Stasi tactics to stop mobile phone use

[hondo]

Good.

People get killed by selfish twats using their phones whilst driving.

Exactly, it ought to be a banning offence not a pathetically small fine and a few points on their licence.

 

[editor]

Are you sure would it not be better spent policing trouble spots like our town center after 8pm in the evening

Since when it is an either/or option?

You're defending the indefensible. Selfish, stupid twats that drive around making calls on their mobiles are a menace and I applaud any police action that penalises these reckless individuals.

 

[stowpirate]

Since when it is an either/or option?

You're defending the indefensible. Selfish, stupid twats that drive around making calls on their mobiles are a menace and I applaud any police action that penalises these reckless individuals.

I observed a women driver today stop at a red light pick her mobile up and start using it and stopped using it as the light went to green. With the tactics the Police were using the other day she would have been stopped and fined. I think this is wrong because the vehicle was stationary - yes she could have pulled over further up the road and you could argue that she was not concentrating. Then again she could start using her mobile while driving further up the road but this is obviously a far more difficult situation for the Police to catch her in the act. Sorry but the Police are the twats here as they are going to fine some people who are innocent as you are guilty just by having a phone in the car. Meaning you could stop for some reason and start handling your mobile without even using it or even having it on and get fined.

I started the thread to talk about Police tactics not really to debate twats using mobiles at the wheel or that people get killed on the road

 

[Urbanblues]

I'd like to know whether there's any chance of making the practice of reading a newspaper while driving a Jaguar in excess of 70 mph on the M6 slightly illegal!

*Saw this a few weeks ago while in the fast lane on my way to Liverpool.

 

[editor]

I observed a women driver today stop at a red light pick her mobile up and start using it and stopped using it as the light went to green.

So what happens if she's failed to notice that small child in front of her big car because she's been so busy fiddling about with her phone and drives straight over him/her?

 

[pogofish]

I think this is wrong because the vehicle was stationary -

The circumstances where you can use a mobile when stationary are fairly well described in the law. Simply, you have to be parked-up & out of traffic.

Whilst I can fully agree that in some circumstances the police can be utter twats in the enforcement of road traffic matters, this ain't one of them & that by pulling drivers at a junction, where they really need to have all their concentration on the road/other road users & pedestrians is a good thing. They could use to do a bit more of that here.

 

[pogofish]

What next is going to be targeted, eating an apple, picking your nose, smoking, talking to your passengers?

Eating & picking your nose are already amply covered under existing regs & I can remember police taking action against that in Glasgow a while back. Smoking too probably but more recently, since their success with the smoking ban, anti-smoking groups have started making noises about just this as thir next cause celebre.

 

[stowpirate]

groups have started making noises about just this as the next cause celebre.

Time to start smoking again and increase my carbon footprint. I might even become an anarchist

 

[El Jefe]

I started the thread to talk about Police tactics not really to debate twats using mobiles at the wheel or that people get killed on the road

but since the police tactics are being employed to tackle "twats using mobiles at the wheel", it's relevant?

Unless you're suggesting we should get annoyed with their behaviour without considering the crime they're dealing with?

Must try harder.

 

[spacemonkey]

A women who was following me yesterday was jabbering away on her mobile for about 10 mins, you could tell she was barely concentrating on her driving and the person she was likely to hit was me. Fucking furious I was.

 

[T & P]

I'd be well fucking pissed off if I was done for using the phone while stopped on a red, regardless of what the law might say about "being in charge of a car".

Using the phone while driving= cuntish thing to do.

Using the phone briefly while stopped at the lights, and hanging up and putting the phone away before the lights change= not a fucking problem and nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

FFS...

 

[stowpirate]

So what happens if she's failed to notice that small child in front of her big car because she's been so busy fiddling about with her phone and drives straight over him/her?

Or if somebody is driving at 25mph at night in a 30mph zone and a drunk steps off the pavement and is killed. What happens if that driver was not using a mobile or even had one in the car? Then consider exactly the same circumstances with the driver having a mobile and using it?

My opinion is that they should lock the drivers up who were using their mobile for five years and impose a lifetime ban on driving. This debate is going to get very heated before long

 

[tarannau]

Stop being a cock Stowpirate. This was a daft thread and you know it.

The mealy mouthed backtracking suggestion that it's ok to use your phone at traffic lights when stopped doesn't really hold water either That assumes that the driver will still be paying proper attention when dialling/talking, will be able to properly anticipate the light phasing without causing inconvenience to others ... and will put down the phone immediately when the lights changed. Which doesn't seem likely in the slightest.

Anyoen using their phone handset when driving is a near unforgiveable cock - pull over or buy a fucking hands-free. No excuses.

 

[El Jefe]

I'd be well fucking pissed off if I was done for using the phone while stopped on a red, regardless of what the law might say about "being in charge of a car".

Using the phone while driving= cuntish thing to do.

Using the phone briefly while stopped at the lights, and hanging up and putting the phone away before the lights change= not a fucking problem and nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

FFS...

Tough. Too many people would continue the call if the lights went to green, so the law makes sense and so does the police enforcement of it.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Has anybody else noticed the new Stasi style tactics being used to catch mobile phone users. In Stowmarket I observed motorcycle cops watching drivers stopped at traffic lights and any individual that was seen using a mobile while the light showed red was pulled over. Not those that were seen using them while the vehicle was moving but while at a stop The cars were searched and the drivers were then fined. I have also seen them at Combs Ford using binoculars to see at a distance drivers using mobiles. I do not know what you lot think but I just get the feeling we are rapidly becoming a Police State. What next is going to be targeted, eating an apple, picking your nose, smoking, talking to your passengers?

