using your phone while driving ( shocking content )

Dis86 said:
Conversely the opposite has also been proven. Short sentences do not work. They do not reduce reoffending.

The advantage with a long sentence is that person cannot cause harm whilst they're locked away.
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Then it's is it worth the cost of keeping someone locked up for longer versus the chances they'll reoffend, i believe it's around £45,000 a year to keep someone locked up. It's a very complex issue but in this case i don't see what keeping the guy locked up for longer would really accomplish if he is banned from driving when he's out, it's not like he's a menace to society in the traditional sense, it's not like he'll be going round mugging old ladies or kicking in bus stops when he gets out.
 
sovietspybob said:
Then it's is it worth the cost of keeping someone locked up for longer versus the chances they'll reoffend, i believe it's around £45,000 a year to keep someone locked up. It's a very complex issue but in this case i don't see what keeping the guy locked up for longer would really accomplish if he is banned from driving when he's out, it's not like he's a menace to society in the traditional sense, it's not like he'll be going round mugging old ladies or kicking in bus stops when he gets out.
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Because the other aspects are punitive. He should be used as an example to others and deserves significant punishment for what he did.
 
SDK^ said:
Extra systems to improve safety can only be a good thing. People make mistakes, or do stupid things when driving and that can never be changed. Having a backup safety system to prevent bad stuff from happening should be encouraged.

Likely these 3 people, and many others would still be alive if that truck & more vehicles had these accident prevention systems.
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They're practical when designed and used to augment a normal level of safe, responsible driving. They shouldn't be used by drivers to mitigate deliberately distracted or impaired driving, or the poor implementation of screens and user interfaces in vehicles.

As for the incident in question, uou can't retrofit those systems to the millions of vehicles already on the road. It was caused by him using a phone, not by his vehicle.
 
I notice phone users more and more, you can see the car swerving and the head down in the rear view mirror. Countless times I've been stuck behind someone sat scrolling when the lights turn green. My GF also said her friend sits on Instagram in the car...with passengers onboard... The mind boggles.

Not sure what the solution is as the advancement in in-car tech doesn't seem to solve peoples desire to text their pals or look at pictures on the move. Your social life isn't important enough to risk someone else's.
 
sovietspybob said:
I think harsher and harsher sentences as a deterrent has been pretty thoroughly debunked over the years, look at America they have really harsh sentences and some of the highest prison populations per capita in the world, it clearly isn't being a deterrent over there.
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American call centres need slave employees. And with specific regard to driving in America, the American driving tests are notoriously easy.
 
Dis86 said:
They still do it because of risk vs reward, drug smuggling is very lucrative, especially for people who otherwise wouldn't stand a chance of a decent life. The States is a slightly different one, unfortunately there's a lot of people in that country who are on long prison terms or death row that we would class as being mentally retarded or ill in the UK. Again though a lot of them end up there because of gang-life which generally goes back to the drugs route. It's a risk for them to have a decent chance at life because they'd have nothing otherwise.

The risk vs reward in this case is very different.

A prime example are those ***Lets use proper terminology please*** who take over London every year and do whatever they want when it comes to driving because they know the fines will be paltry to them. Paying a £100 parking fine is literally nothing to them. They know speeding tickets will never make it to them and half of them have diplomatic immunity so will never be in front of a judge. Other people commit low level crimes in this country because they simply don't think they'll get caught. They don't care about the consequences or so entitled they think they're beyond them. Just look on here as an example of how many people run illegal plates on their cars. They do it because they know the risk vs (perceived) reward is minimal.
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Take it from somebody who knows a fair few people in jail for it, drug smuggling is often not that lucrative for the people actually doing the smuggling. It's the people higher up who earn the serious money, and there are no shortage of idiots willing to risk their lives for relatively small amounts of money.

The problem is that some people don't get caught for it, so others think they'll get away with it and don't consider the penalties. It's exactly the same with traffic offences - there are plenty of people who have been using phones and drink driving their entire driving life and nothing has ever happened to them, therefore they keep doing it. You could put whatever sentence you wanted and they'd still keep doing it, because they've never been caught before and therefore believe they won't be caught in the future.
 
geekman said:
Take it from somebody who knows a fair few people in jail for it, drug smuggling is often not that lucrative for the people actually doing the smuggling. It's the people higher up who earn the serious money, and there are no shortage of idiots willing to risk their lives for relatively small amounts of money.

