driving instructor and phone

Mojisola

fart wrote: »

People need to learn the difference between what the law says and what the reality is.

If you're a driving instructor, you need to know what the law says and comply with it or risk losing your licence and your job.

Jamie_Carter

fart wrote: »

And AGAIN, breaking a law is different to it being dangerous as many on here have made out.

Would you refuse to be taught by him if his number plate was smaller than the allowed size, or if HE refused to wear a seatbelt, or had slightly over tinted windows?

It being against the law is different from it causing crashes, which i'm still waiting for proof of.

.....i can hear ol' James furiously searching Google for answers to try and prove me wrong.

Laws exist for a reason....think about it.

Jamie_Carter

fart wrote: »

It's simply a case of a bunch of people totally over reacting to something which isn't really any sort of situation to even give a second thought. If the driver is that bad that instructor intervention is needed to the extent where being on a phone makes him incapable of it, the student shouldn't be driving on the road with other traffic yet. The reality is him answering a phone makes such little difference to the safety of other road users that it's barely worth mentioning.

People need to learn the difference between what the law says and what the reality is.

People need to learn the reason laws exist, and not just disregard them, then make up excuses for their own bad driving.

I have experienced almost on a daily basis, people who seem incapable of reacting properly to an emergency vehicle, because they are concentrating on their phone call. If it is a driving instructor, then they should be concentrating 100%, especially as many learners panic when they see an approaching emergency vehicle. And most of the time the instructor has to react.

JimmyTheWig

I think the question needs to be broken down into three parts...
1. Is it against the law?
2. Is it dangerous?
3. Does him doing it give a bad impression of his instructing abilities?


1. Yes, we all agree that it is against the law.

2. I don't think it is particularly dangerous, but it must increase the chances of an accident by a small amount. You could argue that it is no more dangerous than him using a hands-free set. Which would (I believe) be legal. But just because that is legal doesn't make it safe.

3. Either he doesn't know it is illegal, in which case it gives a bad impression that he doesn't know the rules, or he does know, in which case it gives a bad impression that he thinks it is ok to be seen to be breaking the law by a student.


But despite any of that, is it the most important thing to consider about this driving instructor?
No, I don't think it is. If the OP is happy then I see no reason to take it further. But if the OP wasn't happy already, this may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Mojisola

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

2. I don't think it is particularly dangerous, but it must increase the chances of an accident by a small amount. You could argue that it is no more dangerous than him using a hands-free set. Which would (I believe) be legal. But just because that is legal doesn't make it safe.

I don't think an instructor is allowed to use a hands-free phone.

Our kids' driving instructor taught them that you have to park up and turn off the engine before using a hand-held phone and that's what he got them to do if he ever needed to use the phone during a lesson.

He said that, as an instructor, he couldn't use a hands-free phone while supervising their driving.

Jamie_Carter

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I think the question needs to be broken down into three parts...
1. Is it against the law?
2. Is it dangerous?
3. Does him doing it give a bad impression of his instructing abilities?


1. Yes, we all agree that it is against the law.

2. I don't think it is particularly dangerous, but it must increase the chances of an accident by a small amount. You could argue that it is no more dangerous than him using a hands-free set. Which would (I believe) be legal. But just because that is legal doesn't make it safe.

3. Either he doesn't know it is illegal, in which case it gives a bad impression that he doesn't know the rules, or he does know, in which case it gives a bad impression that he thinks it is ok to be seen to be breaking the law by a student.


But despite any of that, is it the most important thing to consider about this driving instructor?
No, I don't think it is. If the OP is happy then I see no reason to take it further. But if the OP wasn't happy already, this may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

It would be dangerous in an emergency situation where the instructor has to take control. And that is what they are expected to do.

fart

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

Well if that's your view, then lets just say that you are obviously a bad driver. And leave it at that.

10 years driving experience, including large vans, and have never had so much as a small scrape. 100%, accident free, despite accruing many many hundreds of thousands of miles in all sorts of different weather (used to date a girl on the other side of the country).

I've also held a motorbike licence for nearly 5 years, of which i passed both module 1 and 2 first time, with no minors on both, despite only 3 lessons and despite the obvious risk with the possibility of having picked up bad/dangerous 'habits' in my time driving a car. I'm obviously a terrible driver.

If you're a driving instructor, you need to know what the law says and comply with it or risk losing your licence and your job.

Nobody ever disputed that. I'm disputing throwing a hissy fit because someone spoke on a phone for 1 minute.

People need to learn the reason laws exist, and not just disregard them, then make up excuses for their own bad driving.

Yep laws are mostly made up for our benefit and safety. :rotfl:

But i won't get into that.

Still nobody's proven that what the OP's instructor did was dangerous. Against the law, yes, dangerous, no.

For me, it's such an inconsequential law that it wouldn't bother me at all. If it bothers you, fine, that's your right, but don't go on like it's some major cause of accidents just because the law says you shouldn't do it when it isn't.

It would be dangerous in an emergency situation where the instructor has to take control. And that is what they are expected to do.

Prove it. Prove even 1% of accidents are caused by this.

Jamie_Carter

fart wrote: »

10 years driving experience, including large vans, and have never had so much as a small scrape. 100%, accident free, despite accruing many many hundreds of thousands of miles in all sorts of different weather (used to date a girl on the other side of the country).

I've also held a motorbike licence for nearly 5 years, of which i passed both module 1 and 2 first time, with no minors on both, despite only 3 lessons and despite the obvious risk with the possibility of having picked up bad/dangerous 'habits' in my time driving a car. I'm obviously a terrible driver.

So what???

What makes you a bad driver is the fact that you can't even comprehend that if the person who is in charge of the vehicle, and is responsible for taking control of the vehicle in an emergency, needs to fully concentrate, and not have any distractions

fart wrote: »

Nobody ever disputed that. I'm disputing throwing a hissy fit because someone spoke on a phone for 1 minute.
Yep laws are mostly made up for our benefit and safety. :rotfl:

Nobody is throwing a hissy fit except you, who is trying to defend the driving instructor. What we are disputing is the suitability of the instructor to do his job.

fart wrote: »

But i won't get into that.

Still nobody's proven that what the OP's instructor did was dangerous. Against the law, yes, dangerous, no.

For me, it's such an inconsequential law that it wouldn't bother me at all. If it bothers you, fine, that's your right, but don't go on like it's some major cause of accidents just because the law says you shouldn't do it when it isn't.

What other reason except for safety, would there be for this law?

I have given you examples of why it is dangerous. But you choose to ignore them.

If you ignore road laws, then that does make you a bad driver, no matter what you think of your skills.

fart wrote: »

Prove it. Prove even 1% of accidents are caused by this.

There is no need to prove what is blatantly obvious.

vaio

Mojisola wrote: »

........It's against the law to use the phone while you're supervising a learner driver.......

Don't suppose you have a link to the actual law?

fart

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

Post full of waffle..

Not abiding laws makes me a bad law abider.

Blatantly obvious? It's so blatantly obvious that nobody gets into accidents because of it? Turn it in mate.

I once worked on an open roof on a building site and was made to put a 'safety' hat on because it was 'health and safety law'. Me ignoring that and continuing to work doesn't = dangerous, it = not following the 'rules'. There's a difference, and in the OP's case there's a difference.

There's no proof for it being dangerous. It might make him a poor driving instructor but people including you have argued that it's dangerous when it isn't.