Any tactics that were vaguely Stasi-like would involve you being pulled from your car, beaten and then "entertained" in the dungeons at PrinzAlbrechtSraße.

In other words, get a grip.

 

[stowpirate]

This was a daft thread and you know it.

Not that daft a thread as its had a lot of response so far

We all agree that using mobiles while driving is dangerous. What is wrong with debating the law and suggesting you must catch the offender while the vehicle is in motion and not use tactics which just alienate the people caught. They may or may not have been using the mobile while the vehicle was in motion

 

[ViolentPanda]

They're still (supposedly) in control of the car, even if it's stopped. You might have a point if they were nicking people who had parked up safely by the side of the road, and were using their mobiles.

And I expect they get an admission out of the driver in return for a nice cheap fixed penalty. If he wants to argue it, there's always court, and mobile phone company logs.

The Stasi don't give a shit about that kind of stuff, they'd rather take you down the cells and make you suck off "Big Fritz" than mes with stinking fixed penalties!

 

[El Jefe]

Not that daft a thread as its had a lot of response so far

So you measure daftness by responses? Interesting approach.

Total fucking wank, obviously, but interesting.

They may or may not have been using the mobile while the vehicle was in motion

if you're at the lights you're in control of a moving motor vehicle as far as the law is concerned.

You're talking bollocks, deal with it

 

[tarannau]

Bollocks. How many people do you honestly see put their phones down promptly before (mirror signals maneuver) away from when the lights go green. You're arguing on a theoretical point, one that next to never happens in reality - I can say I've ever seen someone promptly throw down their phone when the lights switch or not inconvenience the queue by dithering. We're not talking mile long traffic delays here - this a set of lights when folks should be attentive

Why can't the fucking knobbers pull over or buy a hands free set. Fuck the self-important twazzock or two who thinks he can't possibly spare a minute or two to pull over and call someone.

 

[stowpirate]

The Stasi don't give a shit about that kind of stuff, they'd rather take you down the sells and make you suck off "Big Fritz" than mes with stinking fixed penalties!

How would you know that? Was not bribes and distortion part of the communist system.

Traveling in Eastern Europe I have heard you frequently get stopped and had to pay a bribe especially foreigners ?

 

[ViolentPanda]

How would you know that? Was not bribes and distortion part of the communist system.

Not that I ever noticed. Friends in Dresden before the wall came down reckoned their local cops were always up for a bribe from locals, but were very wary of soliciting "fines" from foreigners, except in local currency (which pretty much made it a worthless exercise). Imagine being a copper and getting caught with a load of dollars or D-marks on you. You'd be lucky if you didn't spend the rest of your days digging lignite.

Traveling in Eastern Europe I have heard you frequently get stopped and had to pay a bribe especially foreigners ?

I always used to speak loud German to anyone who tried that (mostly border customs people rather than coppers for some reason). Worked wonders.

 

[T & P]

Tough. Too many people would continue the call if the lights went to green, so the law makes sense and so does the police enforcement of it.

I don't know how many people would do that. I certainly never have. On the few occasions where I have received a phone call or text message whilst stopped at the light, if I have chosen to answer it was just to have a few brief words and then ring off. And in most cases I have been able to do this, put the phone on the seat next to me, and still have a few seconds to spare before the light goes drink.

Fining people based on presumption is not the way forward.

 

[tarannau]

What presumption? That you're not meant to use your phone when at the wheel?

It's not a tough concept to understand is it?

 

[El Jefe]

I don't know how many people would do that. I certainly never have. On the few occasions where I have received a phone call or text message whilst stopped at the light, if I have chosen to answer it was just to have a few brief words and then ring off. And in most cases I have been able to do this, put the phone on the seat next to me, and still have a few seconds to spare before the light goes drink.

The light goes drink? A curious Freudian slip. You sure you should be driving at all?

Fining people based on presumption is not the way forward.

It's not a presumption. If you're on the phone at the lights, you're already breaking the law. There's no presumption involved. Presumption would be pulling you over cos you looked like you might be about to answer it.

 

[TopCat]

I am supposed to give a flying fuck about some reckless wanker endangering people's lives by using a phone while driving?

What about stupid police using their radios whilst driving?

 

[ViolentPanda]

How would you know that? Was not bribes and distortion part of the communist system.

Stasi = Ministerium für Staatsshicherheit, or "Ministry for State Security" The Stasi were never interested in penny-ante bullshit like extorting unofficial tolls from people, they left that to the Vopos (Volkspolizei or "People's Police") and the Grepos (Grenzpolizei or "border police").

 

[El Jefe]

What about stupid police using their radios whilst driving?

does one thing excuse the other?

 

[TopCat]

It is hypocritical for the police to nick people for mobile useage when they themselves use their radios whilst driving. It is like being nicked for smoking a spliff by a pig with track marks down his arms.

 

[stowpirate]

I always used to speak loud German to anyone who tried that (mostly border customs people rather than coppers for some reason). Worked wonders.

I have Polish friend that married an Englishman. Who told us while driving in Poland he had been forced to pull over and pay bribes to traffic Police. At night they seemed to single his car out as it had a GB sticker on it. Not sure if it is still going on as we have not discussed it recently, certainly two years ago it was happening.

The other debate is getting a bit heated now so I think I will let them get on with it

 

[El Jefe]

It is hypocritical for the police to nick people for mobile useage when they themselves use their radios whilst driving. It is like being nicked for smoking a spliff by a pig with track marks down his arms.

I don't think anyone thinks the police can't be hypocrites. Still doesn't mean this law is wrong.