mobile phone law toughened

[Sparrow]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1253130,00.html

I must say i do agree with this - i cant believe the number of lorry drivers i have seen holding their phones while driving.:(

[Domestic Goddess]

I see loads of people chatting on their phones while driving. I don't know whether tougher laws will make any difference. Hands free sets aren't that pricey, I don't know why more people don't have them.

[Planet 24]

Personally I wouldnt like to use a hands free either - I just feel its too distracting to chat and drive.

[Noise Stopper]

Just my two 'pennorth here, but what about chatting to your kids, or to your partner? Smoking in the car anyone? using this logic anything which distracts from driving should be illegal, while I do agree that hands free should be compulsory, once again his Tonyness has decided we are incapable of taking responsibility for our own actions, roll on the day that we are all grown up enough to have cars and not play with matches!

Ian :nfh1:

[Planet 24]

Wasnt somebody fined for eating an apple in a car while driving a little while ago?

Didnt the court case cost loads?

Sorry a bit off topic there.

[Sparrow]

Im not sure planet - there have been one or two stories in the papers about people being caught eating at the wheel.

I thought the main problem was that while holding your phone you only have one hand on the wheel!? My hubby fits these hand free kits into cars - they are quite good - i had one in mine till his mate got a blue tooth phone and wanted a cheap phone kit - so hubby sold him mine and didnt tell me til i got in the car and noticed it missing :rolleyes:

[Planet 24]

Police spent more than £10,000 of public money, and used a helicopter and a spotter plane, to convict a woman of driving while eating an apple.

Officers spent months gathering evidence and building a vast case against 23-year-old Sarah McCaffery – and yesterday she was fined £60.

The nursery nurse was forced to attend court 10 times before the fine was finally handed out by magistrates at South Shields, Tyneside.

Victims of crime groups and campaigners for taxpayers were furious at what they see as a scandalous waste of public money.

Officers swung into action after McCaffery was spotted eating a golden delicious at the wheel of her Ford Ka.

She refused to accept a £30 on-the-spot fine, claiming she was in full control of the car, and said she would fight it in court.

Astonishingly, police then called in a spotter plane to film her route, then repeated the exercise with a police helicopter.

Officers then videoed the route from a squad car and used the footage as part of yesterday’s two and a half hour hearing.

The costs of the whole proceedings against McCaffery are estimated at £10,000.

She said: "It is a joke they put so much effort into this. I couldn’t believe it when they brought all this video evidence into court.

"You’d think they’d have better things to do. Aren’t there enough proper criminals for them to catch?"

Her solicitor, Geoffrey Forrester, said: “This is all about trying to crush her because she is the one who stood up and said 'this is silly'."

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: "As the defendant chose a court trial rather than accept a fixed penalty, we were obliged to gather all appropriate evidence to present our case."

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[Sparrow]

What a disgusting waste of money :angry:

[Planet 24]

I knew it was up this way, yes look what they could have done with it instead of wasting it like that.

[Noise Stopper]

But was it French? another fine piece of budget management

Ian :nfh1:

[Planet 24]

well it wasnt golden delicious, but it might have been a cox's up

[Crazy Dog]

When they finally ban smoking while driving I'll respect the ban on using a mobile while driving.

In practice although I do answer my mobile if it happens to ring while waiting for traffic to actually move I don't use it while in moving traffic. If I can pull over I do - if I can't pull over the caller will have to try again or leave a message.

[c1rcle]

Wont change anything, there'll still be idiots out there after tomorrow with those mini microwaves stuck to their ears while driving, it must be true that over using a mobile can damage your brain.

[StoneHenge]

I agree with the tougher laws on mobile phones. Whilst I agree they are not the only things that distract one from driving (you could just as easily say the radio could distract you), I would class them as the most dangerous of all the possibles.

Whilst driving behind a car some time ago, the woman in the car in front was on her phone. We stopped at traffic lights and when they turned green, she just sat there, totally unaware of the change in lights. I beeped my horn at her and she then moved. We reached the next set and she did the same thing, sat there whilst they were on green. How that is not distracting in beyond me.

There is no reason for not having a hands free set.

I'd wouldn't like to be the person that ran one of my kids over whilst they were talking on their phone in their car and not paying attention.