Tomasz Kroker - the Lorry Driver.

bluechargeboy

All this is against a recent assumption of "we MUST be able to use our phones when driving", whereas in fact we do not need to use our phones when driving (unless we work for a company that recklessly endangers their employees).

Call back later, innit? Be unavailable, introduce some mystery into your life!

Gassage

stickyfiddle said:

 And I use Siri for telling my phone what music to play.

I just keep PULSE on repeat play. Easier.

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

We're at the point where only an insta-ban for getting caught, and lifetime ban for causing an accident would be a deterrent. 

Bans aren't that effective - you can't 'unlearn' someone from driving. The number of accidents involving banned drivers is significant.

Only permanent forfeiture of the car - and that only if they can't afford to buy another one - and jail, have any serious deterrent factor for the hard core who think the rules don't apply to them, I think.

kin

The phone should be deactivated/calls blocked, the moment the engine is switched on. a simple beep to alert you that someone is trying to call, you pull over at the next safe place, switch off engine and then whatever incredibly important text or call you missed can be acted on.


Or just carry on as we are until more and more people die because some twat wanted to check their facebook.

cj73

^It should also be fairly easy to make cars that can't exceed the speed limit...


EDIT. And I don't mean in a performance way but a system way.   Our Nissan Squashie is always showing the current speed limit on the display...link that to the cruise and you're golden.  Though, admittedly, it would only highlight the deficiencies in driving ability

ennspek

I used to work in sales, pre satnav, Bluetooth etc. I think we were all terrible for this.
I remember following a colleague through central London. There was a traffic incident and he swerved all over the place, oncoming lane, narrowly missed a couple of buses.
Everyone pulled up, he jumped out of his car ran back to me and said "Did you see that? I almost spilt me fucking yogurt".
Times sometimes do change for the better.

randella

Gassage said:

I also believe in ears should be banned- takes away spatial awareness IMO

Yeah I see this too when I'm driving on the motorway. Who the hell does this? I've been driving 22 years and had some right shitheaps in the early days, but I can't remember one that didn't have a working radio. 

Wearing in-ears makes you less aware, it must do. 

speshul91

my phone is constantly connected for my stereo for my music. Calls come through the speakers, if I answer it it's usually along the lines of what's up I'm. 9 times out of 10 people say they will ring back later. 

FelineGuitars

BigBearKris

FelineGuitars said:

LOL.  renegade on two wheels.

Emp_Fab

Emp_Fab

The one at 4:41 is bad enough but the one after is unbelieveable...  (There are no pics of people or gore, but it's not easy viewing)

Bucket

I've been done for talking on the phone while driving. My excuse - it was a quiet residential road on a Sunday evening, I was doing 20mph and had been called by my singer, who was directing me to the venue we were playing at because I was hopelessly lost with no satnav.

I was very lucky to avoid a hefty punishment - I did an awareness course and was fortunate not to have to do anything further. If I'd been caught a month or two later I'd have had six points, which for me, as a new-ish driver, would have been a ban. I've never done it since, and I never would again. I know what can happen.

Can't remember who, but I've heard it said that driving on the phone is worse than driving drunk - at least a drunk driver is paying attention.

wave100

I've also been done for it, although I wasn't texting but putting the postcode into google maps while stopped at lights. £60 quid and 3 points. Always pull over now! 

Garthy

boogieman said:

Seriously it's about time the fine for using a mobile inappropriately while driving was ramped up, say to something like £1000, plus a year's driving ban. That's the only way you'll get through to idiots that do it. It needs to be policed much better too. There's no excuse for professional drivers doing it all IMO. 

Sadly the only deterrent would probably be the deletion of their facebook account and destruction of their phone.

10 years is just not justice. It wasn't just death by dangerous driving, his actions met the criteria for manslaughter by an unlawful or dangerous act and in my opinion he should have been sentenced to life.

Chalky

I travel the A34 quite often, and was caught up in the traffic jam 10 mins after the accident. What surprises me most is why the police don't sit on the side of the A34 filming HGV drivers. They would catch at least a dozen per hour using their mobiles and it would send the most powerful message (you lose your HGV job) to the worst offenders - as an ambulance driver told me, car vs car accidents can be bad but car vs HGV is always terrible. Mobile-using HGV drivers are the biggest risk for fatalities.

randella

Chalky said:

I travel the A34 quite often, and was caught up in the traffic jam 10 mins after the accident. What surprises me most is why the police don't sit on the side of the A34 filming HGV drivers. They would catch at least a dozen per hour using their mobiles and it would send the most powerful message (you lose your HGV job) to the worst offenders - as an ambulance driver told me, car vs car accidents can be bad but car vs HGV is always terrible. Mobile-using HGV drivers are the biggest risk for fatalities.

I used to use the A34 reasonably often when I lived in the area, and one thing that strikes me now when I go back is just how much busier it's got in the intervening couple of decades. It's a dismal road and there are many I'd prefer to use before it; anyone using a phone and not applying all their concentration along there needs shooting. 

dogload

On the way back from the shops on Saturday morning, the missus and myself were rather taken aback as we came up to a mini-roundabout to see a car coming off the roundabout and continuing in a graceful arc straight towards us. Just before it ploughed into us, the driver managed to wrestle the steering wheel with his free hand and eventually straighten up and get onto the correct side of the road. Didn't bother putting down his phone though. Needless to say he got a good toot from the horn and a right mouthful from me. Dickhead.

But yeah, I see it all the time these days. It's as if people can't survive a commute to work without consulting the phone. And I sometimes wonder if I'm not just being an old fart, but when you see the results of what can happen, I think I am justified in my curmudgeonliness.

Oh, and I agree about headphones in the car. What's that for? Last time I looked, cars had radios and stuff built in.

octatonic

dogload said:

 

Oh, and I agree about headphones in the car. What's that for? Last time I looked, cars had radios and stuff built in.

I think it is for people to make and receive phone calls but who don't have Bluetooth in the car.

randella

octatonic said:

dogload said:

 

Oh, and I agree about headphones in the car. What's that for? Last time I looked, cars had radios and stuff built in.

I think it is for people to make and receive phone calls but who don't have Bluetooth in the car.

Fair enough, but both ears?  Have the mobile providers started carrying voice calls in stereo?