As to the Smoking in cars, I believe it's up to the individual & their conscience as to if they do or they don't in their "private Vehicle", as yet the traffic Taliban haven't breached this particular bastion, but they are trying (Gawd bless 'em). Works Vehicles though different ball game, officially it's a nono, but who can control it ?

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I hate those people who as soon as the phone rings they perform an emergency stop, dump the car on th footpath and answer the phone :mad:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

much more dangerous especially if an audi does it because they arnt fitted with indicators so the poor sods cant even alert you that they are pulling over

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I once had a car like that Neil, but thought it was time I got shut when t was baned from the London to Brighton vintage car race for being to old:D

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Me too, that's why I said "next safe" :)

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I believe it's in the Veh Specs for Audi,BMW & Mercedes, fitted as standard Loud blaring horn, Hi Intensity blinding lights (for flashing) & Accelerater that Automatically goes to full wellie. Sadly though indicators are optional extras & even then they only blink once per manoeuvre. :eek:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

She is only 8 you cheeky so and so :p

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

You toned that down now your a mod:D

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

That is not true.

I was taught to be polite to old folk :p

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I hadn't noticed :rolleyes: - maybe you don't consider me 'old':confused:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Nor me:D

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

because a loud speaker is also illegal because you need to use your hands to answer and activate the speaker, best way is if it rings ignore it, ring them back when u stop driving

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

The law is an ass when it comes to mobile phone usage.
It still allows you to use 2 way radios which is just as dangerous in my opinion - see below.




It also explains why a phone on speaker phone is illegal if you hold it. It should be ok if it was in a holder on the dash and you just pressed the green button or had it on auto answer though as you don't have to hold it during the course of of making or receiving a call

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I once had the side of my car hit by a young lady (probably 21) who shot straight out of a side street and the courtesy car the insurers provided for me was a very basic Nissan Micra, even that had a Bluetooth connection for my mobile phone and I was amazed how easy it was to set up. Surely they should be standard on all cars nowadays.
Even worse then mobile phone accidents was the one my mate had when slowing down because the car in front was turning into the Read Garden Center. He was hit up the rear end by a car which failed to stop in time, the young lady driver admitted that she had been bottle feeding a baby.

Gremlin R.T.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I wonder if it would be safer to breast feed while driving?

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Having had a friend killed by some nonentity yapping on her mobile, I take a very dim view of it. Only 3 days after that horrible crash on Eastgate I saw some prat in a white van yacking away whilst going thru the traffic lights at the bottom of Burnley Rd, I was stood on the pedestrian island at the time and gave him a gesture that really can't have been mistaken, he quickly put the phone and his head down.....

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Pesonally i think they should sentence anyone caught using one whilst driving to 3 months, twould soon reduce usage dramatically. but they aint got the bottle cos bet half of the law makers do it.:(

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Aye there was, that Asian lord Ahmed, sentenced then released or some such crap.Last year it was.

Lord Ahmed freed from prison - The Star

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Oh come on Dave there's a different law for politicians:D

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

If we see these drivers why don't the police?

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

My most outrageous memory takes me back to the mid 1980's when I was a serving policeman and my attention was drawn to a Ford Sierra being driven erratically on the A59 Clitheroe by-pass around 11-30pm in total darkness and without lights. I managed to draw alongside the vehicle and spotted a young female, face to face with and straddling the driver. I leave it to your imagination to work out what they were up to, needless to say the driver looked ecstatic until I pulled him over and breathalysed him. He was a married man and the girl was his baby sitter whom he had volunteered to take home. He was also well over the drink/drive limit and subsequently imprisoned for 6-months and banned from driving for 2-years. His wife began divorce proceedings whilst he was inside.

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

It's people like you that ruin married life.:hehetable

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

when yuo asked him to blow in the bag did he not point out to you that he had only just taken it off :eek:

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

yes i see this all the time when i am going out shopping and most of the time when they are takeing there children to and from the schools

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

I was walking to work a few years back , I was crossing the road at a set of traffic lights , There was a police woman sat in her police car at the lights in the drivers seat . She had one hand on the steering wheel , no seatbelt , and a ice-cream cornet in the other hand ???

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Was that in Preston David?

If so I think I know her - She was nick-named the Pendleton's Twicer.:mosher::D:D

Re: using mobile phones whilst driving
 

Icecream with a lolly each end:D