Should I have handed it in?????

[Ifti]

My iPhone 4 sits in a cradle which attached to the centre vent in my Golf.
Hence when in situ, I am able to record (in portrait only though) myself as I drive along. Not that Ive ever wanted to, and I dot get the full screen, just the top half.

Anyway, I absolutely HATE drivers that are on their mobiles as they drive!

I was behind a red Alpha yesterday for about a mile or so, and then going round a roundabout. For the whole time, the guy in front was on his phone. You could even see where he was bringing his other hand across to change gear - so twisting his body to change a gear (must have been letting go of the steering wheel also).

Nevertheless, I caught him on my phone, not pin sharp, but just enough to make out he was on the phone.

The plan was to hand it in on a CD, due to the really dangerous driving. But then I thought twice and just deleted the video.

What would you have done in this situation?

[edd666999]

dobbed him in. i would have been all over it. 

[Poverty]

yes its against the law but come on guys we really dont need stuff like this going on. Its a bit like the person who shopped ben. Dont see the point in possibly making someone loose their license and livelyhood over something like this.

[RobH]

It is illegal but still i wouldnt shop them in.

You could always join that website where people drive round making vids of bad driving then slate them on there own little forum, carnt remember the name of it but they all need shooting

[Nasir]

Wouldn't even record him to be honest.

[edd666999]

i was watching a massive lorry over take a massive tractor, both with massive trailers on the back.

it was on a country lane, at night, up a hill where u cant see over on double white lines having just passed some signs telling you how many people had been killed on this road. i promptly dropped back. good job too the lorry driver had to slam on and try and get behind the tractor as a car full of kids was heading towards him. moron.

wish i had recorded that and he lost his licence for life, he just endangered everyone.

he tried 4 more times to over take and managed to do it on a blind bend in the end.

[Top Cat]

I take it IFTI you never do anything wrong and you are whiter than white in your every thought.  Its easy to get angry about peoples behaviour. I can quite easily get irate when i see an empty motorway with a car cruising down the middle lane and the driver oblivious to the world around him. No matter how hard i try and just ignore them, quite often i cant and end up flashing them or even circling around them wishing i could just bump them off the road. 
Then when i calm down i realise what an idiot i have been, and just try and concentrate on my own behaviour and respect for our world, as really thats the only thing we can effect. 

[no golf clubs at all]

It takes time for attitudes and behaviours to change, I remember when seat belts became compulsory! Seems unthinkable to not wear one now. It Will take time but I'm not sure that grassing people up is the way to go, next time you go above the speed limit let's hope the car you overtake hasn't got video on board.

[Ifti]

I take it IFTI you never do anything wrong and you are whiter than white in your every thought.  Its easy to get angry about peoples behaviour. I can quite easily get irate when i see an empty motorway with a car cruising down the middle lane and the driver oblivious to the world around him. No matter how hard i try and just ignore them, quite often i cant and end up flashing them or even circling around them wishing i could just bump them off the road.  
Then when i calm down i realise what an idiot i have been, and just try and concentrate on my own behaviour and respect for our world, as really thats the only thing we can effect.  

No Im not whiter then white. But do I break speed limits - no I do not. Do I use my mobile while driving - well yes, but only with the phone in a cradle and using bluetooth. Worse still, do I use my mobile, take both hands off of the wheel at a busy roundabout, and drive back and forth into the next lane - no I do not.

While i didnt grass him up, I will be honest and state that yes, the thought did cross my mind.
The only reason i didnt was when the wife said "would you like it if someone done that to you", after which i deleted the video! lol

I dont usually create any videos while driving. TBH I didnt even think it would show up on the video, but just thought I'd try it out on my new handset.

[Top Cat]

I take it IFTI you never do anything wrong and you are whiter than white in your every thought.  Its easy to get angry about peoples behaviour. I can quite easily get irate when i see an empty motorway with a car cruising down the middle lane and the driver oblivious to the world around him. No matter how hard i try and just ignore them, quite often i cant and end up flashing them or even circling around them wishing i could just bump them off the road. 
Then when i calm down i realise what an idiot i have been, and just try and concentrate on my own behaviour and respect for our world, as really thats the only thing we can effect. 