The problem is that some people don't get caught for it, so others think they'll get away with it and don't consider the penalties. It's exactly the same with traffic offences - there are plenty of people who have been using phones and drink driving their entire driving life and nothing has ever happened to them, therefore they keep doing it. You could put whatever sentence you wanted and they'd still keep doing it, because they've never been caught before and therefore believe they won't be caught in the future.
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That's actually true. The greatest deterrent for crime is belief that you won't get caught, irrespective of the sentence. Solid crime detection is massively effective but for those caught you need to have firm punishments.
This case highlights perfectly why even 'minor' crimes like phone use need to be captured and prosecuted. Too many people doing dangerous and unsafe things have been lucky for too long. That luck will run out.
 
I still remember driving down a single carriageway, with an artic coming the other way. The guy slowly drifted (significantly) into my lane, then suddenly darted back to the non-deadly side of the road.
The reason for his lapse in concentration? He was reading a newspaper that was still fully open, laid out across his steering wheel. No attempt to hide it from other motorists or even that little shock knocking some sense into him.
 
I watched this video yesterday. Utterly shocking the amount of carnage he caused.

I have a hands free kit in the car now. But before that my wife used to frequently call when I was driving. I would never answer it. What annoyed me was that she would know I was in the car but still called me. The funniest one was while driving fairly fast around Castle Combe, phone in a cradle with camera catching footage and she interrupts the footage by calling me. I ignored it of course but it ruined the recording.
 
Well, tbh, that was a great view (thanks for sharing) and it's made me think... I know I've had the odd fiddle, I won't lie, but after seeing that... 100% that phone will be in the glove box!
 
One of our trucks was parked up on the hard shoulder of the M6 a week or so back and was wiped out by another lorry. The other driver wasn't paying attention and strayed over the line and hit our flatbed.

24T of concrete on our trailer and the force of impact ripped both the rear axles off of our truck.

None of us could help but think what if it had been a car broken down and not a fully loaded arctic.
 
Antony101 said:
One of our trucks was parked up on the hard shoulder of the M6 a week or so back and was wiped out by another lorry. The other driver wasn't paying attention and strayed over the line and hit our flatbed.

24T of concrete on our trailer and the force of impact ripped both the rear axles off of our truck.

None of us could help but think what if it had been a car broken down and not a fully loaded arctic.
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:eek:
:eek::eek:
 
Lorry had broken down on M6 hard shoulder ?
is there any additional signalling requirement for a broken down lorry , the hard shoulders always look fairly narrow so that would give little margin for a lorry.
 
jpaul said:
Lorry had broken down on M6 hard shoulder ?
is there any additional signalling requirement for a broken down lorry , the hard shoulders always look fairly narrow so that would give little margin for a lorry.
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The driver had his hazards and beacons on, there isn't much more you can do than that until the police, highways or the tyre fitter arrives. It's probably lucky the tyre fitter wasn't there or he'd likely be dead. Imagine being next to that replacing a tyre?

Our driver had pulled into the grass verge himself to create space from the carriageway.
 
Antony101 said:
The driver had his hazards and beacons on, there isn't much more you can do
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OK - in france everyone is obliged to put a warning triangle (min 30m - I didn't know) before vehicle, so someone has to mow that down first before hitting a vehicle,
I wondered if lorries had any special requirements in uk .... don't think I've ever encountered a broken lorry on motorway.
 
Yeah. A hazard sign is really gonna slow down a truck. Rumour has it they are made of the same metal as captain americas shield
 
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jpaul said:
well traffic lights do a good job
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Yeh cause no one has ever ran a red light ?

If you can’t see the car. How you gonna notice the sign. Only benefit of those signs is you hit them in a car and notice and react enough to miss the stopped vehicle further ahead. But a lorry won’t even notice.
 
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