From the Daily Echo…
‘Just an hour earlier he had signed a declaration to his employer, promising he would not use his phone at the wheel.’
Words fail me.
This was avoidable.
Captain Caveman 76:
dieseldog999:
Bluetooth…earpiece…job done…no need to use it unless your txting or otherwise passing the time…I wonder what kind of sentence all the sanctimonious holier than though brigade would wish upon themselves if they mess up…never judge a man till you’ve walked a mile in his shoes…every time someone drops a bollok,then the same ones start baying for blood and saying he got off lightly…One more thing, looks like most of the evidence against him was from the driver facing camera. Like it or not, looks like they’ll become rather popular from here on in.
Everyone here is missing this point. We’ve had arguments over these cameras yet here in this case, it captured the evidence to put the driver away for 10 years. We can’t have it both ways. Either we let the cameras in or we don’t.
Captain Caveman 76:
dieseldog999:
Bluetooth…earpiece…job done…no need to use it unless your txting or otherwise passing the time…I wonder what kind of sentence all the sanctimonious holier than though brigade would wish upon themselves if they mess up…never judge a man till you’ve walked a mile in his shoes…every time someone drops a bollok,then the same ones start baying for blood and saying he got off lightly…
There’s a difference between dropping a bollock and driving like a ■■■. He was looking at his phone for, what, 20 seconds plus? A lot can happen on the road in that time. This was totally avoidable and should make EVERY driver, not just truckers, think before pratting with their gadgets.
One more thing, looks like most of the evidence against him was from the driver facing camera. Like it or not, looks like they’ll become rather popular from here on in.quote]
well the dashcams are going to be facing you in the very foreseeable future as soon as your bigger companies are saving 10p off their renewal premium…nobodys going to care what drivers leave,as they will just be instantly replaced.the dashcam footage is all timelapsed and presented to suit the media opinion,or at least t looks like that when you play it.anyone can use their mobile,but you could always say it was the employers fault for using a flipflop with the stereotype track record that preceeds them.he would have signed the waiver to suit the agency/insurer/so the employer can pass the buck.if mobile phones work in cars and trucks,then the majority will use them whilst driving…sometimes crap happens…itl never change.
dieseldog999:
Captain Caveman 76:
dieseldog999:
Bluetooth…earpiece…job done…no need to use it unless your txting or otherwise passing the time…I wonder what kind of sentence all the sanctimonious holier than though brigade would wish upon themselves if they mess up…never judge a man till you’ve walked a mile in his shoes…every time someone drops a bollok,then the same ones start baying for blood and saying he got off lightly…There’s a difference between dropping a bollock and driving like a ■■■. He was looking at his phone for, what, 20 seconds plus? A lot can happen on the road in that time. This was totally avoidable and should make EVERY driver, not just truckers, think before pratting with their gadgets.
One more thing, looks like most of the evidence against him was from the driver facing camera. Like it or not, looks like they’ll become rather popular from here on in.quote]
well the dashcams are going to be facing you in the very foreseeable future as soon as your bigger companies are saving 10p off their renewal premium…nobodys going to care what drivers leave,as they will just be instantly replaced.the dashcam footage is all timelapsed and presented to suit the media opinion,or at least t looks like that when you play it.anyone can use their mobile,but you could always say it was the employers fault for using a flipflop with the stereotype track record that preceeds them.he would have signed the waiver to suit the agency/insurer/so the employer can pass the buck.if mobile phones work in cars and trucks,then the majority will use them whilst driving…sometimes crap happens…itl never change.
Sometimes that crap wipes an entire family out.
Simple answer is leave the phone alone when driving how hard can it be?
Radar19:
Captain Caveman 76:
dieseldog999:
Bluetooth…earpiece…job done…no need to use it unless your txting or otherwise passing the time…I wonder what kind of sentence all the sanctimonious holier than though brigade would wish upon themselves if they mess up…never judge a man till you’ve walked a mile in his shoes…every time someone drops a bollok,then the same ones start baying for blood and saying he got off lightly…One more thing, looks like most of the evidence against him was from the driver facing camera. Like it or not, looks like they’ll become rather popular from here on in.
Everyone here is missing this point. We’ve had arguments over these cameras yet here in this case, it captured the evidence to put the driver away for 10 years. We can’t have it both ways. Either we let the cameras in or we don’t.
■■■■■■■■, either Police it or make it more unpopular by an instant 2 year ban.
Why should I, or any other driver who has a brain or modicum of common sense, have to suffer the indignity, and intrusion of a ■■■■ camera watching you just because one ■■■■■■■■■ of a crap driver has been caught out.
A classic case of chucking out the baby with the bath water.
If you are happy to have a camera constantly watching you mate, rock on…fill yer boots, just don’t involve me.
Before you get in the cab tonight or tomorrow WATCH AND LISTEN to this…
ibtimes.co.uk/videos/tomasz- … one-21361#
Might make you think twice about that phone!!!
I lasted 22 seconds then got bored…just ban mobiles from being used whilst traveling and enforce it by a non money raking option,or accept its a fact of modern life.
The thing about the inward facing cab camera is…
Whilst providing almost irrefutable evidence of the drivers inattention and ultimately his guilt.
It didn’t prevent the accident from happening.
The new safety systems now being fitted to trucks possibly might have prevented this tragedy.
And people wonder why companies are installing driver facing cameras…
The lack of policing and enforcement of drivers is the problem. People unfortunately always try and ‘get away’ with things, one of the side effects of being a human being.
