Talk On Cell In UK While Driving & Go To Jail For 2 Years!!!

by minimus 54 Replies latest jw friends

  • AlphaOmega
    AlphaOmega

    FunkyDerek

    The crime is not, as you might think, killing someone because you were too distracted to pay attention. The crime is being too distracted to pay attention, i.e. driving dangerously. Punishing the crime after it is commited but before it has the worst possible consequences is a good thing.

    I have to agree. This is a nice concise summary of the situation.

    I guess that some will have issue with the fact that talking on a mobile / cell phone is not a crime. However, driving whilst not paying attention is, talking on a phone only adds to that lack of attention to the road.

    Hell, the roads here are awful. Town planners seem to dump zebra crossings and mini-roundabouts RIGHT AFTER a corner. So, you turn a corner only to find someone walking across the middle of the road right infront of you !

    There are enough hazzards on the roads here without councils inadvertantly adding more ! Add this to the stupidity and arrogance of some pedestrians and you have a recipe for disaster. Disasters that occur everyday on our roads - without saying too much that could give my identity away - I have seen more than enough of it.

    Anything that can be done to ease this would be welcome.

  • John Doe
    John Doe
    What the law is there to do is protect us from the stupid, selfish and careless drivers that are a danger and a menace to other (innocent) road users and pedestrians. However you want to spin it, peole who drive while using mobile phones are all three.

    Not true. A careless driver will be careless whether they are operating a phone or not. A careful driver will be careful no matter the situation. Tell me, how do you feel about police using phones and radio while driving, often at high rates of speed?

  • Cellist
    Cellist

    Vitty - First, let me apologize for not expressing myself more clearly. I was by no means advocating over-drinking and driving any more than I'm advocating talking while on a cell phone. Or indulging in any of the hundreds of other distractions that drivers can indulge in, including reading a road map or checking the gps. I have been one of the "there should be a law...." people all my life. Recently, I have been rethinking that, first off you can't make a law against everything that is unsafe. You can't even begin to. What's needed is to make people grow up and take responsibility for their actions. How to do that is a matter of debate.

    As far as your comments to me personally, your statement: 'Don't you know the more you drink the more you think you can drive safely', is erroneous. In my youth (a few decades ago) I, like all my friends, drove while completely intoxicated (especially because it was illegal). I can assure you that we always knew that we were intoxicated. Your statement fits the condition of being human, not the condition of being drunk. Nearly every elderly person, sick person, cell phone user, donut eater, smoker, etc., etc., etc. will adamantly state that they are a safe driver regardless of their limitations or distractions.

    I'm glad I don't live in your country which seems to be heading towards being a police state. I can't say that zero drinking while driving would be a "hardship". I view "hardship" to be something more like being unable to obtain food, healthcare, etc. But it would be a needless infringement on my enjoyment of life. Although, these days, I never have more than a glass of wine with dinner when I know I'm going to be driving, I feel that glass adds to my enjoyment. Since "taking a taxi" is economically unfeasible where we live, it would mean never being able to enjoy a drink with my friends.

    In ending, you can't make a law against stupidity, which is at the heart of this whole problem. But this is simply my opinion, after observing humankind a little longer, who knows, I might change my mind. (But not about my wine with dinner) ;)
    Cellist

  • AlphaOmega
    AlphaOmega
  • AlphaOmega
    AlphaOmega

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