After hearing about the sentence this morning I decided to have a look at drivers when they pass me. I came off the 62 onto the m18 and set the cruise to 50. 15 or 16 trucks passed me on the length of the m18 and 4 of them were messing with there phones!! After seeing this I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often. 
Gembo:
What I would like to know is, as this clown got 10 years, it said on the news last night that the maximum he could have got for this was 14 years.
SO,
WTF do you have to do to get the maximum 14 years??
The judge will have given him some credit for making an early guilty plea (this alone would be worth a year or two off the sentence at this end of the scale). Also, to get the maximum sentence there would have to be some other aggravating factors - e.g. deliberately aggressive driving, or really bad driving for a sustained period or distance.
Dashcam footage from the actual incident…
Albert1:
No not really ,if you want to switch music text or call someone take time out OFF the road to do it. No excuses .
meanwhile,back on planet earth… 
Tubbysboy:
So none of any of us on here has texted / whatsapp/ emailed while driving ■■?I think it’s bloody awful for all involved, but… and I think it’s a big but…
There for the grace of god go I…
We all know it’s wrong, but we still do it, and I don’t think many people can honestly say they haven’t either…
Yes if it was music searching or whatever kind of makes it worse, but the principle is the same.
I think the phone manufacturers should make the hand sets automatically blocked when the phone is traveling over a certain speed, thus removing the temptation…
No great help to the devasted family involved…
You are quite correct when you say some of us have never text etc while driving because some of us are not weak minded and realise the dangers of doing such stupid things whilst driving.
Unfortunately a lot of drivers cannot obey the law or do not want to obey the law because they think they are capable of driving whilst on the phone or breaking speed limits or bullying other drivers by driving too close and that is why we are all having to be controlled by more and more electronics and soon by driverless vehicles.
These selfish ignorant arrogant people should be put off the road for good.
You are also correct when you say it is no help to the devastated family but you can guarantee some driver reading this will be on his phone tomorrow thinking it will never happen to them. 
Uncle Albie:
Tubbysboy:
So none of any of us on here has texted / whatsapp/ emailed while driving ■■?I think it’s bloody awful for all involved, but… and I think it’s a big but…
There for the grace of god go I…
We all know it’s wrong, but we still do it, and I don’t think many people can honestly say they haven’t either…
Yes if it was music searching or whatever kind of makes it worse, but the principle is the same.
I think the phone manufacturers should make the hand sets automatically blocked when the phone is traveling over a certain speed, thus removing the temptation…
No great help to the devasted family involved…
You are quite correct when you say some of us have never text etc while driving because some of us are not weak minded and realise the dangers of doing such stupid things whilst driving.
Unfortunately a lot of drivers cannot obey the law or do not want to obey the law because they think they are capable of driving whilst on the phone or breaking speed limits or bullying other drivers by driving too close and that is why we are all having to be controlled by more and more electronics and soon by driverless vehicles.
These selfish ignorant arrogant people should be put off the road for good.
You are also correct when you say it is no help to the devastated family but you can guarantee some driver reading this will be on his phone tomorrow thinking it will never happen to them.
So, you’ve never done it then ? Hand on heart ?
Totally agree that it’s wrong…BUT
caught using phone for anything whilst driving phone confiscated on the spot no chance to back up your numbers or data its just gone six points on your licence and your fine will be the cost to replace the phone from the manufacturer
caught again within five years phone and vehicle confiscated on the spot fine to the value of replacing both vehicle and phone plus 9 points on your licence
no exceptions for hard ship etc tough ■■■■ you know the law deal with it
Uncle Albie:
Tubbysboy:
So none of any of us on here has texted / whatsapp/ emailed while driving ■■?I think it’s bloody awful for all involved, but… and I think it’s a big but…
There for the grace of god go I…
We all know it’s wrong, but we still do it, and I don’t think many people can honestly say they haven’t either…
Yes if it was music searching or whatever kind of makes it worse, but the principle is the same.
I think the phone manufacturers should make the hand sets automatically blocked when the phone is traveling over a certain speed, thus removing the temptation…
No great help to the devasted family involved…
You are quite correct when you say some of us have never text etc while driving because some of us are not weak minded and realise the dangers of doing such stupid things whilst driving.
Unfortunately a lot of drivers cannot obey the law or do not want to obey the law because they think they are capable of driving whilst on the phone or breaking speed limits or bullying other drivers by driving too close and that is why we are all having to be controlled by more and more electronics and soon by driverless vehicles.
These selfish ignorant arrogant people should be put off the road for good.
