New laws coming in will see the sentencing limit for causing death by fiddling with your mobile whilst driving increased to life.
This is a warning to myself too, as I, along with huge numbers of people, have been guilty of checking email etc whilst driving.
What is also an eye-opener is that if you fiddle with your phone
once whilst driving, then put it away, you may think you've 'got away with it' because you didn't have an accident or the police didn't catch you doing it, but you are definitely
not in the clear. If you are involved in an accident later on in your journey and there is any suspicion that you may not have been paying full attention, then the police will check your network provider for any evidence you were using your mobile
at any point in your journey this far, and if there
is evidence (such as you quickly checking your email at the lights earlier on), you will likely be prosecuted on the basis that you were also playing with your phone at the time of the accident. This has happened. People are in prison now because of this.
So, extreme as it sounds, this scenario is entirely possible; you set off, check your email quickly en-route, an hour later you take your eyes off the road for a second to grab a CD, reach for the bottle of pop on the passenger seat, whatever. In that second, something happens (usually traffic suddenly stops) and BANG...
Someone has died and now, all because you checked your email an hour earlier, you are looking at, potentially, a life sentence.
Extreme I know, but entirely possible.
One moment you're a regular joe with a regular job and in the blink of an eye, it's over; you're in a cell with a maniac who fancies you. You've lost your job and your home. Your wife has fucked off with a new bloke, your kids sometimes make the effort to visit, but that's getting less frequent. ...and you think "all this because I checked The Fretboard forum at the traffic lights....".
Put the phones down mm'kay...
Comments
Bring it on I say.
Killing someone while not paying attention because you're using a phone while driving is basically causing death by criminal negligence… for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
This is long overdue imho..
I have also had a blowie whilst driving. That's another pastime that should be off the menu.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
https://www.studiowear.co.uk/ -
https://twitter.com/spark240
Facebook - m.me/studiowear.co.uk
Reddit r/newmusicreview
Whats annoying about the police attitude to checking with the network provider is its a blunt tool. My new car is genuinely safer than my old one because the phone i have integrates fully into the cars media system. I can control everything via voice and text messages are dictated to me whilst i drive. I never take my hands off the wheel or touch my phone. This is an increasingly common piece of technology.... However if you checked my network provider it would look like I'm permanently on my phone whilst driving.
Seems your acquaintance got off incredibly lightly - 'having to live with it' seems like absolutely nothing.
Basically don't be a twat.
@ThorpyFX I can't even do that when driving. I can talk to someone in the car easily, listen to music and talk on the phone via Bluetooth or whatever. However, dictating text messages screws me up so I don't do it. Unfortunately not everyone is happy to admit their limitations - my dad doesn't have the same problem with it as me.
You don't know the entire story, it could be that she didn't see the person because of lack of attention or she was doing 50mph on a country lane without lights when someone decides to wander into the road wearing dark coloured clothing. There's always a chance that the use of a mobile phone played no factor in the accident.
If I was off my face due to whatever and walked into traffic I think it'd be fair to say I wasn't paying attention - it could also be fault of the driver for not seeing me or reacting in time but whats to say their attention wasn't distracted by another vehicle?