Texting While Driving - On the phone drivers!

good!

isn't it already illegal?

From 2022, drivers will be barred from using a device to…play games

Jfc

They're banned from using the phone to talk previously.

Doesn't really discourage people from watching Netflix while waiting in traffic

isn't it already illegal?

Exactly my reaction. Crazy that it wasn't already.

No, there's some bullshit loophole like "using phone for communication" so all the other activities on your phone that cause you to not look where you're driving are fine. Fucking ridic.

Doesn't really discourage people from watching Netflix while waiting in traffic

Neither does banging on their window - got called a fat c*nt the other day for doing just this.
(I am both of these things)

Makes you wonder why they wrote in the loophole in the first place...

I think it was probably before smart phones, when all a phone could do was voice and text.

As phones got more complicated, people were getting off by claiming they weren't using it for "communication" when they ran down the annoying cyclist.

Is it still hand-held if you mount it?

https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law

reading this it doesn't sound like they're changing much. maybe just tightening it up a bit?

Police can get people playing games on their mobiles under existing laws:-

"
Currently, police have to rely on charging drivers with dangerous driving which lists "using a hand-held phone or other equipment" as one of its example offences.
"

but the changes make it (a) easier for the Police to deal with as there's a more specific offence, and (b) allows the Government to produce some campaigns to publicise the fact that it's not acceptable and also update the HWC/etc.

yesterday i ticked someone off on facebook (i know its dumb to do anything on fb) for taking photos while driving (to post on fb) and their first response was 'i was in traffic!' which then changed to 'phone was in a holder!'.

anyway not sure where i'm going with this but it fucked me right off -of course i then got piled on by all the other facebook morons for being a pedant. They're right ofc..

#deletefacebook

Once followed someone for about a few miles in traffic who was having a full blown family face time on their phone + tablet in car at same time, one on the windscreen massively blocking their view the other in their hand. Spent most of a mile being super stressed trying to avoid the other cars that the face time wanker was displacing into me, other drivers would avoid him wondering into oncoming lane, but then swerve all over the place.
Finally spotted a police van alongside so honked and pointed them at the guy, they showed a bit of interest for a while then just slowly drove off, could have made a juicy contribution to the treasury but for some reason didn't.

Playing Location Based Games such as Ingress/Pokemon/Harry Potter while driving is technically legal at the moment.

Not if it means driving without due care and attention, which covers everything that isn't a specific offence.

People getting away with using the phone for stuff other than calling is because the police charged them with the wrong thing.

Was driving down the motorway late at night once, and noticed someone was playing a movie on an iPad taped to the steering wheel.

Once on a hitchhiking trip I got a lift from a truck driver, maybe in Germany or The Netherlands. I watched an entire movie on his laptop on the dashboard. He also managed to catch quite a lot of it.

Got to ask, what was the film?

Duel.

American Sniper.
The driver was, in his own words, a devout Christian and liked to perform in historical war reenactments in full gear and with replica weapons.
He was one of the more flavoursome characters I met on that trip, but I need the ride.

Ha, sounds like an interesting ride.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59339961

"A loophole allowing drivers to escape punishment for handheld phone use if they are taking a photo or playing a game has closed in Great Britain."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60869941

I never understood why this 'other' phone use wasn't punished by driving without due care and attention or similar. Reckon the cases of people getting away with it were the fault of the police for not applying the appropriate law, which wouldn't be much of a surprise.

Wondered whether it might have meant the hassle of a court case but apparently not, it can be a fixed penalty unless deemed more serious.

Irrelevant now anyway.