You are also correct when you say it is no help to the devastated family but you can guarantee some driver reading this will be on his phone tomorrow thinking it will never happen to them.
do you drive a desk? 
■■■■■
Even if some of us have used the phone whilst driving it doesn’t and shouldn’t exclude us from entering into a debate or discussion about how wrong it is, and reflecting on and improving our behaviour.
Anyone who watches the in cab camera footage and then reads about the aftermath of this tragedy can’t fail to be moved. It is a there for the grace of god go I situation, I’m just thankful I have never had an incident caused by using a phone.
Whilst out and about yesterday I saw dozens of wagon drivers using phones, you can spot some of them a mile off even before you get close to them. I’ve reflected on my rare mobile phone use, and won’t be doing it again, we all need to do the same, and help stop anymore tragedies like this!
MickM
Bluey Circles:
yourhavingalarf:
The new safety systems now being fitted to trucks possibly might have prevented this tragedy.The automatic braking systems in theory should, however some of this technology may make things worse; Its going to beep if you drift out of lane, its going to hold you at the same distance from the vehicle in front and it will slam the anchors on if something major happens. There may be a tendency to over rely on all this stuff and feel more comfortable pratting about with a phone or other such device, it ain’t going to be a benefit if drivers stop reading the road half a mile ahead
Driver-Once-More:
The driver, acording to reports, was selecting music on his phone, not answering or recieving a call.I wonder how many people realise that playing music from your phone via the in-vehicle hifi is still a mobile phone offence if you touch the phone to select a track. I tend to think this will be a bit of a surprise to a great many - presumably it is also a mobile offence if you are using it as a satnav ?
My wifes car has a fancy screen built into the dash, plug an SD card into it or an iphone and you can scroll through music on the screen, may be not as distracting as using the phone but still incredibly distracting to use when driving, I guess many will think it entirely acceptable to use when driving as it is built into the vehicle?
You can buy a little media remote that works with Bluetooth for around £8. Just has 5 buttons in a circle for forward and backward, volume up and down and play/pause. Set the playlist you want or add things to the queue before you set off and it’s spot on. Stick it to the dash near the radio, you can press the buttons by feel. No taking your eyes off the road .
You could buy one of these and a Bluetooth headset for less than £30 and with Google now and Siri you can make calls and even read/write text messages. I don’t think it’s a good idea to compose messages by voice while driving but if people want to its up to them.
But what are these people driving along looking at their mobiles actually doing? Facebook? Traffic reports? Most sat navs now have traffic. If not travel news on the radio isn’t perfect but does the job most of the time. It amazes me that people will risk a fine and points, and possibly doing something like the above for the sake of £30 of Bluetooth devices.
If it’s in the wiper sweep etc it’s apparently a gv9 but what are people’s thoughts on the mobiles stuck to the windscreen in a holder? Is this on borrowed time now?
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
The driver has got off lightly in my opinion. As someone said earlier the whole weight of the law should have been directed at him including the fact he tried to blame vehicle failure.
What can we do about it? Unfortunately until the punishment fits the crime people will still continue to use phones etc whist driving.
It’s a sad vision of attitudes in this country where, if you were to hand out say, instant 6 month bans+ £500 fine+ removal of vehicle for using a phone while driving people would be up in arms saying goes we should be catching “proper criminals”. What is a proper criminal? In my eyes anyone who breaks a law is a criminal and should be punished. And let’s face it, we’ve all bent the rules slightly at some point or another.
I mean, too many leftie wet liberals talk about prison these days as a rehabilitation process!!! My arse, it should be about punishment as a future deterrent. And there in lies the crux of my point and that of others on here. Make the punishment a deterrent to commit the offence in the first place.
Went the down and up the A34 last night, overtook maybe 10 or more trucks messing with a phone, so blatant it’s shocking. All well and good till you flatten a car. Absolute joke that people still do this.
Tubbysboy:
Uncle Albie:
Tubbysboy:
So none of any of us on here has texted / whatsapp/ emailed while driving ■■?I think it’s bloody awful for all involved, but… and I think it’s a big but…
There for the grace of god go I…
We all know it’s wrong, but we still do it, and I don’t think many people can honestly say they haven’t either…
Yes if it was music searching or whatever kind of makes it worse, but the principle is the same.
I think the phone manufacturers should make the hand sets automatically blocked when the phone is traveling over a certain speed, thus removing the temptation…
No great help to the devasted family involved…
You are quite correct when you say some of us have never text etc while driving because some of us are not weak minded and realise the dangers of doing such stupid things whilst driving.
