Make a Mobile Cost You ?

EycplUK

News item said that using a Mobile whilst driving had increased by 130% over the last 12 months ! so obviously the £60 & Points aint working so well , should it be made to really cost drivers caught doing this ?
I suggest making it a Automatic 12 month ban with Fine for 1st offence and for each subsequent offence double the ban !
Should concentrate the drivers attitude when facing a ban + !

robbies_gal

i dont know about a 12 month ban people dont even get that when they hit someone

maybe 6 points or a higher fine

Hammyman

Obviously it is not as dangerous as the govt would have us believe. Its like the "speed kills" campaign where it actually came to light that on rural roads speed was only the primary cause of 4% of accidents.

jamespir

12 months is stupidly harsh just give them more of a fine or the police take the phone and smash it up like they do to unisnsured cars

gilbert_and_sullivan

There are some people who can drive perfectly well whilst talking on the phone...shock horror.

There are some people who if they concentrated 110% continually whilst behind the wheel and had the best car with every driving aid invented fitted would still be a menace on the road, and only avoid crashes due to other more competent driver's diligence.
They need ever more rules such as speed limits, for they lack the ability to work out for themselves what's appropriate for a given set of circumstances, disconnect their electronic driving aids and they'd likely crash in minutes in the wet.
They probably need to be told to wash and go to the loo too.

The second set are the ones all are assumed to be by those who make the rules, and the rule maker's simpering disciples.

Lowest common denominator, it's the British disease.

giraffe69

The punishment needs to be appropriate to the crime. If mobile phone use is instrumental in causing an accident then a conviction for something like careless or dangerous driving will subsume any fine for the mobile phone. If, on the other hand, it is not instrumental but the government wish to deter use then more £££ seems to be appropriate. In the end the main reason people use one is because they haven't got a hands free kit and for whatever reason won't get one.

scheming_gypsy

giraffe69 wrote: »

If, on the other hand, it is not instrumental but the government wish to deter use then more £££ seems to be appropriate..

Or they send them to prison.

A few years ago an MP was sent to prison for killing somebody in a road accident because he'd been texting somebody while driving. His last text was two miles before the crash and the judge accepted it played no part in the accident, but still sent him to prison http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23652563-texting-peer-in-death-crash-is-jailed-for-danger-driving.do

Lum

Mobile phone use while driving has almost certainly n not gone up by 130%.

Detection rates may have gone up by 130%.

This could be something to do with the increase in use of manned front facing camera vans to prosecute mobile phone users as well as speeders, or it could be due to increased enforcement by normal traffic police.

Its almost certain that it's not due to a large proportion of the British public suddenly deciding that using a phone while driving is a good idea when previously they did not.

But since when have the news let the actual facts and figures get in the way of a good story eh?

iolanthe07

I just don't understand why people do this. A hands-free set can be bought for less than a tenner.

poppasmurf_bewdley

iolanthe07 wrote: »

I just don't understand why people do this. A hands-free set can be bought for less than a tenner.

Very true, but when so many people have spent all their money buying an overpriced BMW or Mercedes, they haven't any money left to buy one. Most times, they can't even afford to replace blown bulbs as these vehicles very seldom indicate when turning. And they can't afford new glasses either, as they can never see 'no parking' signs or bay markings in car parks when they take up two spaces.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Using the phone when driving is as dangerous as drink driving, and should be punished with the same penalty - a compulsory 12 month ban and a heavy fine.

I do not for one moment accept the claims that SOME people can use a hand held phone and drive SAFELY at the same time. Many drivers are incapable of talking on the phone whilst their car is parked without doing something stupid!

scheming_gypsy

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Using the phone when driving is as dangerous as drink driving, and should be punished with the same penalty - a compulsory 12 month ban and a heavy fine.

Fact or opinion?