Legal to use phone camera while driving?

Dav4 · 22 Sep 2016 at 11:56

Weirdly there's a story on yahoo about some scumbag woman who crashed using her phone causing a fatality and serious injuries to others and then tried to delete her call history :mad:

why don't the idiots who cause the accidents ever get injured :confused:

she only got 5 years will probably be out in 2.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/police-release-pictures-from-deadly-m1-horror-130401973.html
I see people "mainly women" on my commute every single day on the motorway. The worst was a woman middle lane hogging with an IPad propped against her steering wheel tapping away on it oblivious. They just don't realise that a split second reaction can make the difference when travelling at high speeds on motorways.

TallPaul_S · 22 Sep 2016 at 11:57

Burnsy2023 said:
Which is why I said that it'd come under different offences. Driving without due care would be the likely candidate if you're distracted, not in proper control if it's stopping you from steering/changing gear etc.

Which is minimum 3 points correct? Whereas the driving using a mobile phone is being increased to 6 points minimum from next year.

Just seems very out of date, how many people send or receive faxes from their phones? Having a phone in your lap and checking facebook/sending a text/playing a game/watching a video/checking satnav should all fall under the same thing IMO. Phones aren't just used for making calls these days.

geekman · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:04

Acme said:
The amount of people I've seen either blatantly holding their phone to their head on a call, or very obviously looking down at their lap every couple of seconds (even when looking at the driver behind me in the mirror!) is utterly ridiculous and I get annoyed every single time I see it... If I had a dashcam I'd seriously consider reporting all of them!

Dashcam wielding wannabe police officers are far worse than mobile phone users IMO.

Akagi · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:11

geekman said:
Dashcam wielding wannabe police officers are far worse than mobile phone users IMO.

I can't agree with this opinion. You are essentially saying that dangerous drivers aren't as bad as people who report dangerous drivers.

tom_e · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:14

Acme said:
I can't agree with this opinion. You are essentially saying that dangerous drivers aren't as bad as people who report dangerous drivers.

I'm going to guess he's referencing the planks who drive around with a dashcam and the mentality of
"I've got a dashcam therefore I'm going to pull off some daft yet legal driving to see who I can antagonise into doing some illegal or threatening to stick my camera up my arse so I can post it on Youtube with some editing to back up my holier than thou attitude"
Rather than just anyone with a dashcam.

geekman · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:19

Acme said:
I can't agree with this opinion. You are essentially saying that dangerous drivers aren't as bad as people who report dangerous drivers.

So you'd want a world where you could drive around and lose your licence because someone thinks your driving is dangerous and hands footage to the police? You personally might not use your phone whilst driving but I'm willing to bet your standard of driving occasionally falls below that of a competent driver (as does most people's for that matter) or your Polo would never have required those repairs

The current system isn't perfect, but overall I think the police do a good job. We have some of the safest roads in Europe so we must be doing something right.

Edit: I am indeed referring to the people Tom's post mentions.

Burnsy2023 · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:22

TallPaul_S said:
Which is minimum 3 points correct? Whereas the driving using a mobile phone is being increased to 6 points minimum from next year.

TallPaul_S said:
Just seems very out of date, how many people send or receive faxes from their phones? Having a phone in your lap and checking facebook/sending a text/playing a game/watching a video/checking satnav should all fall under the same thing IMO. Phones aren't just used for making calls these days.

Most of that is included. Did you actually read what interactive communication consists of? :confused:

TallPaul_S · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:43

Burnsy2023 said:
Most of that is included. Did you actually read what interactive communication consists of?

I did.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but:

(c) interactive communication function includes the following -

(i) sending or receiving oral or written messages;
(ii) sending or receiving facsimile documents;
(iii) sending or receiving still or moving images; and
(iv) providing access to the internet;

Means either phone calls/texts/whatsapp or something that uses an internet connection (facebook/twitter/website usage).

Where the driver insists that he / she was merely listening, reading, watching, checking for a phone number, speaking, looking at pictures, checking out music or for any other similar function of the phone - then consideration should be given to other offences, typically no proper control or due care/reasonable consideration.

So everything else that a phone can do that doesn't use an internet connection and isn't sending or receiving a message/making a call doesn't fall under this, correct?

i.e. playing game
watching a video that's been downloaded to the phone
using any app that doesn't use an internet connection
browsing/skipping music on the phone
looking at pictures
taking a picture
using satnav that's downloaded to the phone
and so-on...

My point is - how is tapping away sending a text any different to tapping away on flappy birds? It isn't.

It shows how outdated the rules are for 'interactive communications' when receiving a fax is in there....

My overall point is, there's this supposed crackdown on people using mobile phones when driving, for which they've doubled the penalty, but the penalty doesn't apply to a large proportion of people using their mobile phone whilst driving!

