Live blog – Driver fined for giving cyclist brother a tow, bus driver cuts in on cyclists, road.cc wins an award and much, much more

9 thoughts on “Live blog – Driver fined for giving cyclist brother a tow, bus driver cuts in on cyclists, road.cc wins an award and much, much more”

1. The government knew full well

   The government knew full well that phone driving was just as likely to kill as drink driving but imposed a much smaller punishment, a hundred pound fine and three penalty points.  Understandably, most drivers took the chance, the very small chance, of being caught.  Now they are so used to doing it that doubling the punishment has made no difference.  The punishment should be the same as for drink driving.

   And the same for hands-free, which causes exactly the same distraction as hand held.

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2. Let’s be honest here, the

   Let’s be honest here, the research shows phone use at the wheel to be more dangerous than drink driving. And texting or using a phone for Internet use is more dangerous still. The fact is that the penalties we have, six points for phone use at the wheel compared with 12 for drink driving, do not relfect the actual risk. This is part of the problem. Until the penalties match the risk, drivers won’t take them seriously. For using a phone at the wheel to make a call, the penalty should be 12 points and a 12 month ban, as for DUI. For using a phone to send texts or use the internet, the penalty should be a mandatory two year ban. Hands-free kits nee to be banned, as research shows them to be no safer. Check the TRL and FHWA or NHTSA websites. There are plenty of studies.

   The police also need to be more open to receiving video use of drivers using phones at the wheel and committing other offences for charging drivers. There simply aren’t enough traffic officers, thanks to Theresa May’s budget cuts to the police.

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3. Surely hanging onto a car to

   Surely hanging onto a car to get a lift from someone you know is only a momentary lapse in concentration and not dangerous so should be totally let off, them’s the rules innit?

   I just rode to the hospital for a check up appt at 4pm, wasn’t too bad going but driving tiny flakes of snow on the way back on open country roads was certainly stinging a bit so feel Kwia’s pain 

   Oh and still morons drive too fast and cut the corners even though the roads are slippery, fucktards!

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   • BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

     Surely hanging onto a car to get a lift from someone you know is only a momentary lapse in concentration and not dangerous so should be totally let off, them’s the rules innit?

     I just rode to the hospital for a check up appt at 4pm, wasn’t too bad going but driving tiny flakes of snow on the way back on open country roads was certainly stinging a bit so feel Kwia’s pain 

     Oh and still morons drive too fast and cut the corners even though the roads are slippery, fucktards!

     — BehindTheBikesheds

     Who is it that you think got the fine?

     Apart from that, it is a conscious decision by both parties.

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     • hirsute wrote:

       Surely hanging onto a car to get a lift from someone you know is only a momentary lapse in concentration and not dangerous so should be totally let off, them’s the rules innit?

       I just rode to the hospital for a check up appt at 4pm, wasn’t too bad going but driving tiny flakes of snow on the way back on open country roads was certainly stinging a bit so feel Kwia’s pain 

       Oh and still morons drive too fast and cut the corners even though the roads are slippery, fucktards!

       — hirsute

       Who is it that you think got the fine?

       Apart from that, it is a conscious decision by both parties.

       — BehindTheBikesheds

       Oh FFS!
       let me spell it out seeing as you dont ‘get it’
       We often see/read the ‘momentary lapse of concentration’ defence, and judges so often like to use in summation when protecting motorists and hand out lean sentences despite having killed or maimed someone so are anything but. They are conscious decions to do something inherrantly dangerous but are glossed over massively.
       Pease learn what sarcasm and tongue incheek means!

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       • BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

         Surely hanging onto a car to get a lift from someone you know is only a momentary lapse in concentration and not dangerous so should be totally let off, them’s the rules innit?

         I just rode to the hospital for a check up appt at 4pm, wasn’t too bad going but driving tiny flakes of snow on the way back on open country roads was certainly stinging a bit so feel Kwia’s pain 

         Oh and still morons drive too fast and cut the corners even though the roads are slippery, fucktards!

         — BehindTheBikesheds

         Who is it that you think got the fine?

         Apart from that, it is a conscious decision by both parties.

