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mark occomore
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 9955
Location: UK
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 Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 6:22 am Post subject: Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving |
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42% of motorists in the UK admitted to speaking on the phoning whilst driving. A poll also admitted that - 20% text, 4% email and 2% use social networking.
Tuning the radio, shaving ( Yes people do ) and eating are all dangeous whilst driving.
How do you overcome this. More traffic police? Or more campaigns to get the warning out there? |
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R2Icon
Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 1444
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:11 am Post subject: Re: Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving |
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| mark occomore wrote: | 42% of motorists in the UK admitted to speaking on the phoning whilst driving. A poll also admitted that - 20% text, 4% email and 2% use social networking.
Tuning the radio, shaving ( Yes people do ) and eating are all dangeous whilst driving.
How do you overcome this. More traffic police? Or more campaigns to get the warning out there? |
I think the best way would be to install CCTV in every car - watching your every move- feed that into a CCTV monitoring centre with enough staff to monitor every car individually, 24hrs a day... no more unemployment and no more using mobile phones, or having sex while driving... it's win win baby!  |
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ColinB
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 9:52 am Post subject: |
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| Why go to the expense of having a CCTV service to monitor the actions of each driver? Why not place an "observer" in every car - a sort of "personal Big Brother"? That would certainly create jobs! |
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mark occomore
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 9955
Location: UK
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:43 am Post subject: |
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1. Needs the kind of graphic ad campaigns that drink driving had.
2. Needs to become as socially unacceptable as drink driving has become |
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SantaFefan
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 11258
Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:59 am Post subject: Re: Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving |
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| mark occomore wrote: |
How do you overcome this. More traffic police? Or more campaigns to get the warning out there? |
Surely part of the way we overcome this is to reinstall respect ( and fear ) of the law in the younger element of society... sadly I can't see that happening.
I watch a lot of Police programmes, American and British, and the difference between the two countries is both astounding and depressing.
From what I see, the US Police don't stand for any back chat or insults.. even being told to put out a cigarette whilst talking to an officer. Most "suspects" address the officer as Sir too - young and old.
The British citizens display unbelievable contempt for the Police, swearing at them, making phone calls whilst being questioned  , laughing with their mates and being completely uncooperative with the officer.
I see mainly younger drivers talking on phones and it makes my blood boil.. total disrespect for the law and other drivers.
I don't think it will improve until we alter the mind set of today's younger generation.... and that ain't going to happen.
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I have heard how radio should be. |
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ColinB
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:10 am Post subject: Re: Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving |
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| SantaFefan wrote: | | I don't think it will improve until we alter the mind set of today's younger generation.... and that ain't going to happen. |
The problem is that you're implying a universal "mindset" among younger people here in the UK. I spend a lot of time with people aged 18-30 and I have to say that the vast majority of those people I have dealings have anything but a negative, disrespectful attitude. Their heads are in a much better place than were their equivalents when I was in my late teens in the early 70s.
The big problem with the TV fly-on-the-wall programmes your refer to is that those who depicted on them are featured because the way they behave makes good TV. You can rest assured that to get 30 mins of such TV the crews need a shoot-to-edit ratio of something like 30:1 - that means many, many hours of footage is shot from which the final selections are made in the edit.
I also question the role that the tabloid press plays in propagating this impression. Whoever is to blame, it's not accurate. And in the case of the issue in question, I see people of all ages talking on phones when they're driving. |
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RockitRon
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 7646
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:36 am Post subject: Re: Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving |
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| R2Icon wrote: | | mark occomore wrote: | 42% of motorists in the UK admitted to speaking on the phoning whilst driving. A poll also admitted that - 20% text, 4% email and 2% use social networking.
Tuning the radio, shaving ( Yes people do ) and eating are all dangeous whilst driving.
How do you overcome this. More traffic police? Or more campaigns to get the warning out there? |
I think the best way would be to install CCTV in every car - watching your every move- feed that into a CCTV monitoring centre with enough staff to monitor every car individually, 24hrs a day... no more unemployment and no more using mobile phones, or having sex while driving... it's win win baby! |
Not as far-fetched as it sounds - some insurance companies are already doing this for young drivers.