Because people cannot be trusted, we need to be watched, but when no-one is watching we will still try and take the ■■■■. Inward facing camera’s are seldom watched, and as such drivers still think ‘nothing will happen to me’.
If you were caught ■■■■■■■ around with your phone and it would cost you a £500 fine, SOME would stop. If you lost your licence for 3 months SOME MORE would stop.
It really is about time wagon drivers were SEVERELY punished for using their phone.
rambo19:
And people wonder why companies are installing driver facing cameras…
Why? To stop idiots wiping families out? Didn’t work this time did it? An idiot is an idiot whether he/she is filmed or not.
eagerbeaver:
The lack of policing and enforcement of drivers is the problem. People unfortunately always try and ‘get away’ with things, one of the side effects of being a human being.
Because people cannot be trusted, we need to be watched, but when no-one is watching we will still try and take the ■■■■. Inward facing camera’s are seldom watched, and as such drivers still think ‘nothing will happen to me’.If you were caught ■■■■■■■ around with your phone and it would cost you a £500 fine, SOME would stop. If you lost your licence for 3 months SOME MORE would stop.
It really is about time wagon drivers were SEVERLEY punished for using their phone.
Not just us lorry drivers, needs to be all drivers.
6 month driving ban would stop it.
so where do you draw the line…some may say that most professional truckies would be able to multitask,full auto,criuse control etc…whereas…how competent is your usual scattererbrained wifey that you pass day in and out on the mobile in a flap because she just noticed that someone else never liked her latest brats pic on faceache.i don’t see why truckies or any other “professional”(excuse me while I laugh up my sleeve at that description) should be crucified more than joe blogs the car driver…we drive well over 10 times the miles with 10 times the road usage of the private dude,isnt there an argument that 12 points shouldn’t get you a ban if your a truckie?
The-Snowman:
roughyed:
Here’s an interesting bit to this from a drivers point of view. I’m an agency driver and I have to sign these declaration sheets, and they are there to protect only the company. I’m asked on nearly every job I go on for my number “in case we need to contact you” , as most companies now don’t have a cab phone to save money. In either event, they knowing you have signed that form won’t stop them calling you, even when they know your moving and can see that on a tracker. I wonder what the attitude will be once you’ve signed a form like that, then say don’t ring me while you know I’m driving . This driver has no excuse for what he did, but I wonder what the police attitude would have been if he’d had answered his phone to them prior to a crash of this magnitude .Still the drivers fault for answering the phone. If they call, pull in, stop and then answer it. I bet after the second call they decide its not that important to keep phoning
I don’t answer when i’m driving,don’t care how important the call is,also tell them I won’t answer while driving
eagerbeaver:
At the risk of upsetting folk, the flip flops seem far more obsessed with their phones than the British.And we are bad enough.
agree 100% with that
dieseldog999:
so where do you draw the line…some may say that most professional truckies would be able to multitask,full auto,criuse control etc…whereas…how competent is your usual scattererbrained wifey that you pass day in and out on the mobile in a flap because she just noticed that someone else never liked her latest brats pic on faceache.i don’t see why truckies or any other “professional”(excuse me while I laugh up my sleeve at that description) should be crucified more than joe blogs the car driver…we drive well over 10 times the miles with 10 times the road usage of the private dude,isnt there an argument that 12 points shouldn’t get you a ban if your a truckie?
dieseldog999,your not an ozzie by any chance are you [truckie]sounds the kind of thing an Australian would say
Still the drivers fault for answering the phone. If they call, pull in, stop and then answer it. I bet after the second call they decide its not that important to keep phoning
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I don’t answer when i’m driving,don’t care how important the call is,also tell them I won’t answer while driving
[/quote]
what happens when its your personal phone its the wife/mother/daughter and your 20 miles from the next junction?
truckman020:
dieseldog999:
so where do you draw the line…some may say that most professional truckies would be able to multitask,full auto,criuse control etc…whereas…how competent is your usual scattererbrained wifey that you pass day in and out on the mobile in a flap because she just noticed that someone else never liked her latest brats pic on faceache.i don’t see why truckies or any other “professional”(excuse me while I laugh up my sleeve at that description) should be crucified more than joe blogs the car driver…we drive well over 10 times the miles with 10 times the road usage of the private dude,isnt there an argument that 12 points shouldn’t get you a ban if your a truckie?dieseldog999,your not an ozzie by any chance are you [truckie]sounds the kind of thing an Australian would say
originally frae glesgae jimmy and now stuck in the land that time forgot…never been to oz,though I once bought a new boomerang to play with,but for the life of me,i couldn’t get rid of the old one… 
Th eYanks have the right idea about criminals, if you’ve got a record you can’t get into the country. This man should be deported and never allowed back in again when he gets out, no matter how long he has lived in this country.
Driver-Once-More:
The driver, acording to reports, was selecting music on his phone, not answering or recieving a call.
Exactly, so not ‘answering his phone’ from the office etc but scrolling through the menu at lap level which has to be a really stupid act. The judge said that he might as well been driving with his eyes closed. I (and many other drivers that I worked with) must have spent hours on the phone finding work or chatting to one another while driving years ago but I never took my eyes off the road, you don’t need to look at the thing to listen and talk in it and I never used the text option as I still can’t text easily! 
That said, I uphold the decision to ban folk from using them while driving, maybe we were all just lucky that we were never involved in an accident? 
Pete.