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news
driving using mobile phoneMobile phone use and aggressive drivers are major concerns for road users finds IAM survey
The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has urged the government to make road traffic policing a higher priority after a survey revealed people would like to see a number of specific offences more aggressively targeted.
The survey, involving 2,703 people, was conducted by the IAM throughout April of this year. In the face of police budgets continuing to be cut, 45 per cent of respondents were in favour of an increase in the number of police enforcing traffic laws. Top offences respondents would like to see tackled include mobile phone use at the wheel; drink and drug driving; and aggressive and angry drivers.
In February, a Department for Transport (DfT) study found that the percentage of car drivers using a hand-held mobile phone has not gone down since 2009. Reflecting this, 72 per cent of those who took part in the IAM study said that they would like to see police officers making more effort to tackle the offence.
In February, we reported how Norfolk council is investing in technology to detect drivers using phones at the wheel in an attempt to crack down on distracted driving. However, another finding of the DfT study was that drivers are now more likely to be using their phones to text or look at the internet than to make calls. Being as the automated system relies on photographic evidence, this form of behaviour may be more difficult to identify.
As well as mobile phone use, 65 per cent of IAM respondents wanted to see more effort being made to address drink and drug-driving, while 50 per cent considered aggressive and angry drivers to be a major issue. Speeding also remains a concern with 64 per cent believing that more traffic police on major urban roads would be one of the best ways to combat this.
IAM’s chief executive officer, Sarah Sillars, said:
“The government cannot afford to be complacent about road safety and a lot more needs to be done to address major road offences through the enforcement of existing legislation and full use of police powers. The IAM supports an increase in the number of high profile road policing officers and a zero tolerance approach to the enforcement of traffic laws.
“Where drivers are failing to live up to the required standards they must be given access to a wider range of targeted retraining courses that refresh their skills, these include the IAM drink-drive rehabilitation course, educational campaigns targeting young drivers, and the IAM Skill for Life course which help existing drivers to improve their skills and give them greater awareness of other road users.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- Flintshire Boy 3 sec ago
. Don't forget the 'sun in my eyes' excuse - even in the middle of an overcast winter! .
- slc 3 min 15 sec ago
Ok, let me have another go at articulating this. Sometimes it is the location and volume of traffic that is dangerous, rather than what we usually...
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Where does it state in the article that Ashley purchased the stock? it does state that Ashley bought the brand and intellectual property, not the...
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Jump off the bike and run across. I cycle in trainers though.
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Cheers for the lesson! Wasn't expecting one so was pleasantly surprised, especially getting to find the origin of "laconic"!
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Isn't it a rights issue?
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If anything, it looks a bit like an SL6
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Other commenters have different views True!
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Incredibly bone-headed.
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22 comments
The threat of a paltry fine is obviously having no effect.
Any thoughts of impounding the car and crushing it, however appealing, are never going to happen.
How about the police/PSCOs being given the power to confiscate the offending phone with the driver being given a receipt and he/she can then collect it from that officer's nick?
Losing one's smart-phone/right-hand like that, and having to suffer the humiliation of collecting it, would be quite a deterrent.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2suwav_p565dck-p56-dck-driving-while-o...
In this warm weather with windows down just lean in grab it and ride off - drop it down a drain, drop it on the road - oops smash, chuck it anywhere.
Well volunteered Merv0
Breathalyzed and found to be a very small amount over the alcohol limit and you are immediately banned for twelve months. I obviously do not condone drink driving, but to me a person texting / facebook / whatever ( not even looking at the road) is a bigger danger and should receive the same punishment.
Time for all cyclists (there are enough of us) to organise an e-petition to have this discussed by government.
hand held cell phone (and use of smart phones, tablets, reading books, eating plates of food) is completely out of control, at least from my limited point of view as an everyday London cyclists.
If you ride alongside any queue of stationary or slowly moving traffic, you see the majority of drivers holding something they shouldn't. This includes private vehicles, company vehicles, public transport vehicles and even emergency service vehicles.
No one seems to care, because there's bugger all chance of getting caught, there are few Police actively policing traffic on the streets in London. Motorists are not stupid, in that they have realized there is little chance of getting nicked by the Police.