There have been a few well-publicised cases of council CCTV cameras picking up drivers using phones, eating and partaking of other hazardous activities and being fined or prosecuted, but, by and large, from what I see, the law is routinely flouted - I have lost count of the number of times I've wished I had a camera handy to flash them myself, to put the fear of God into them - and the police usually have more pressing matters to deal with, so they go unpunished.
I find that the normal responsibilities of keeping ones eyes on the road and what other vehicles are doing, of navigating and reading all the signs, are quite exacting enough, without any distraction, be it phone, even hands-free, radio/CD, and especially people yakking away beside you or in the back. And I don't drive!
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ColinB
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:40 am Post subject: Re: Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving |
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| RockitRon wrote: | | Not as far-fetched as it sounds - some insurance companies are already doing this for young drivers. |
Although the technology being employed is satellite-connected data loggers and not cameras in the cars! |
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SantaFefan
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 11258
Location: top of the cliffs in Norfolk
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:54 am Post subject: |
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Okay Colin, I accept I should have written "Some" of today's youth etc.. but in the main, I still say it's mostly the younger generation to blame for today's decline in respect for the law.
It's obvious from your posts you meet and have dealings with highly educated and professional younger people but these are not the sort of people I'm referring to.
I stand by what I said, most speeding, phone using, abusive & inconsiderate drivers are 18 - 30 years old, and we have an enormous drink and drug problem in not only cities, but small towns too... not with 40, 50 and 60 year old's, but out of control, disrespectful youth.
Facts are facts...
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Johnnie Walker read out my message on Pirate Radio! 13/8/07
I have heard how radio should be. |
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ColinB
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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| SantaFefan wrote: | | Okay Colin, I accept I should have written "Some" of today's youth etc.. but in the main, I still say it's mostly the younger generation to blame for today's decline in respect for the law. |
Yes, I think it's fair to say that.
| SantaFefan wrote: | | It's obvious from your posts you meet and have dealings with highly educated and professional younger people but these are not the sort of people I'm referring to. |
Not at all. Part of my work (on a voluntary as well as paid consultancy basis) brings me into contact with NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) - younger people, mostly school leavers and those in their early 20s. |
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R2Icon
Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 1444
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:07 pm Post subject: Re: Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving |
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| RockitRon wrote: | | R2Icon wrote: | | mark occomore wrote: | 42% of motorists in the UK admitted to speaking on the phoning whilst driving. A poll also admitted that - 20% text, 4% email and 2% use social networking.
Tuning the radio, shaving ( Yes people do ) and eating are all dangeous whilst driving.
How do you overcome this. More traffic police? Or more campaigns to get the warning out there? |
I think the best way would be to install CCTV in every car - watching your every move- feed that into a CCTV monitoring centre with enough staff to monitor every car individually, 24hrs a day... no more unemployment and no more using mobile phones, or having sex while driving... it's win win baby! |
Not as far-fetched as it sounds - some insurance companies are already doing this for young drivers.
There have been a few well-publicised cases of council CCTV cameras picking up drivers using phones, eating and partaking of other hazardous activities and being fined or prosecuted, but, by and large, from what I see, the law is routinely flouted - I have lost count of the number of times I've wished I had a camera handy to flash them myself, to put the fear of God into them - and the police usually have more pressing matters to deal with, so they go unpunished.
I find that the normal responsibilities of keeping ones eyes on the road and what other vehicles are doing, of navigating and reading all the signs, are quite exacting enough, without any distraction, be it phone, even hands-free, radio/CD, and especially people yakking away beside you or in the back. And I don't drive! |
For me, I've come to realise that just about everyone else on the road is an idiot, too fast, too slow, using phones, I saw a chap eating a Chinese takeaway on the M5, there's fast lane flirting, weaving about, doing 80 towing a caravan, truck drivers watching DVDs on those kids back seat DVD players/screen things- and oh yes, my personal favourite- white vans parking half on the pavement and half on double yellow lines but don't worry the hazzards are flashing which magically makes them shrink in size so they're not in the way at all: it's a jungle out there: jungle rules apply - my philosophy is quite simple, just stay alive! I find that a lot easier in my huge 4x4 with 10 air bags. |
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John W
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 3367
Location: Warwickshire, UK
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| Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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My missus and two other occupants of a car got a painful whiplash when a mobile user slammed into the back of them, this was about 15 years ago, the early days of mobiles.