         — hirsute Oh FFS! let me spell it out seeing as you dont ‘get it’ We often see/read the ‘momentary lapse of concentration’ defence, and judges so often like to use in summation when protecting motorists and hand out lean sentences despite having killed or maimed someone so are anything but. They are conscious decions to do something inherrantly dangerous but are glossed over massively. Pease learn what sarcasm and tongue incheek means!— BehindTheBikeshedsYou do post quite a number of angry posts, so it’s hard to know if you are being sarcastic. As it is, it was the driver that was fined, not the cyclist, so your orginal post doesn’t make sense.

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4. I pretty much agree with the

   I pretty much agree with the comments regarding needing proper penalties, and the need to get the resources to enforce the rules in the first place, although there are a couple of minor things 

    

   – the hands-free/hand-held thing may be a bit of a red herring as far as distraction/danger due to loss of attention is concerned; research seems to have shown it’s the amount of cognitition required during the phone use – spoken or otherwise – that looks to be the major pertinent safety factor. Similar presumably can be said about conversations in the car itself. The other wrinkle with having a phone in your hand, unfortunately not qualified that i’ve seen, is that any required interaction with the vehicle will necessarily be slower and unlikely to be as precise or controlled as it may otherwise be. Phone holders are a debate in themselves, I’d happily ban headsets and the like myself though.

    

   – personally I have no problem with someone glancing at sat-navs on phones, when appropriate and safe, nor engaging in brief conversations when the vehicle is stationary for a period of time, e.g. at traffic lights as long as they remain aware of  surroundings and act accordingly and their attention is fully on driving immediately prior to, and after, moving off. Safety is the prime concern but 2 years ban for texting Auntie Bessie to say you’ll be late, stationary with the hand-brake on in your 45 minute queue on the Portway would seem a bit harsh and un-necessary to me, .. however it’s also difficult to formulate effective rules that reflect safe-use and common sense without comprimising them.

    

    

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   • fukawitribe wrote:

     I pretty much agree with the comments regarding needing proper penalties, and the need to get the resources to enforce the rules in the first place, although there are a couple of minor things 

      

     – the hands-free/hand-held thing may be a bit of a red herring as far as distraction/danger due to loss of attention is concerned; research seems to have shown it’s the amount of cognitition required during the phone use – spoken or otherwise – that looks to be the major pertinent safety factor. Similar presumably can be said about conversations in the car itself. The other wrinkle with having a phone in your hand, unfortunately not qualified that i’ve seen, is that any required interaction with the vehicle will necessarily be slower and unlikely to be as precise or controlled as it may otherwise be. Phone holders are a debate in themselves, I’d happily ban headsets and the like myself though.

      

     – personally I have no problem with someone glancing at sat-navs on phones, when appropriate and safe, nor engaging in brief conversations when the vehicle is stationary for a period of time, e.g. at traffic lights as long as they remain aware of  surroundings and act accordingly and their attention is fully on driving immediately prior to, and after, moving off. Safety is the prime concern but 2 years ban for texting Auntie Bessie to say you’ll be late, stationary with the hand-brake on in your 45 minute queue on the Portway would seem a bit harsh and un-necessary to me, .. however it’s also difficult to formulate effective rules that reflect safe-use and common sense without comprimising them.

      

      

      

     — fukawitribe

     You may want to look at the studies carried out by the TRL. There is a big diference between speaking with passengers in a car and on a phone according to research. Basically, when a driver is speaking with passengers in a car and requires mental processing effort to handle a situation on the road, the person defaults to the driving task and pauses the conversatio. Conversely, when speaking on a phone and also requiring mental effort to deal with a situation in the road, the person’s brain processing prioritises the phone conversation. The TRL has a report on this and so does the NHTSA in the US and the European ETSC. Check the websites of all three.

     As for using a phone while stopped in traffic, research also shows that after speaking on a phone it takes around one minute for mental processing to be able to refocus on driving. The time delay is longer for texting or Internet use. Again, the TRL, ETSC and NHTSA websites will have links to the studies into those if you want to search for them.

     So yes, a two year ban for texting at the wheel would be appropriate, even in the driver is stopped in a traffic queue. 

     I do a lot on road safety for my job. I’m up to date with the latest research into driver distraction.

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5. OldRidgeback, nice.

   OldRidgeback, nice.

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