I'm anti cell phone while driving , lets face it , we all know if you look away from the road ahead for 3 seconds , in a busy area , anything could happen , brake lights , a child dashing out , a car cuts in front of you .
That recent report of white van man , ploughed into a car killing two people I think , on their way to a wedding . It was proved that the Merchant Banker was texting on TWO phones at the same time !!!! And I'd like to bet none of it was of Earth shattering importance.
Up to me , I'd have gone for a £5000 fine and licence gone for a year . And publicise on TV that for any kind of traffic incident , your phone will be checked for the call times. I think the hands free thing in my van was about £30 , I rarely switch that on these days , just ignore the phone until I stop.
Theres an obsession with youngsters and phones these days and now they have become drivers they have to be surgically separated from them and the inane comments of their twittering mates.
I honestly believe that some people cannot live without sending & receiving a constant stream of inane nothingness all day long , and these are the ones who will continue to use their phones while driving .
Personally I'd have gone for the long ban and a smaller fine, on average a first time drink driver who is just over the limit gets a fine of about £150 and a 12 month ban. Many years ago I was caught speeding, I'd gone to visit my parents at lunchtime, they lived about 15 minutes from my friends house where I was working. As I was driving up to their house I noticed their car parked outside the local pub so I called in, I had a pint then someone bought me a second one, shortly after I realised I was running late, downed the pint and left. Being a tad heavy with the right foot I was pulled over for speeding, the young cop was doing everything by the book and decided to breathalyse me, the limit is 36 and I blew 40. I didn't appear under the influence and didn't feel it, otherwise I wouldn't of driven, anyway the bottom line was the cop said if I hadn't been speeding he wouldn't have stopped me. They'd just brought in the mandatory 12 month ban and 2 weeks later when I had my day in court the magistrate asked what I did for a living, I explained about being self employed and how I knew that losing my licence would kill my business, but that was that. The cop actually spoke up for me and stated that I wasn't going overly fast, I wasn't staggering drunk and to be honest I think he actually felt a bit guilty about how bad things had gone. Anyway the magistrate spent about 20 minutes trying to find out if there was any way he could give me a shorter ban, he couldn't, even he apologised for having to ban me for a year! Anyway I got a years ban, £110 fine and £25 court costs, now if he had banned me for a couple of months and given me a £1000 fine it wouldn't have really affected me, I'd still have had my business and would have just kept making the money. As it was the year ban killed my business, left me short of money and out of work, it taught me never to do it again.
I've seen a lot of these people driving using phones and tbh assuming they've got a clean licence they effectively have 2 chances of causing death and destruction before they lose their licence. At the moment I have a real issue with this garbage about causing death by dangerous driving, basically this "you could get 14 years for causing death by dangerous driving" is a joke, you've more chance of winning the lottery, statistically the average sentence is 4 years per person, I've studied the stats. We have a friend who's nephew was killed by a dangerous driver, ok he didn't actually hit the car, he overtook on a blind bend and the oncoming driver swerved and collided head on with the victims car. He was only a young lad, he died at scene, his elderly grandmother was seriously injured and the driver who caused it failed to stop. He was tracked down eventually and got 6 years inside, he'll probably do 3! The driver that killed a woman her 2 kids and her partners kid got 8 years and 4 months, that's 2 years one month per life! not a lot is it, how would you feel if it was a member of your family? We need proper sentences and education for these people, there's a lady near me who's son died in a crash, it was his own fault, he thought he was a top driver despite being young and inexperienced. Anyway she goes to schools and colleges and speaks to the kids about driving, the police do their chat first and usually most of the kids don't take any interest, then she comes out and tells her story about how her son died, then she shows photo's, not only of the crash but also of her son lying in the mortuary, that gets their attention, finally they go outside to see what's left of the car, that's when it really hits them.
I had an argument a couple of years ago with a young lad, I asked him how he felt about the people who'd have to deal with it at roadside when he eventually crashed his car, "well that's what they get paid for" he replied, well what about me, and lots of others like me who don't get paid? Ordinary people who stop to help out, I've seen more than my fair share of nasty RTC's, broken limbs, people trapped in overturned cars, motorcyclists mangled after a driver pulled out of a junction without looking. I remember my first major RTC,I don't think I'll ever forget it, I was sat in the car and a motorbike shot past overtaking a bus, a young girl had just got off the bus and stepped out to cross the road, the bike came out of nowhere. It launched her about 500 yards, breaking nearly every bone in her body and causing massive internal injuries! The bike finally stopped almost 1/4 mile further on. There was blood everywhere, screaming, crying, total mayhem, I did what I could until the emergency services arrived, fortunately she survived but spent many months in hospital, the rider eventually lost both legs.
His mate who was following him said he was doing 130 mph before they accelerated to overtake the bus, this was in a 30 mph area. Despite his injuries and his genuine remorse the motorcyclist was prosecuted, and rightly so, if these people showed as much thought about what their actions caused before they did them maybe there,d be less "accidents"
