Touched my phone in a cradle when driving

1990xrider

oldagetraveller1 said:

"im worrying someone saw me and reported me."

Yes, saw it in my rearview mirror. It was recorded on my rear window dashcam. The relevant files have been sent to the feds for their consideration.

Not really!

Someone driving on the other side of the road?

Petriix

The law has not changed for a phone mounted to your car. It is (and always has been) perfectly legal to interact with your phone in a cradle as long as you are fully in control of the vehicle and not distracted. It's legally no different to using your infotainment system or other ancillary controls.

You shouldn't do anything which distracts you from driving, but many people rely on their phones as part of their utility of the vehicle.

Car_54

400ixl said:

The rules changed on the 25th March 2022 where pretty much any touching of the phone even in a cradle is now illegal.

They changed, but not as you suggest.
They still apply only to hand-held devices.
And hand held is defined: "a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function;"
So touching a phone in a cradle is still not an offence.

user1977

1990xrider said:

wongataa said:

Yes it is forbidden but it is highly unlikely anyone would have spotted it and reported it.

"

• There is no law to prevent tapping your phone on a fixed mount, however police can still charge you for driving without due care and attention or careless driving.
• "

Yes, in the same way as just about anything could potentially constitute that crime. Eating an apple, picking your nose, looking in the wrong direction, etc etc...

Aretnap

[Deleted User] said:

400ixl said:

The rules changed on the 25th March 2022 where pretty much any touching of the phone even in a cradle is now illegal.

They changed, but not as you suggest.
They still apply only to hand-held devices.
And hand held is defined: "a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function;"
So touching a phone in a cradle is still not an offence.

On a slightly pedantic point, a phone is now defined as hand-held "if it is, or must be, held at some point while being used". References to "interactive communication functions" have now all been removed, to ensure that using a hand-held phone as a camera or to change tracks on a playlist etc was covered by the law. You're right of course that it still applies only to hand-held devices - not to phones in cradles.

Original legislation - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/made

New amendments - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/81/regulation/3/made

Car_54

Aretnap said:

[Deleted User] said:

400ixl said:

The rules changed on the 25th March 2022 where pretty much any touching of the phone even in a cradle is now illegal.

They changed, but not as you suggest.
They still apply only to hand-held devices.
And hand held is defined: "a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function;"
So touching a phone in a cradle is still not an offence.

On a slightly pedantic point, a phone is now defined as hand-held "if it is, or must be, held at some point while being used". References to "interactive communication functions" have now all been removed, to ensure that using a hand-held phone as a camera or to change tracks on a playlist etc was covered by the law. You're right of course that it still applies only to hand-held devices - not to phones in cradles.

Original legislation - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/made

New amendments - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/81/regulation/3/made

Pedantic possibly, but mistaken I fear.
The definition that I quoted ("a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function") is from the old (2003) legislation, but has NOT been amended. It remains valid.

qwertyK

Aretnap said:

[Deleted User] said:

400ixl said:

The rules changed on the 25th March 2022 where pretty much any touching of the phone even in a cradle is now illegal.

They changed, but not as you suggest.
They still apply only to hand-held devices.
And hand held is defined: "a mobile telephone or other device is to be treated as hand-held if it is, or must be, held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function;"
So touching a phone in a cradle is still not an offence.

On a slightly pedantic point, a phone is now defined as hand-held "if it is, or must be, held at some point while being used". References to "interactive communication functions" have now all been removed, to ensure that using a hand-held phone as a camera or to change tracks on a playlist etc was covered by the law. You're right of course that it still applies only to hand-held devices - not to phones in cradles.

Original legislation - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/made

New amendments - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/81/regulation/3/made

Does the law actually differentiate between being held and touched/tapped? I have never heard of a case like this ever being caught or challenged in court. Only found one forum post(can't find it now) where a guy got fined for it but was basically holding it in whilst it was in its cradle and also obscuring his view. Another post on Pepipoo sounds similar to OP, police said he would get points etc but never made it to court.