Akagi · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:47

I wasn't talking about being a Youtube dashcam policeman, merely submitting footage of people dangerously using mobile phones when driving. Especially those who keep looking intently at their lap at 70MPH. Those people need reporting IMO. Its stupidly dangerous. They could easily kill someone.

geekman · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:54

Acme said:
I wasn't talking about being a Youtube dashcam policeman, merely submitting footage of people dangerously using mobile phones when driving. Especially those who keep looking intently at their lap at 70MPH. Those people need reporting IMO. Its stupidly dangerous. They could easily kill someone.

Yes, but where does it stop? You and I might think someone staring at their lap at 70MPH is dangerous, but Doris in her Agila might think your overtake that was a little fast but didn't do anyone any harm was just as, if not more dangerous.

Once people start sending in videos of people using their phones, it'll expand to every other driving offence. I'm pretty sure that once you get something quick you'll want to give it a blast down a quiet motorway in the early hours of the morning at least once. It only takes one person in the inside lane to have a dashcam and send it to the police and that's it for you - licence gone immediately. I'm willing to bet the general public think someone driving over 100MPH is more dangerous than someone using their phone, regardless of conditions.

You can't have your cake and eat it I'm afraid.

Akagi · 22 Sep 2016 at 12:58

I didn't say I was going to broadcast the fact that I'm doing it, if other people are going to submit videos of petty little things, it won't be as a result of me sending in my own videos, they'd do it anyway.

geekman · 22 Sep 2016 at 16:01

Acme said:
I didn't say I was going to broadcast the fact that I'm doing it, if other people are going to submit videos of petty little things, it won't be as a result of me sending in my own videos, they'd do it anyway.

The more people who submit dashcam videos to the police, the more prevalent it will become, that's just how these things work I'm afraid.

I admit I'm probably unusual in this respect (particularly amongst men) but when I see someone doing something illegal in a car, I just don't care. Sure, if someone was driving the wrong way down the motorway swigging from a bottle of whiskey I'd probably call it in, but I cannot bring myself to give even the smallest of ****s about someone using their phone / tailgating / speeding etc. I'll either back away from them / overtake them and get on with my day. If it's habitual behaviour they'll probably get caught by the police, if it was just a one off mistake then I wouldn't really want anything to happen to them anyway.

Akagi · 22 Sep 2016 at 16:04

geekman said:
If it's habitual behaviour they'll probably get caught by the police.

Unfortunately that doesn't happen as often as you'd hope.

geekman · 22 Sep 2016 at 16:08

Acme said:
Unfortunately that doesn't happen as often as you'd hope.

Maybe not, but it happens enough that I'd prefer that to an Orwell-esque dashcam world.

Thinking about it, all of my "car friends" apart from myself and Vox on this forum have been caught for a traffic offence in one way or another, so it hardly seems like the police are ineffective.

Burnsy2023 · 22 Sep 2016 at 16:22

TallPaul_S said:
It shows how outdated the rules are for 'interactive communications' when receiving a fax is in there....

The legistlation isn't really that old, it's just legal wording.

TallPaul_S said:
My overall point is, there's this supposed crackdown on people using mobile phones when driving, for which they've doubled the penalty, but the penalty doesn't apply to a large proportion of people using their mobile phone whilst driving!

Indeed, I'd agree that this is a rather obvious issue that will be ignored by the government.

MrKnifey · 22 Sep 2016 at 16:37

I got 3 points for using the sat Nav on my phone because I had it in my hand!

Pixel · 22 Sep 2016 at 16:49

if you want to play with a phone while driving, buy a phone holder and mount it on the dash or windscreen.

redline · 22 Sep 2016 at 18:53

geekman said:
The more people who submit dashcam videos to the police, the more prevalent it will become, that's just how these things work I'm afraid.

Which is fine as far as I'm concerned... I'm sure all the petty/minor/not really dangerous submissions would be ignored, but if the real dangerous morons are prosecuted then so be it.

My experience of day to day phone use while driving seems to fall mainly into two camps... trades/white van man types, and younger women; the former blatantly talking, phone to ear and steering around roundabouts with one hand, and the latter constantly looking into their laps, and straying from their lane etc.

geekman · 23 Sep 2016 at 08:33

redline said:
Which is fine as far as I'm concerned... I'm sure all the petty/minor/not really dangerous submissions would be ignored, but if the real dangerous morons are prosecuted then so be it.

My experience of day to day phone use while driving seems to fall mainly into two camps... trades/white van man types, and younger women; the former blatantly talking, phone to ear and steering around roundabouts with one hand, and the latter constantly looking into their laps, and straying from their lane etc.

Better hope you never make a mistake that could have been dangerous then. Sure, they may well ignore minor / petty things, but I bet every single person on these forums has at least once made a mistake that was more than minor.

bledd · 23 Sep 2016 at 08:59

I use my PSP when driving, can't even make calls on it, so it's fine.