The whole episode was going to court when we received the news that the offender was killed in a head-on crash on the A5, yep, on her mobile again... don't recall the injuries of the other car driver who survived.
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Shaky Fan
Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 628
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Is it just my imagination or does nobody even bother slowing down when approaching junctions these days - especially roundabouts. I've lost count of the number of times I've actually been on a roundabout and had people nearly drive into me, then looking at me like the near collision was all my fault. There was actually one guy yesterday on a mobile and drove straight onto the roundabout without looking where he was going.... |
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ColinB
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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| ... And that from someone who doesn't live in Milton Keynes! (105 roundabouts and counting). |
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ruddlescat
Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 18010
Location: Near Chester
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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I'm currently driving more than one thousand miles every week and I definitely agree with Santa on this one
We don't want the 'Big Brother' society to become even more intrusive in our lives for ordinary law abiding people
We just need to educate people about having a sense of social responsibility and incidentally it's by no means only the young drivers who create a problem - and as far I am concerned I just wish mobile phones had never been invented because I really hate them 
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essexlady
Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 348
Location: Essex
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| Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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| I've come back from Leeds on a coach today and I estimate that 40-50% of the lorry drivers we passed were using mobile phones. Of course there were also those who were driving with their elbows resting on the steering wheel and the one who was reading while driving. The things you see on a coach that just aren't visible when driving a car! |
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ColinB
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| Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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| ruddlescat wrote: | | .....and as far I am concerned I just wish mobile phones had never been invented because I really hate them |
Trouble is that you just can't rely on smoke signals to attract the AA on the motorway when your car breaks down - especially when the wind's blowing in the wrong direction.
I suppose there's always Semaphore, but I suppose that's a bit new-tech! |
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ruddlescat
Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 18010
Location: Near Chester
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| Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:25 pm Post subject: |
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So what used to happen in the days before we had mobile phones Colin?
I seem to recall that on Motorways we used to have little boxes at the roadside with markers to let people know where the nearest box was - and guess what - we still have them
And on other roads we used to have quite a lot of AA and RAC Boxes not to mention a vast network of public call boxes most of which have now disappeared thanks to mobile phone use in today's society
i know that having access to a mobile phone might be a Godsend if your car breaks down but there are many downsides which in my view considerably outweigh any benefits - you can never be properly on holiday or have any kind of downtime because people expect you to be available during every waking hour - the other day someone was moaning at me because I didn't respond to a text message sent at 3.30am - needless to say I told them to sod off in no uncertain terms
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becky sharp
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 6792
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| Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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| essexlady wrote: | | I've come back from Leeds on a coach today and I estimate that 40-50% of the lorry drivers we passed were using mobile phones. Of course there were also those who were driving with their elbows resting on the steering wheel and the one who was reading while driving. The things you see on a coach that just aren't visible when driving a car! |
That's scary and maddening in equal measure... |
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ColinB
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:09 am Post subject: |
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| ruddlescat wrote: | | So what used to happen in the days before we had mobile phones Colin? |
I used to carry a box of homing pigeons and if I needed to get a message to a client to say that I would be late for an important meeting I'd scribble a note and tie it to a pigeon's leg before releasing it.
Aaahhhh, those were the days!!! |
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John W
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 3367
Location: Warwickshire, UK
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| Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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Didn't they have those yellow phone boxes every half mile on motorways?
| ColinB wrote: | | ruddlescat wrote: | | So what used to happen in the days before we had mobile phones Colin? |
I used to carry a box of homing pigeons and if I needed to get a message to a client to say that I would be late for an important meeting I'd scribble a note and tie it to a pigeon's leg before releasing it.
Aaahhhh, those were the days!!! |
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