Driver or steering wheel attendant?

3 November

The Daily Mail yesterday caused a bit of puss n bovver over its front page photos of nine drivers of foreign registered trucks using their mobile phone on the M20 in Kent. They caught 15 such drivers in a fairly short time, all left hand drive trucks, and all just off the ferry or Eurotunnel train and heading north. We had BBC Coventry and Warwickshire on the radio as we headed out shopping and they ha d a spokesperson from the Road Haulage Association on to give their views on it. Basically she said that the Association has been against mobile use while driving. She then hit the nail on the head by saying that no matter what penalties are applied, none are effective if there are no police around to catch them.

We have found a pub on the A47 in Leicester that we like, so every so often we go to the Asda at Fosse Park to do our shopping. From there we make our way around the ring road to the A47 and head home. The pub is on the left just before the bridge over the M1 at Leicester Forest East. Yet again, yesterday we drove down the A5 from home, along the M69 and the rout I have just mentioned to get home. We saw not one copper anywhere within that trip. OK, it was a short run, not much more than 30 miles, if that far, but we didn’t see any coppers when we went down to Southampton a few weeks ago. West Midland Police have admitted that the number of their patrol cars have been heavily cut due cost restraints. How many other forces has had to do the same I wonder?

Shows on telly like Interceptors, and those where any number of cops are found to swamp an area for a short time and crack down on one sort of crime, show large numbers of cops for a short time. Once that op is over, patrol numbers go back to normal and the crims come out to play again. What these shows don’t mention is how long a period they are filmed over and doing that gives a false impression of what cops are actually doing and how many there are on duty at any one time. But getting back to mobile phone use then …

A few years ago a cinema ran an ad which shocked a lot of those watching. As they bought their tickets they were asked for their mobile numbers. They entered sat down, the lights dimmed and they began watching the screen where a person was sat in the driving and filming at the same time. At one point loads of mobiles rank at the same time and viewers dived for their phones. When they looked up all they could see was a bush in front of them filmed at an odd angle. While they were reaching for their phones the car had run off the road. It happens that quickly and that unexpectedly. The whole cinema was totally silent as they looked around themselves, then the words Don’t Drive and Use Your at the Time!

But here’s the thing folks, we all know we should use our phones while driving, so why do so many do it? Is it that the risk of getting caught is so low? Or is because of arrogance that they think they are better drivers than everyone else, and that it will never happen to me? Jan use a hands few set-up so that any calls are played through the radio. When I was driving, I’d turn my phone off until I got to a service area and turn it on while I was there; it went off again when I got back the car.

At various times there have been cases where a driver has been issued with a ticket for eating or drinking water while driving. I find that one a bit ambiguous really, but there’s another one that we never hear about (or at least I haven’t), and that is smoking while driving. Pulling a fag out of the pack and lighting it causes enough distraction. When a driver starts rolling one while at the wheel is even worse. And here’s part of the problem my friends; whit I think is not what everyone else thinks is it. No, of course not, that’s why so many people are getting caught out.

Being a driver is so much more than sitting behind the wheel and steering the car/van/truck, or whatever. If you think that, then you are no more than a steering wheel attendant. There is far more to driving that that. The essence of it all is to get from A to B not as quickly as possible, but as safely as possible. That means being aware what is happening all around you, it means reading the road and the signs, constantly being aware of any hazards near you or may come near you. Doing that on a daily basis, is what driving is about.

Today’s photo …

Oh how I wish … … …

Today’s funny …

What do you call birds that fly through the jungle singing opera?
The parrots of Penzance.