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Post by johnc on Apr 12, 2019 7:47:51 GMT
I saw this article on the BBC website regarding signs which light up to warn drivers to stop using their phone. I am dead against the use of mobiles in cars by the driver but is this a sensible use of public resources: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47896472The article says that the equipment can't tell if it is the driver or a passenger who is using their phone, so what's the point. If I have my daughter in the car there is a 90% chance she will have her head in her phone and I am sure the majority of parents will be the same. My wife regularly uses her phone when she is a passenger. No doubt legal hands free conversations will also trigger the signs. The only benefit I can see is if the detector can take a photo but again I bet the vast majority of detections will relate to non driver use of a phone. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 8:16:35 GMT
I have no idea what the solution to this problem is, though. Thought as much as I watched a twat in an A6 pull into the local Co-op yesterday evening, chatting away in that 'phone at a foot or two's distance' that I find strangely irritating. I reckon about 10% of what constituted his brain was actually being wasted on driving.
Unless and until it becomes as socially unacceptable as drink-driving (which it is to me), I don't see a lot changing.
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Post by Ben on Apr 12, 2019 8:21:26 GMT
1) If it doesn't work properly to detect drivers (not passengers) using their phones then what's the point?
2) If it only doles out a warning and nothing further, nobody is gonna give a crap.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 8:39:41 GMT
I think the point is that people might feel attention was being drawn to them - that's how it seems to work with the ones that do a similar thing by displaying your speed. And they do seem to have a measurable effect on behaviour, so it's possible it might work with some people. Having reflected, I think it's worth a small scale trial.
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Post by Boxer6 on Apr 12, 2019 9:43:33 GMT
I think the point is that people might feel attention was being drawn to them - that's how it seems to work with the ones that do a similar thing by displaying your speed. And they do seem to have a measurable effect on behaviour, so it's possible it might work with some people. Having reflected, I think it's worth a small scale trial. Maybe, but as noted above, I think it has to be a more specific, defined and accurate system before even a trial would be useful. If it only identifies predominantly passenger use, then it's fairly unhelpful really.
As regards displaying speed vs. using a phone; it is fairly easy for onlookers to observe a vehicle and say "Ooh, look at him/her breaking the limit" and actually see who the individual is, hence why that may have the effects you suggest. With such random identification process at present, that may identify many more innocent drivers than guilty ones, which is not a good thing IMO.
However, I don't have any answer to this either, sadly. My most recent sighting of someone on their phone was last night going home; bint in a Juke, coming towards me on the ring-road near my house, looking down at her phone (or sleeping, one or the other!) A blast on the horn raised not an iota of reaction from her - thankfully, there are no pavements on a lot of roads round our way; instead, pedestrians use underpasses, of which there are many.
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Post by Tim on Apr 15, 2019 12:12:31 GMT
There's a simple solution, employ some additional plod to stand at the side of the road, equip them with a radio and camera and have another plod slightly further down the road with a marked car to pull over the miscreants.
Start doing that and not only will they easily pay for themselves but some arseholes might actually stop using their phone.
I'd levy the fines according to the car and its features too so if someone has a car with hands free bluetooth and they're using the phone handheld then fine them double or triple.
Most FFRR drivers would fall into that category.
I thing the sign lighting up is counter productive. The driver will already be slightly distracted by their passenger chatting on the phone and for a sign to then light up and distract them further is just stupid.
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Post by scouse on Apr 15, 2019 13:25:54 GMT
Surely it'll only be a matter of time before this is linked up to camera?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2019 14:19:34 GMT
Would seem to be a way of making it actually make sense - but I guess it would have to be from behind (a la speed cameras) and therefore, thinking about it, neither use nor ornament...
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Post by Tim on Apr 15, 2019 14:57:45 GMT
Would seem to be a way of making it actually make sense - but I guess it would have to be from behind (a la speed cameras) and therefore, thinking about it, neither use nor ornament... Scamera vans do their dirty work from head-on so I presume it'd work fine for phone idiots. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2019 15:02:31 GMT
You're right - thinking about fixed cameras, aren't I?
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Post by Martin on Apr 15, 2019 15:05:21 GMT
Would seem to be a way of making it actually make sense - but I guess it would have to be from behind (a la speed cameras) and therefore, thinking about it, neither use nor ornament... Scamera vans do their dirty work from head-on so I presume it'd work fine for phone idiots. I'm pretty sure they use the vans for catching people using a phone or not wearing a seatbelt already. |
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Post by scouse on Apr 15, 2019 18:16:00 GMT
You're right - thinking about fixed cameras, aren't I? Doesn’t the Tuvelo scamera work from the front? |
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