Ouch-but serves him right!!

jeannieblue

Just heard today of someone caught using their mobile while driving.

They were all ready to accept the 3 points and the £60 fine - but was told instead by the police officer, that he will have to go to court and will receive either a £2,500 fine or 2 months in prison - plus of course, points on his licence.

Seems they are getting real tough now - and thats fine with me as regularly get twits swerving about too near my car whilst they chat away.

LandyAndy

jeannieblue wrote: »

Just heard today of someone caught using their mobile while driving.

They were all ready to accept the 3 points and the £60 fine - but was told instead by the police officer, that he will have to go to court and will receive either a £2,500 fine or 2 months in prison - plus of course, points on his licence.

Seems they are getting real tough now - and thats fine with me as regularly get twits swerving about too near my car whilst they chat away.

Fortunately in this country the police don't have any say in sentencing, its left to the courts. I presume the policeman was emphasising the maximum sentence.

I agree its something that should be clamped down on though.

jeannieblue

LandyAndy wrote: »

Fortunately in this country the police don't have any say in sentencing, its left to the courts. I presume the policeman was emphasising the maximum sentence.

I agree its something that should be clamped down on though.

Thats apparently why he has to go to court. It would seem that the £60 fine is no more..... It's now 2.5k/or prison.

I'd like to know if others have heard of this too - to confirm it - as this was related to me via another person. Chinese whispers and all that

I'm hoping that they'll be tougher on things like, putting your make up on whilst driving - especially mascara - just one other sight I've seen on my joyful commute to work.

Wig

If he was a heavy goods vehicle/bus/coach driver then the max fine is 2,500, but it is only the max fine and highly unlikely to get that unless the cop has him on video crashing through the central reservation and hitting other cars in head on collisions with subsequent decapitions and limb amputations.

If it was a joe bloggs in a car the max fine is 1000 (under similar conditions).
http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/mobilephones/mobilephones.htm

It is still the officers discretion to issue a fixed penalty of £60 + 3 points

jeannieblue

Wig wrote: »

If he was a heavy goods vehicle/bus/coach driver then the max fine is 2,500, but it is only the max fine and highly unlikely to get that unless the cop has him on video crashing through the central reservation and hitting other cars in head on collisions with subsequent decapitions and limb amputations.

If it was a joe bloggs in a car the max fine is 1000 (under similar conditions).
http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/mobilephones/mobilephones.htm

It is still the officers discretion to issue a fixed penalty of £60 + 3 points

Not forgetting the petrol tanker which then careers off down the embankment, exploding into flames and crashes onto the railway line......:eek:

Sounds like the driver in question possibly embroidered his story then..... to say the least. Esp as it was a sporty little number he was driving.

anewman

I don't understand why people can't buy a cheap bluetooth headset. You can get them for £30 easily these days (still legal to use handsfree?) Or do what I do and never touch the phone while driving.

jeannieblue

Having looked at the site that Wig found - bit risky with handsfree in certain circumstances.

My mobile is tucked away when I'm driving - and the mascara too.

cyclonebri1

jeannieblue wrote: »

Having looked at the site that Wig found - bit risky with handsfree in certain circumstances.

My mobile is tucked away when I'm driving - and the mascara too.

So is mine

victorias_dad

iIwonder if the dangers of mobile phone use while driving are not a little exagerated we have all seen drivers on the phone in fact if you watch a busy main road you will see many drivers doing just on a road near me i lost count of drivers talking away on the phone but watch the same road and wait for an accident or a near miss and you will wait a long time i am not advocating mobile phone use i am just makeing an observation it may be true that a particular accident can be claimed to be caused by phone use but given the number of cars on the road and the number of mobiles in use something does not add up

goldspanners

victorias_dad wrote: »

iIwonder if the dangers of mobile phone use while driving are not a little exagerated we have all seen drivers on the phone in fact if you watch a busy main road you will see many drivers doing just on a road near me i lost count of drivers talking away on the phone but watch the same road and wait for an accident or a near miss and you will wait a long time i am not advocating mobile phone use i am just makeing an observation it may be true that a particular accident can be claimed to be caused by phone use but given the number of cars on the road and the number of mobiles in use something does not add up

i was waiting on this thread,youve asked for it now victorias dad! just you wait the do gooders will be out soon enough.
i don think they are as big a threat as they are being made out to be either,surely sat navs,radios,traffic warning systems and passengers should all fall under the same brackets as mobiles in this case?

Stephen_Leak

I have no problem with the ban on hand-held mobile 'phones.

However, I, too, wonder just how many accidents have ocurred whilst a car radio/cassette player/CD player has been in use.