The Message is Not Getting Through

wakk44

Guest
The Message is Not Getting Through

The increase in penalties for using a mobile at the wheel doesn't seem to be working.I usually travel at the same speed as the lorries on the motorway and going along up the A1 to York yesterday in the motorhome we saw the lorries in front of us indicating and going into the middle lane.As we got closer we came up behind a white van which was causing the problem by doing around 50mph in lane 1 and sometimes straddling the white line for the hard shoulder.

I indicated to overtake the van and as we went past was astonished to see the driver texting with both hands on his mobile phone.He was driving with his forearms on the wheel and had the phone in the centre of the steering wheel looking down at it.He did eventually look forward as we overtook and saw us both looking at him but was totally unmoved and looked down again at his phone to continue his text.

It must have been a very important message.:O


 
I was driving through Cheetham hill Manchester the other day and virtually every other car driver was on the phone , when they see the police they just put it on their lap then pick it up when the police have passed
 
wakk44;n18818 said:
The increase in penalties for using a mobile at the wheel doesn't seem to be working.I usually travel at the same speed as the lorries on the motorway and going along up the A1 to York yesterday in the motorhome we saw the lorries in front of us indicating and going into the middle lane.As we got closer we came up behind a white van which was causing the problem by doing around 50mph in lane 1 and sometimes straddling the white line for the hard shoulder.

I indicated to overtake the van and as we went past was astonished to see the driver texting with both hands on his mobile phone.He was driving with his forearms on the wheel and had the phone in the centre of the steering wheel looking down at it.He did eventually look forward as we overtook and saw us both looking at him but was totally unmoved and looked down again at his phone to continue his text.

It must have been a very important message.:O
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Didn't you hit your horn when safe to do so, he might have got the message. What was doing was dangerous and annoying. I do occasionally find someone, usually a female (no sexism intended, just reporting a fact) behind me obviously texting. I keep an eye on them in the mirror and just go slower and slower and slower. When they eventually realise they have been rumbled they are often really pissed off.

The most frightening are the lorries coming towards you with one hand on the wheel and one on the phone. Nt much you can do about that apart from hit the town and headlights if the see the in time.
 
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The message will never get through without cops on the road to enforce it,the police road presence in comparison to the number of cars filling the roads is a joke.
 
Would the police act on dash cam evidence do you think? I have seen all of the things mentioned here and have captured some of it on cam but have never actually done anything with it...

K ?
 
Asterix;n18829 said:
The message will never get through without cops on the road to enforce it,the police road presence in comparison to the number of cars filling the roads is a joke.
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That is an incredibly important point, and I wish more people would realise it.

The actual number of police cars on the road hasn't changed in something like 30 years, but the number of civvie cars on the road has increased almost exponentially (ie doubling every year).

The ratio of police cars to civvie vehicles is tiny now (it was always small, but it's now miniscule)
 
Rockburner;n18915 said:
That is an incredibly important point, and I wish more people would realise it.

The actual number of police cars on the road hasn't changed in something like 30 years, but the number of civvie cars on the road has increased almost exponentially (ie doubling every year).

The ratio of police cars to civvie vehicles is tiny now (it was always small, but it's now miniscule)
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I remember when speed cameras were introduced. it was claimed they would free up Traffic Officers to concentrate on serious offences. Instead of course they reduced Traffic Officer numbers, Dorset Police even claimed that cameras had reduced the requirement for Traffic Officers. If Officer numbers are increased you can be sure that they will concentrate on the easily detected and not the most serious. Whilst Dorset Police keep the profits from Driver Awareness Courses to feather their nests they will never have my support.
 
Vanterrier;n18913 said:
Would the police act on dash cam evidence do you think? I have seen all of the things mentioned here and have captured some of it on cam but have never actually done anything with it...

K ?
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My Lorry has CCTV fitted all round and records all 6 cameras , when I had a accident last year through no fault of my own the police was not interested in me showing them the footage only the insurance company wanted to look at it . So I think the answer is NO they cant be bothered to troll through someone's dash cam footage
 
Down here in Portugal, texing is endemic, I use my scooter a lot and it can be a complete nightmare, the car is all over the road and changes from fast to slow, I think that maybe we have all used a mobile phone while driving at some time, but texing is a different ball game.
 
I can honestly say I have never used my mobile while driving. To my way of thinking, doing anything other than driving your vehicle is no different than taking out a loaded gun.
 
yorkslass;n19020 said:
I can honestly say I have never used my mobile while driving. To my way of thinking, doing anything other than driving your vehicle is no different than taking out a loaded gun.
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I agree with that,however I think there's a huge difference between taking a call and texting whilst driving.Both illegal of course but from my experiences texting is much more dangerous.I'm sure most people could take a call(and probably have)and remain in control of the car.Texting is in a different league,you have to constantly check the screen to see what has been typed thereby taking your eyes off the road.
I've seen many drivers speaking on the phone and driving normally but I've seen several texting and driving erratically being a danger to other road users and themselves.I agree with an earlier poster that texting at the wheel should result in an instant ban.
 
yorkslass;n19020 said:
I can honestly say I have never used my mobile while driving. To my way of thinking, doing anything other than driving your vehicle is no different than taking out a loaded gun.
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I agree it's a nightmare these days. As soon as you see a car wandering back and forth over the lines, it's a fair bet they're texting or have a phone to their ear. So dangerous and selfish.

Having said that, there's been the very rare occasion when I've used bluetooth to answer a call if I think it might be important. It's pointless anyway in the van... too noisy. The only time I've sent a text from the driving seat was when I was stuck on a motorway, completely stationery, to let people know I was going to be very late! It wasn't a dangerous situation but it's probably still not legal is it?... and I still felt guilty. I was stuck for nearly 4 hours on one occasion, in the motorhome, and sat in the driver's seat reading my Kindle most of the time :rolleyes:
 
Pleased to report that we didn't see a single driver using a phone at the wheel on the way back from York today,it was unusually quiet on the A64,A1,M18 and M1.The only poor driving I saw was an Audi R8 that swerved at speed across us and over the chevrons at the last second to get off at a motorway exit,sounded like a jet taking off.:O.Don't suppose you buy a car like that to drive at the speed limits :rolleyes:.
 
Seems the worse category are the so-called professional drivers. Texting while driving pales into insignificance compared to the truck drivers we've noted who were using a laptop, drinking or making a sandwich!
 
Spacerunner;n19295 said:
Seems the worse category are the so-called professional drivers. Texting while driving pales into insignificance compared to the truck drivers we've noted who were using a laptop, drinking or making a sandwich!
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i read somewhere that the police once stopped a foreign lorry driver who had a camping gas cooker next to him in the cab whilst driving and was frying eggs n bacon on the motorway AARRGGHH !!!
 
Delicagirl;n19395 said:
i read somewhere that the police once stopped a foreign lorry driver who had a camping gas cooker next to him in the cab whilst driving and was frying eggs n bacon on the motorway AARRGGHH !!!
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I read about one cooking spaghetti Bolognese....
 
Spacerunner;n19295 said:
Seems the worse category are the so-called professional drivers. Texting while driving pales into insignificance compared to the truck drivers we've noted who were using a laptop, drinking or making a sandwich!
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To be honest - for that sort of thing I place more blame on the companies that employ the drivers and, essentially, force them to make the journeys within unrealistic time scales.
I'm pretty sure the drivers know they're taking silly risks, but if they don't get that load to the depot within X hours they'll either be docked pay or simply have their temporary contracts nullified.

:(

This is the price we pay as consumers for demanding our online ordered products within very short timescales.
 
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