Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveNP
It's just under two years since the accident on the M1 where a minibus was crushed killing 8 and injuring 4 more including a young girl. Whilst it was poular to blame the foreign driver who had stopped in the first lane of the motorway the judge's comments when sentencing the second driver was reported as -
Still think using a handsfree phone while driving is OK?
That driver got a 3 year 4 month sentence to reflect on it.
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Yes
It was a unfortunate set of Events, the lorry stopped in Lane 1 with an unwell drunk driver , the minibus sat behind it the lorry, the lorry had been there 12 minutes why hadn't the minibus driver seen it & reacted earlier ? The other driver on the phone - for an hour that's excessive was there other distractions going on in the Cab that the press failed to mention.
The offence wasn't that the driver was on his phone, the same charge & sentence would have been applicable had the driver been distracted by adjusting the radio, opening a sandwich, spilling his coffee, sneezing etc.
I wholeheartedly agree with the banning of the use of a handheld device even in a dedicated holder (Phones aren't just phones) but with the level of integration in modern cars (& aftermarket Kits) once set up you should not need to touch or even look at the handset.
OK may be an issue with those that use Waze etc. for navigation but the voice commands can still be sent to the car to play through the speakers.
Seems to me the new tech that was announced recently that can identify when a phone is in use will be leveraged to enforce this & the driver will have to end up submitting mobile records to prove innocence.