Busted . .

jamief said:
I was speeding 12 months ago, got pulled over and booked. Didn't kill anyone, didn't mow anyone down, didn't cause an accident, in fact the road was empty. Should I of been booked? Of course I should. I learned my lesson, and now I am a far better driver. Whether or not you agree with a law or its application doesn't affect whether or not you should abide by it.

The law states that it is illegal to use a mobile phone while in charge of a motor vehicle - so in this case the law was applied perfectly. If you don't like it, get a hands free kit, or don't use your phone. Don't see why this needs 6 pages of morons shouting to figure it out.
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No-one's debating that the law is the law. My take on this is that the OP is expressing frustration the he was penalised for a technically illegal, but utterly victimless offence. In the meantime, poor driving, inattentiveness and apathy are causing accidents every minute and very few people are penalised. Worth discussing methinks. If you don't think so, please move along to the next thread, where interesting things are happening. Probably ;)
 
CGrieves said:
No-one's debating that the law is the law. My take on this is that the OP is expressing frustration the he was penalised for a technically illegal, but utterly victimless offence. In the meantime, poor driving, inattentiveness and apathy are causing accidents every minute and very few people are penalised. Worth discussing methinks. If you don't think so, please move along to the next thread, where interesting things are happening. Probably ;)
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I completely agree that poor driving is a far worse problem, but until something is done about it (and, other than some kind of automated system for staying in your bloomin' lane at roundabouts is invented, I can't see what), we have to abide by the laws that are in effect. A lot of offences are "victimless" - I'm sure you could phone someone whilst driving at 90mph, and be quite safe, but you can't according to the law. That is my point - we cannot pick and choose the laws that we abide by.

Also, picture this - the policeman that witnessed him using his phone - did he know how long the call would last or how long it had been going on for?
 
jamief said:
Also, picture this - the policeman that witnessed him using his phone - did he know how long the call would last or how long it had been going on for?
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Good point, but all phone will tell you the last call duration. Failing that the service provider will tell you.

But nah... much easier to just slap a fine on him and get his stats up :D
 
gambitt said:
Good point, but all phone will tell you the last call duration. Failing that the service provider will tell you.

But nah... much easier to just slap a fine on him and get his stats up :D
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That's not going to happen though is it... the police correlate the length of call against the traffic light schedules and calculate if you were stationary when you started it. That would be unworkable, and rightly the OP was charged in this instance.
 
gambitt said:
yes we can :D

it's called independent thought and discussion.
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That makes no sense :D

Thought and discussion doesn't mean you won't get charged when you break the law.

It does mean you can talk about it afterwards... but simply because someone disagrees with something doesn't make it wrong or unjust, imo :)
 
jamief said:
I completely agree that poor driving is a far worse problem, but until something is done about it (and, other than some kind of automated system for staying in your bloomin' lane at roundabouts is invented, I can't see what),
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Fair and sensible policing of our roads would seem a pretty good start!

We have to abide by the laws that are in effect. A lot of offences are "victimless" - I'm sure you could phone someone whilst driving at 90mph, and be quite safe, but you can't according to the law. That is my point - we cannot pick and choose the laws that we abide by.
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No, we can't. However the police can, and it's not unreasonable to expect them to apply judicious use of the law- they are there to serve the public, not for a pure beaurocratic purpose. I was caught speeding on my bike at 5am on an empty motorway. I was stopped by a pursuit car and the copper was very reasonable, didn't have an attitude, and suggested I temper my speed regardless of the conditions. Fair enough, the exchange had the intended effect- I slowed down, no fines were handed out. Fair and judicious use of Police powers.

Likewise if a driver is veering around the road putting others at risk while talking on a mobile, and clearly not capable of performing two actions in a safe and sensible manner, then approporiate action should be taken, if that's a slapped wrist or a fine, then it's up to the copper to decide. If, as in this case, the driver was no danger to anyone, and clearly not causing the societal disruption that the law was intended to prevent, then he has a right to feel disappointed. It has gone beyond the true purpose of law enforcement and is verging on beureaucracy

The law is not and end unto itself, it's there to help maintain society. Simply saying "you break the law, you must be punished" is over-simplification. The law is a tool for maintaining order in a society, nothing more. If every law was enforced to an ultimate degree, then I'd wager that everyone involved in this thread would be banged up on a 20-stretch....
 
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What if the original poster were to have said (or appeals now) and states that he was taking an urgent/emergency phone call (perhaps something to do with his wife, child, sibling, etc)? What if he absolutely had to take that phone call, no matter what? Would his appeal be successful? Of course he would have to prove that the phone call was urgent and absolutely had to be taken at that point in time OR that he was in a pannicked state of mind (perhaps he was given an ambiguous message by someone, to make him suggest that his brother had had a serious accident and was in hospital) and absolutely had to answer the phone call?

Could this be done?
 
country is going down the pan anyway. when a police officer cannot use common sense in his choices.

Might aswell brand the place Germany the 2nd 1940
 
jamief said:
Of course you can choose, well done for failing to see the point. You cannot choose which laws to abide by and then complain if you are charged for failing to abide by them.
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You CAN. I think you are blindly abiding by terrible laws.

New law - anyone with a name beginning with A must be killed. Better do that as it's the law, regardless of whether you think it's fair and the fact that no one is abiding by it.
 
Got to laugh at some of the preachers.

"ZOMGOSH it's the law" - like you don't break it every single time you get behind the wheel and go a couple of MPH over the limit, and don't try and pretend like you don't.
 
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