Just as with seat belts and drink driving, its going to take:
-Enforcement by Police and the Courts
-Education by appropriate organisations
With the new Government's cutbacks, doubtful this will happen during the current parliament.
Mobile phone use (both with and without handfree) has been documented to impair driving ability, as do alcohol and drugs. It is psychopathic behaviour - the phone user's interest is put above others and should be punished accordingly. However deterrence has its limits and there are fewer police about to enforce the law. To make progess mobile phone use whilst driving has to become as socially unacceptable as drink driving.
Having a bad day a couple of months ago I was pulled out on at a junction (while driving) by a woman talking on her phone. I stopped abruptly and screamed at her out of the window. If I hadn't had my kids with me and she hadn't had hers with her I think I'd have got out and taken her phone by force and put it over a fence... And then probably got in more trouble for doing that than she would for talking on it in the first place.
The situation with phones is getting way out of hand.
Last week I spotted someone openly texting as they passed me in the outside lane of an admittedly slow moving dual carriageway, only to then find that 3 of the following 4 cars were also 'on the phone'.
I occasionally check out cars on a busy single lane arterial road in Birmingham as I walk home from work, and over the course of several random days I have found about 1 in 20 drivers is sing the phone whilst driving.
It's time to allow the police to fund themselves from fines. If I could personally make £500 a time from each mobile-using driver I saw, I could run my own mini police force.
Two major'ish incidents on yesterday's commute (one each way), in both occasions driver was doing something on their phone while holding it in their lap.
That's not to mention all the bad overtakes obviously...
on top of any points and fine, an immediate confiscation of your phone, sending it to some charity.
From a cycling perspective, it is not really lawbreakers that are the big day to day problem.
It is the lack of awareness, in particular, the assumption or belief that it is ok to overtake a cyclist without pulling over into the other carriageway.
I am amazed by the number of people who overtake without pulling over, even on straight roads when there is nothing coming the other way.
(Of course, those overtaking on bends or when there is oncoming traffic are also part of the problem.)
The corollary of this of course is drivers getting irate at cyclists two abreast. Guys- it shouldn't matter because if it is not safe to pass two abreast, it is almost certainly not safe to pass a singleton; the objection to two abreast almost necessarily means you are prepared to squeeze past a singleton when there isn't really room to do so safely/ without putting the cyclist at risk.
Or squeezing past traffic islands! I try to make a conscious effort to really dominate the lane when I'm passing a traffic island, because otherwise the impatient idiot behind me will invariably drive through next to me.
But..... those people are "lawbreakers" - if there was a genuine desire by the authorities to deal with these problems; anyone passing too close, overtaking without the sequence they were taught when learning to drive (MSM), overtaking on bends, overtaking opposite road junctions etc. would be considered to be driving below the standard that would normally be expected and even under current legislation they could be charged with careless driving.
Of course the real issue is that the authorities (a) don't really care and (b) are scared to upset the "motorist".
The challenge is therefore how to make them care.
The problem is not always with the budget or the quantity of policeman we have. It's their look on the situation and ability to do their job correctly. A lot of policeman don't even react to phones being used while driving, they have little concern to cyclists as far as giving tickets for speeding when the law states there is no such thing for cyclists.I would rather have small amount of well educated and motivated police officers than loads of useless people in police uniform.
The problem is not always with the budget or the quantity of policeman we have. It's their look on the situation and ability to do their job correctly. A lot of policeman don't even react to phones being used while driving, they have little concern to cyclists as far as giving tickets for speeding when the law states there is no such thing for cyclists.I would rather have small amount of well educated and motivated police officers than loads of useless people in police uniform.
I think there are two categories of people using phone while driving, the ones who are unaware of the damage they can cause by doing that and the ones who simply don't care.
In both case draconian enforcement would be my favourite solution.
Where are you going to get the dragon from? Or did you mean Draconian?
To be fair, the "refresh their skills" quote doesn't specifically mention speeding.
The IAM would like specific offences more aggressively targeted, but what can they (will they) do to actually make this happen?
Just break their fingers at the roadside when they get caught... soon stop them fiddling with their 'toys'...
This always makes me laugh. Like they're speeding because they have 'lost the skill' not to do so. Utter bollocks.