No Im not whiter then white. But do I break speed limits - no I do not. Do I use my mobile while driving - well yes, but only with the phone in a cradle and using bluetooth. Worse still, do I use my mobile, take both hands off of the wheel at a busy roundabout, and drive back and forth into the next lane - no I do not.

While i didnt grass him up, I will be honest and state that yes, the thought did cross my mind.

But you still managed to use your phone while driving to take the video, i wonder if anyone took pics of you doing this. 

[Ifti]

You are legally allowed to use a phone while it's in a cradle. If you receive a call, you are able to press a button on the phone to answer it, and then have a conversation as long as the phone is on speaker and not handled, or if you have a hands free kit. You must not handle the phone at all - this even includes it being on speaker and held closer to your mouth etc.

Taking a pic or video is a 2 button click on the iPhone - similar to receiving a call. Hence it's not technically illegal - similar to police officers vehicles where they actually twist or move their mounted camera in the correct direction if need be, while driving.

I can have this confirmed by the two police officers we have on site at work, if you so wish.  
Remember, my phone is not handled at all - it's in a cradle the whole time.

[stealthwolf]

^^^Techically (I can't remember the reference otherwise I would have linked it here), you're not allowed to touch anything that's not part of the car. Hence a bluetooth headset technically isn't part of the car and you can be done for using it if you're involved in an accident (but unlikely to be pulled over just for using bluetooth).

If people can get done for careless driving purely through changing radio stations etc, then I'd be very careful about what you admit to doing on the road.

Back to the original topic, I wouldn't have taken the video in the first place, secondly would have kept as far away as possible (someone like that is bound to cause an accident and you don't want to be a part of it) or taken a different route. No I would not hand it in.

[MattPoss]

Personally I wouldn't bother....

Slightly different but last weekend I was following a van which was driving on the wrong side of the road round corners on country roads, it was all over the place. There were 2 young lads in it and it came close to hitting my car once or twice so after about 4 miles of following it (from a large distance) I decided to ring the police as I suspected he was drunk. They answered about 2mins after I had called and I explained the situation. I also explained that I was on a handsfree device and that I was ok to talk. They asked my name and address, make and reg of the van and which way we were heading. As we joined the Southbound M6, the operator said thanks and that I was to leave him and carry on with my journey as she had put a marker on his car and alerted a unit. I wasn't chasing him at speed (about 55-60mph on the motorway) and wasn't in any danger. Soon after hanging up, a couple of white bags were thrown out of the passenger window. At this point I decided to keep following as I was curious to see if any police turned up. He was swerving between the slow lane and the hard shoulder, people were using the fast lane to go round him. He turned off at the next junction and went through the city centre. After about 5 more miles of him being all over the road through town centre, I decided to leave as there was clearly no police arriving.

What annoys me is I was caught speeding the other week (on a quiet motorway) and the police are happy to stand and point a speed gun at me but when there are people like this who could potentially cause serious damage or injury, they just don't seem to be bothered. Makes me feel like next time I won't bother calling them, and the drunk driver will get away with it again.

Matt

[stealthwolf]

IMO traffic cops should be more focused on catching dodgy drivers than those who speed. Speed plays a factor in only 2% of RTAs but dangerous driving/driver error is responsible for something like 20-25%.

[Poverty]

i was watching a massive lorry over take a massive tractor, both with massive trailers on the back.

it was on a country lane, at night, up a hill where u cant see over on double white lines having just passed some signs telling you how many people had been killed on this road. i promptly dropped back. good job too the lorry driver had to slam on and try and get behind the tractor as a car full of kids was heading towards him. moron.

wish i had recorded that and he lost his licence for life, he just endangered everyone.

he tried 4 more times to over take and managed to do it on a blind bend in the end.

Him I would shop but would have thought the tractor driver would have let him pass seeing as its obvious he must have been desperate to get ahead!