www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-20643725
Two lorry drivers handed £60 fines for watching DVDs while driving. Talk about a slap on the wrist...
The article mentions that they were foreign language films so willing to bet the fines won't be paid. What's wrong with impounding the vehicle under these circumstances until the operator coughs up?
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I'm out of date on stuff like this but I believe they are either clamped or immobilised until they cough up ..
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Pity they can't be banned from driving ........... for life.
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But Officerers ve are vatching ze road sefty flims!
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Banned from UK should do it.
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>> Banned from UK should do it.
Most of the drivers pulled for mobile use and no seatbelt were British. And British drivers have certainly been run in for watching TV and so on at the wheel. Of course there are British people we would all like to see sent away to some other country, but mutton-headed lorry drivers are not at the top of my list.
I agree that is dangerous, completely mad in fact. Texting also seems a no-no to me, although whippersnappers seem to think they can manage it.
But answering a call on a mobile is something a good driver can do safely at least sometimes, and not wearing a seat belt is no threat to anyone except the driver and his dependants if any.
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"Texting also seems a no-no to me, although whippersnappers seem to think they can manage it."
Amazes me how many people you can see, when you are driving a higher vehicle and can look down at them as they overtake, who are texting, emailing or whatever on their mobiles. Giveaways are that they tend to slow down on motorway (usually in middle or outside lane) for no apparent reason or veer across lanes, and their heads are going up and down as they glance at screen. And as for the number who are holding phone to ear - dozens per day - often people driving expensive cars. So why don't they invest £20 in bluetooth ear thing and a phone mount (£4.99 in Tesco!!). Or a Parrot thing? (Don't know their cost)
Steer clear!!
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You won't change human behaviour by a pity fine and a slap on the wrist.Must be a boring job lorry driving if they have the time to watch a DVD.>:)
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>>......whippersnappers seem to think they can manage it."
My daughter is no whippersnapper but can create text messages without looking at the screen.
>>And as for the number who are holding phone to ear - dozens per day - often people driving expensive cars.
>>
e.g. The MB SLK my son bought had approx £10K of extras on it but no phone connection.
The first thing son did was to get the MB phone connection sorted ( and of course an ipod connection). IIRC it was more than £500!!!
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"more than £500!!! "
Yep, agree - v expensive, but small (extra) cost on £40-£50k car (original cost???) compared to cost of causing an accident. Earpiece thing or Parrott would be much cheaper, but
"The first thing son did was to get the MB phone connection sorted "
Good for him! Sensible decision if he needs to use phone when driving.
P
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Since the introduction of Graduated Fixed Penalties for lorry drivers, foreign drivers now have to pay their fines on the spot using a card machine which VOSA carry with them. If the don't have a card and valid PIN number, then they are immobilised until someone (usually their employer) has made that payment for them.
It has been an interesting few years since this system has been introduced and has had a remarkable effect on compliance by non UK drivers.
I think someone pointed it out on here (CG perhaps?) that in a recent study the margin for non compliance between UK and non UK was very small now.
The problem with these 'studies' and 'figures' is that VOSA notargetedgetted enforcement which means they have access to an operators OCRS score (Operator Compliance Risk Score) and use the placing on that to decide whether to stop a vehicle or not, so it does scew the figures a bit.
I'd be more worried about the 21 were using a mobile phone!
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Sun 9 Dec 12 at 05:07
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>> often people driving expensive
>> cars. So why don't they invest £20 in bluetooth ear thing and a phone mount
>> (£4.99 in Tesco!!). Or a Parrot thing? (Don't know their cost)
>> Steer clear!!
>>
It still amazes me the amount of folk I see on the phone, when I KNOW their particular model of car comes with bluetooth as standard equipment.
Setting it up is a doddle as well.
Someone I know is the worst culprit for driving and chatting - and what bothers me is the amount of inane twaddle she talks - it isn't as if she's talking about anything really important in the scheme of things, just rabbiting on for the sake of it.
