Using Mobile Phone whilst driving

[dot.hawkes]

Yesterday on the way home I drove behind a guy who was quite clearly anmd blatently talking into his hand set whilst steeering his car with his right hand. I followed him for approximately 6 miles during which time he was on the phone for the duration, he then turned onto the M61 and I went another way. During those 6 miles in busy traffic and round several roundabouts he carried on talking, two police vehicles passed us oncoming and neither must have noticed, or if they did they did not apparently respond. I think he must have been driving an automatic actually as he never put the pohone down as he slowed at the roundabouts.
Can anyone tell mne whether I had the civic duty to take his registration number and report his offence to the police? If I did have a responsibility to do that, how do you think the police would have handled it?

[im-dan.glee]

Sounded concerned and afterwards wondered how you managed to drive and write his number down and call them ?

unless you did it afterwards then youd have no evidence so would be wasting both yours and police time .


perhaps concentrating on the road rather than the driver and his registaration number would be more sensible?
after all he could stop suddenly and youre watching him rather than the road and the surroundings


keep your distance and let the police worry about policing id say.


?�' did that help ?�'�

[johnny37]

Not just a civic duty. I think it may be a legal responsibility to report a crime. However, would you want to get involved, appearance in court, etc. if it came to that? You would be the only witness.

[DrFilth]

and may i ask how you got the pen stuck up your nose


well i was driving along and trying to write this guys number down



and the ****** slowed down very quickly
















and ouch please be careful doctor that hurt







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[im-dan.glee]

Does following someone for 6 miles constitute stalking nowadays tho?


He may have been on to the police ?

Saying some mad womans tailing me , ive been thru roundabouts etc and shes still there.

I think she may be a crazed stalker .



WELLL HE MIGHTVE THOUGHT THAT EH ?

[dot.hawkes]

thanks for your reply johnny, almost answered my question. I didn't need to write any number down and didn't lose my concentration, infact i was extra aware bnecause obviously the gut using the ohone was driving without due care and attention, Dr Filth and danglybits seem to side with the guy, how many people have you run into the back of? In 34 years of driving I have never once run into the back of a car, so your copmment was plain daft. So the two of you think it's a joke that this guy was breaking the law and risking the lives of god knows how many people, including the two small children in the car with him? Truly impressive of you both.

[dot.hawkes]

and as for no evidence after the fact, if i gave the police a car registration and explained the situation and they could be bothered to chase it up, they then not only have my word, but if they use the technology we all should know they have they could trace his registered (assuming it is) mobile through the entire journey as being used, and being picked up by several different mobile phone masts, so unless you know how these thinsg work why make uninformed comment?

[up4it]

I am afraid the police would probably just laugh at you, I sincerly doubt whether they would bother to do anything

With regard to driving an automatic that doesn't matter, it is easy enough to drive a car one handed or even no handed on the steering wheel so it could have been automatic or manual

Driving without due care and attention, whilst technically it is, I personally cant see any difference as you can still drive competently whilst talking/eating/smoking etc.

I believe the biggest distraction to drivers is Kids in the car, whining or fighting at which point you often see the parent driving, turning round to smack the kids or shout at them, that is surely a greater risk than any conversation on a phone

When they ban kids from cars then I may consider not using my phone

[DrFilth]

dot it was a joke

last night in the chippy i saw a man crossing the road at the traffic lights talking on his mobile as a taxi (black cab ) came round the corner. the taxi braked , the man jumped onto the pavement.
the taxi came round the corner past the chippy and the driver was yapping away on his mobile



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[Nosha123]

it infuriated me when I see people driving while holding a phone - it is totally unecessary. I followed a guy once who was wandering all over the road and braking for no reason - I realised he was on the phone so backed away as he was not driving properly
He approached a roundabout and instead of slowing or stopping decided that would be too difficult whilst holding a phone so he just carried on nearly hitting a lad on a moped actually on the roundabout at the time.
Just infuriates me. My husband has a motorbike and drives very carefully but you can never account for the idiot not paying attention!

[dot.hawkes]

well everyone is actually wrong, I've just phoned crimestoppers on the freephone number and explained the scenario as it happened above and the lady said it would be taken seriously, not by crimestoppers but if i rang the police and gave them the information they would definately act on my information. If I chose to make a formal statement they would then visit the address where the car was registered and make enquiries, in the first instance they would have a serious word if the driver of the vehicle was identified through DVLA enquiries. If they were not satisfied that the right person had been found they WOULD make further enquiries with a view to accessing the phone details and usage. so there you are, I should have phoned crimestoppers instead of asking on here i suppose. Of course, crimestoppers could just have being politically correct and humoring me.

[dot.hawkes]

possibly you are right but what if he had killed someone, what if he does the same today and kills someone? surely it is about crime prevention isn't it?

[DrFilth]

( well everyone is actually wrong, )

read what johnny said

( However, would you want to get involved, appearance in court, etc. if it came to that? You would be the only witness. )



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[sandmaster]

Dot is right. I think most of us would have gone home moaning about the guy but not doing anything more. But if you read in the paper next day that he had killed someone how would you cope?

[DrFilth]

sandmaster i see car drivers everyday on their phones.
go to any busy road junction and you will see some .


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[dot.hawkes]

i would only need to be called as a witness if the driver tried to plead not guilty, which if he was the registered owner and his phone recorfds had been checked he would be daft to do, I shall not be deterred because people ridicule me for being bothered by drivers using phones, if i feel it is right to report them i will, as long as it is safe and legal to record the car registration of course! I am not the sort of person to have their beliefs and opinions swayed by a few negative dismissive comments on a website

[chelle7272]

dot - I agree wholeheartedly with how you feel about this, however when I approached our local police team about a similar incident they did say that they would more than likely take no action as they just had my word and no evidence.
I think Zacsmaster is correct in that Crimestoppers were paying lip service to what SHOULD happen, however I don't understand why Zacsmaster thinks the police should have better things to do than the job our taxes pay for.
They should have taken action when they drove past! It annoys the hell ot of me that these types of things are not properly enforced.

[dot.hawkes]

I think it might be a part of the law that people can actually help reinforce you know, certainly the police who passed were totally oblivious to the guy, mind it was a 40 hour limit road and so it isn't easy to spot stuff.

[DrFilth]

dot
a workmate a few years back had to go to court over a car driving incident. he did not enter a plea. the person who reported him had to be in court
the workmate pleaded guilty and got a fine .


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