C J 1980
Established Member
Evening folks
As a convicted drink driver I've been reading a few news articles recently about the legislation surrounding mobile phones in vehicles and the government plans to clamped down even further on people caught using mobile phones behind the wheel.
As a pedestrian and cyclist these days - it beggers belief the amount of people I still see using their mobiles behind the wheel. I see quite a lot of culprits mainly in queues of traffic when vehicles are either at a stand still or moving slowly.
There has been a couple of recent fatalities in my neck of the woods involving HGV drivers using apps on their phones prior to colliding with other vehicles. There was one on the M58 in January 2019 when a wagon wiped out a child and a teacher.
The purpose of this thread is by no means my intention to deflect my own wrong doing because I broke the law - I am a convicted criminal and I could have killed somebody. I accepted my fate and have dealt with the consequences. I am just very thankful no one came to any harm when I got collared - in fact no one was even inconvenienced other than myself!!!
The use of a mobile seems to be the hot topic for traffic offences in the UK. The questions I would raise would be -
Should a driver caught with a phone be banned for 6 months? I believe newly qualified drivers get banned automatically as they only get entitled to six points in their first two years.
Should it become a criminal offence like drink driving?
Should there be additional punishments for repeat offenders like HROs (they get a minimum 3 year ban second time around).
If criminalising it - would the police now arrest or summons the offender? For the summons process - can the offender's vehicle be seized under revised police powers?
Can mobile phones be seized & analysed for data in low level offences of this nature?
Can the justice system deal with the volume of cases if people contest the charges?
This really is food for thought and having been in the situation I have because of my own selfishness & stupidity I do get pissed off that as a convicted drink driver we do sometimes get the thin end of the wedge when other 'sober' motorists are potentially committing dangerous acts themselves which put lives in danger.
It would be great to hear people's views on this. Maybe if the government did implement something much more robust with mobile phones, then people would certainly get off their soap boxes towards drink drivers and soon look at their own bad driving habits.
CJ
As a convicted drink driver I've been reading a few news articles recently about the legislation surrounding mobile phones in vehicles and the government plans to clamped down even further on people caught using mobile phones behind the wheel.
As a pedestrian and cyclist these days - it beggers belief the amount of people I still see using their mobiles behind the wheel. I see quite a lot of culprits mainly in queues of traffic when vehicles are either at a stand still or moving slowly.
There has been a couple of recent fatalities in my neck of the woods involving HGV drivers using apps on their phones prior to colliding with other vehicles. There was one on the M58 in January 2019 when a wagon wiped out a child and a teacher.
The purpose of this thread is by no means my intention to deflect my own wrong doing because I broke the law - I am a convicted criminal and I could have killed somebody. I accepted my fate and have dealt with the consequences. I am just very thankful no one came to any harm when I got collared - in fact no one was even inconvenienced other than myself!!!
The use of a mobile seems to be the hot topic for traffic offences in the UK. The questions I would raise would be -
Should a driver caught with a phone be banned for 6 months? I believe newly qualified drivers get banned automatically as they only get entitled to six points in their first two years.
Should it become a criminal offence like drink driving?
Should there be additional punishments for repeat offenders like HROs (they get a minimum 3 year ban second time around).
If criminalising it - would the police now arrest or summons the offender? For the summons process - can the offender's vehicle be seized under revised police powers?
Can mobile phones be seized & analysed for data in low level offences of this nature?
Can the justice system deal with the volume of cases if people contest the charges?
This really is food for thought and having been in the situation I have because of my own selfishness & stupidity I do get pissed off that as a convicted drink driver we do sometimes get the thin end of the wedge when other 'sober' motorists are potentially committing dangerous acts themselves which put lives in danger.
It would be great to hear people's views on this. Maybe if the government did implement something much more robust with mobile phones, then people would certainly get off their soap boxes towards drink drivers and soon look at their own bad driving habits.
CJ