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>> >> often people driving expensive
>> >> cars. So why don't they invest £20 in bluetooth ear thing and a phone
>> mount
>> >> (£4.99 in Tesco!!). Or a Parrot thing? (Don't know their cost)
>> >> Steer clear!!
>> >>
>> It still amazes me the amount of folk I see on the phone, when I
>> KNOW their particular model of car comes with bluetooth as standard equipment.
>> Setting it up is a doddle as well.
>> Someone I know is the worst culprit for driving and chatting - and what bothers
>> me is the amount of inane twaddle she talks - it isn't as if she's
>> talking about anything really important in the scheme of things, just rabbiting on for the
>> sake of it.
>>
People like to be seen driving whilst holding a phone, it clearly demonstrates to others that they are of sufficient busyness and importance that they need to be yakking at all times. I almost never see a Bentley/Maserati/Atson being driven around here (and there are lots) in which the driver isn't holding a phone to their ear.
To me it signals that, not only are they too stupid to get use the handsfree option, but that they are obviously not as successful, rich and fabulous as they think, as , if they were, they would have people to do the phoning or the driving for them. They look like absolute lemons to me. One father at my children's school this morning in his black, private plated Bentley Continental with black wheels, was already on the phone shouting at someone before he'd even exited the car park. Must be absolutely on his uppers if he needs to be selling his wares every single second of the day.
Same also applies to drink drivers. Particularly of the footballer type. Need to be seen with their incredibly expensive vehicles at all times to ensure the largest number of people possible see their status symbols as often as possible. Taking a taxi is just so non-bling, like.
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Seat belt law is aimed entirely at saving money.
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Sorry, that was in response to Armel's point. It's early, 'twas late last night....
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Seat belt law for lorries is not thought through, its another one size fits all category that ignores the practicalities of the vehicles.
Most modern lorries have mirrors that are poorly executed, in many cases sited nside huge plastic housings that completely obliterate the drivers field of vision approaching junctions, i've lost transit size vehicles behind them so what hope the small car motorbike or cycle.
Some lorries stick to rather old fashioned well sited mirrors that whilst providing excellent rear and wider angled vision are still inside two separate housings, thereby giving the driver a sometimes small but useful gap to look through.
I don't wear a belt for the above reason, its safer for everyone if the driver has the ability to duck and dive around as a junction is approached, something the belt won't allow.
I've had to start wearing it on the open road now, in case 'Easynick' comes alongside in his tractor unit filming (you'd think he would know the reasons why), my present lorry is one of the few that has separate mirrors so not too bad, the new one i'm getting has one piece wardrobe door mirrors blocking swathes of view so whats safer, seat belt or not?
Aside from the above the chances are that in an accident involving a lorry serious enough to require one, a seat belt is not going to make a scrap of difference other than to keep the cadaver in place.
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Car driving up road in Corsa this morning had Sunday paper open on dash in front of him.
My view this equates to:
dangerous driving.
Driving without due care and attention
no concern for others.
Automatic loss of licence plus need to resit test plus a fine plus loss of vehicle permanently.
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If I could I'd maybe introduce 2 measures:
1/Visual spot of someone on the phone. If unable to deal at time record time, date location. Process by post similar to fixed site scameras. Could even spot a few 'off duty' :O
2/Using phone whilst driving, dealt with at time - car seized.
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>> Texting also seems a no-no to me, although whippersnappers seem to think they can manage it.
>>
They yhink they can, best example I saw was on the A38 near Lichfield, 60mph in a queue of traffic, carefully texting. Oblivious to the fact that it was dark and he was driving with (apart from the phone screen lighting up his face) NO lights.
The issue is not whether you can use the phone, it is how much it distracts you from the primary activity of driving the car. Most people won't believe it does until they miss something and have an accident.
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£60 fine for watching DVD while driving - R.P.