Unfortunately a lot of drivers cannot obey the law or do not want to obey the law because they think they are capable of driving whilst on the phone or breaking speed limits or bullying other drivers by driving too close and that is why we are all having to be controlled by more and more electronics and soon by driverless vehicles.
These selfish ignorant arrogant people should be put off the road for good.
You are also correct when you say it is no help to the devastated family but you can guarantee some driver reading this will be on his phone tomorrow thinking it will never happen to them.
So, you’ve never done it then ? Hand on heart ?
Totally agree that it’s wrong…BUT
Nope and never will. The consequences are 2 much.
I use Google Maps because I’m too tight to buy a truck nav, but the screen goes blank after 10 minutes. My phones’ standby mode is off yet I still have to tap/swipe the screen to keep it displayed. Strictly illegal but then so is the old way of holding a map whilst driving, which the Daily Fail still hasn’t campaigned about.
It would have been an interesting case had the driver been scrolling / searching for music on an in-build screen fitted by the manufacturer into the dash of the vehicle. As mentioned earlier my wife’s car has such an inbuilt screen and I am not too sure using that would be much better than what the driver of the lorry was doing. All these devices take your focus away from the road.
The specific laws concerning mobile phones made the conviction easy and the resulting sentencing will hopefully have a deterring affect on others but for me a bigger question needs to be asked about all these screens that are becoming standard, I was looking at an advert for a car the other day that was promoting its ‘connectivity’ and the screen on the dash was in a ‘skype’ layout! Can you now skype whilst driving ■■? I hope not!
I fear lorry drivers are going to come under increasing criticism, a sort of witch-hunt as more and more incidents are caught by driver facing cameras, blame and criticism could well be disproportionate as these cameras are mostly only fitted within HGVs . I suspect a very high percentage of all accidents are caused by drivers being distracted but as there is seldom proof it receives little attention.
The technology is in existence to stop any vehicle bring driven if any device is activated.
Next time you are in a 50 mph average speed camera road works, count how many trucks are tailgating motorists to bully them out of their way by driving two feet away from their back bumper.
I’m sorry to say it’s trucks doing this and must be thick as wood, there is no time to react and stop when it goes mammaries up.
It is your duty to report these cretins to their employers to make sure they don’t kill all of your family so they can gain two minutes on their journey .
It is UK trucks doing it, not foreigners .
toby1234abc:
It is your duty to report these cretins.
Were you posing like Kitchener when you posted that? It’s my duty as a professional driver to not do the aforementioned things. It’s not my duty to be a police informer.
Bluey Circles:
It would have been an interesting case had the driver been scrolling / searching for music on an in-build screen fitted by the manufacturer into the dash of the vehicle. As mentioned earlier my wife’s car has such an inbuilt screen and I am not too sure using that would be much better than what the driver of the lorry was doing. All these devices take your focus away from the road.The specific laws concerning mobile phones made the conviction easy and the resulting sentencing will hopefully have a deterring affect on others but for me a bigger question needs to be asked about all these screens that are becoming standard, I was looking at an advert for a car the other day that was promoting its ‘connectivity’ and the screen on the dash was in a ‘skype’ layout! Can you now skype whilst driving ■■? I hope not!
I fear lorry drivers are going to come under increasing criticism, a sort of witch-hunt as more and more incidents are caught by driver facing cameras, blame and criticism could well be disproportionate as these cameras are mostly only fitted within HGVs . I suspect a very high percentage of all accidents are caused by drivers being distracted but as there is seldom proof it receives little attention.
Wasn’t there a model advertised recently by a husband saying to his wife he didn’t mind driving as his new car would read his Facebook posts to him or something?!?
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
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
Don’t dare lump me in with the full on bulls**t that he’s spouting about this. I usually take what he says with a pinch of salt, but this is ■■■■■■■ ridiculous. We’ve got some rednecks driving trucks over here, but most of us don’t think like him.
Tubbysboy:
So none of any of us on here has texted / whatsapp/ emailed while driving ■■?I think it’s bloody awful for all involved, but… and I think it’s a big but…
There for the grace of god go I…
We all know it’s wrong, but we still do it, and I don’t think many people can honestly say they haven’t either…
Yes if it was music searching or whatever kind of makes it worse, but the principle is the same.
I think the phone manufacturers should make the hand sets automatically blocked when the phone is traveling over a certain speed, thus removing the temptation…
No great help to the devasted family involved…
Well here’s one that hasn’t and never will. It’s called being grown up and having a sense of responsibility and some thought for others.