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Is it time for all motor vehicles to be fitted with a black box?

OOOh a PFM motoring/speeding topic. I do like a good speeding moan...

IME when investigating crashes, inappropriate speed for given conditions caused far more life altering/threatening injuries that exceeding the speed limit per se. Also the driver not prioritising the task of driving over something else happening in the vehicle eg changing audio track, mobile phone etc etc.

Now, there is a time and place to change a music track/sat nav, and there is a time not to. Surprised that the change to mobile phone legislation, that came in this week, didn't get a mention (but I've only just noticed this thread and read the last couple of pages, so I may be wrong).
 
There’s a couple a stretches of 25mph near me and i am usually tailgated all the way through them. I’m pretty sure a concerted public education campaign could change behavior as it did with drunk driving.

I’m amazed at the number of drivers I see looking at their phone even I’m heavy traffic. I wonder if that’s a bigger problem?
 
Andrew C! said:
OOOh a PFM motoring/speeding topic. I do like a good speeding moan...

IME when investigating crashes, inappropriate speed for given conditions caused far more life altering/threatening injuries that exceeding the speed limit per se. Also the driver not prioritising the task of driving over something else happening in the vehicle eg changing audio track, mobile phone etc etc.

Now, there is a time and place to change a music track/sat nav, and there is a time not to. Surprised that the change to mobile phone legislation, that came in this week, didn't get a mention (but I've only just noticed this thread and read the last couple of pages, so I may be wrong).
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I think if the focus were shifted from using a mobile phone to the broader issue of poor/dangerous driving due to lack of focus it would gain much more widespread support. Hard to look for sympathy and argue against being prosecuted for not driving well, as opposed to simply using a phone.

As an aside. on the changing audio/radio station etc, the little exige I have is fun on that front. First time out in it after any length of a break, you reach over to do something on the radio (which is on the passenger side, there's not a lot of room in them) - about 1/2 a second's worth of inattention and you find yourself half way across into the neighbouring lane. Bit of a wake call :)
 
-alan- said:
I think if the focus were shifted from using a mobile phone to the broader issue of poor/dangerous driving due to lack of focus it would gain much more widespread support. Hard to look for sympathy and argue against being prosecuted for not driving well, as opposed to simply using a phone.

As an aside. on the changing audio/radio station etc, the little exige I have is fun on that front. First time out in it after any length of a break, you reach over to do something on the radio (which is on the passenger side, there's not a lot of room in them) - about 1/2 a second's worth of inattention and you find yourself half way across into the neighbouring lane. Bit of a wake call
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Yup - agree, although I've videoed some horrendous mobile phone use by drivers before I left - whilst following them in a marked car, on a driving assessment. The police driving instructor was gobsmaked when I dealt with the driver. ;)
 
Andrew C! said:
Yup - agree, although I've videoed some horrendous mobile phone use by drivers before I left - whilst following them in a marked car, on a driving assessment. The police driving instructor was gobsmaked when I dealt with the driver. ;)
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What, so you were being assessed for your driving while in a marked car, there was an assessor in the passenger seat, and you stopped some muppet who was not only using a phone but failed to see you, so you stopped the car and ticketed them? I'd hope so too. It's one thing using a phone, but if you are so absorbed in the call that you fail to observe a fully marked up jam sandwich behind you, you want shooting.

MInd you, I've lost count of the number of times I've seen blue lights behind me in town, I pull over along with everyone else to let them pass, and there's someone from the Stevie Wonder School Of Driving breezing along in the middle of the lane, who then nearly drives off the road when the siren goes on.
 
stevec67 said:
What, so you were being assessed for your driving while in a marked car, there was an assessor in the passenger seat, and you stopped some muppet who was not only using a phone but failed to see you, so you stopped the car and ticketed them? I'd hope so too. It's one thing using a phone, but if you are so absorbed in the call that you fail to observe a fully marked up jam sandwich behind you, you want shooting.
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:rolleyes:I maintained my graded response status until I retired, for both cars and personnel carriers. Unusual for an Inspector to maintain the personnel carrier one.. The car we were using at the time was a borrowed response one, as the driving school one was being serviced. It was fully marked up, including emergency lights and unusually had video, which also worked fine(audio recorded inside the car).
 
Andrew C! said:
:rolleyes:I maintained my graded response status until I retired, for both cars and personnel carriers. Unusual for an Inspector to maintain the personnel carrier one.. The car we were using at the time was a borrowed response one, as the driving school one was being serviced. It was fully marked up, including emergency lights and unusually had video, which also worked fine(audio recorded inside the car).
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My black Volvo D5 started out as a police car.
 
I have a phone with satnav, which I use very rarely to navigate local streets in unfamiliar areas. I am, remarkably, perfectly capable, even in my semi-geriatric state..of finding my way around using road signs and my basic knowledge of UK geography...something which seems lost on my otherwise fairly intelligent daughter.

BUT.. I do not use my phone with satnav, in a cradle. This because I do not want to be looking at it whilst driving. It sits screen down on the passenger seat, and I just listen to the audio directions.

If I happened to be stopped whilst employing my phone this way.. (they wouldn't have seen it). would I be 'liable'?
 
https://www.keithmichaels.co.uk/news/is-your-sat-nav-legal/

"The phone must meet the satisfactory standards for being ‘hands-free’, i.e. being securely mounted to a dashboard holder, mat or a windscreen mount."

But this is only true if you're looking at the map.

But if you're not looking down at the 'phone while you're driving and / or touching the 'phone it's unlikely you'll draw the attention of the scuffers.
 
Andrew C! said:
IME when investigating crashes, inappropriate speed for given conditions caused far more life altering/threatening injuries that exceeding the speed limit per se.
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Exactly. I was 'nabbed' doing 85 on a totally clear section of the A50..which in effect could have been almost any section of the A50, as between Stoke and Nottm. there are no crossroads, approximately 3 islands and only one set of lights.. at Uttoxeter. Of course, I broke the limit and didn't complain about the punishment, but I would still argue that speeding in a 20/30/40/50 limit in urban areas, or simply driving without considering the conditions..is far more irresponsible. Trust me.. I will never be 'nabbed' for speeding in a 30/40/50/60 limit.
 
How distracting are the large touch screen centre consoles in the new electric cars? It’s not as if you can feel your way to the correct button as you can in a normal vehicle. Are they more distracting than a standard style dash?
 
Mullardman said:
Exactly. I was 'nabbed' doing 85 on a totally clear section of the A50..which in effect could have been almost any section of the A50, as between Stoke and Nottm. there are no crossroads, approximately 3 islands and only one set of lights.. at Uttoxeter. Of course, I broke the limit and didn't complain about the punishment, but I would still argue that speeding in a 20/30/40/50 limit in urban areas, or simply driving without considering the conditions..is far more irresponsible. Trust me.. I will never be 'nabbed' for speeding in a 30/40/50/60 limit.
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Your ‘reason’ for speeding has been used to justify it for decades. And saying that speeding in a 30 zone is far worse has also been used for decades. Yet you (we, me, everyone) has the choice to not speed.

Funny old thing, this driving.
 
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