The difficulty is enforcement.

[Fatjim]

I believe the best wy to police this is not by the police.

The most productive way to deter this kind of offending is the "law into your own hands" method.

The police have little to do with keeping us safe anymore.

[Coyote]

But I've seen salespeople develop a distrust for every customer they deal with. It's not healthy.

Ooo, I get that with everyone! With a bit of resentment

The only difficulty is most of you don't even trust cops to operate speed detection equipment honestly, (often accusing them of just making speeds up or issuing tickets to drivers based on speed readings obtained from other vehicles), so why would you trust them to police this when it would rely totally on the cops ability to spot offences and their integrity to police honestly?

Ah it makes sense now, by introducing an instant fine / infringement offence it will become a much more effective revenue stream

I saw someone texting while riding earlier today, I let out a chuckle.

A definite temporary citizen.

Was he doing it whilst power wheelieing? Cause that would be me

I believe the best wy to police this is not by the police.

The most productive way to deter this kind of offending is the "law into your own hands" method.

The police have little to do with keeping us safe anymore.

Snapt?

[FJRider]

Texting when driving tragedy.
I read the 'difficulty enforcing' with some incredulity.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/...ectid=10487746

Laws ALREADY exist to cover this "problem"...Driving without due care and attention. Anybody using a cell phone with it stuck in one ear, drives like a dipstick, ANY cop will notice that. The old saying...there's never a cop around ....etc

[Ixion]

I'm glad there's someone else remembers the old "driving without due care and attention" offence.

Somewhere along the line many years ago this got dropped and replaced by "careless driving" a significantly different offence.

"Driving without due care and attention" is exactly what is wanted for this sort of thing. Covers a multitude, without being as heavy as careless driving. DWODCAA covers the "not paying attention" stuff too.

I don't know when it fell out of the statute book, but it is sadly missed.

Mind you, if the cops can't be bothered to pull people up for blatent red light running under their very noses, what likelihood is there that they will pay any attention to cell phones, regardless of laws.

[TOTO]

Simply track phone calls. You can triangulate a cellphone's position. If it is travelling more than 30 kms per hour and being used, and the person isn't on a train or bus, add the fine to their bill.

Yes, they can tell if you are on a bus or train.

For peak hour traffic, just fine everyone through their bill who uses it between 7am and 9:30am. Yes this includes passengers. Tough. The inconvenience is worth 30 lives.

What about passengers in a car ??????????

[Big Dave]

How boring

I text on the bike all the time. It makes me look cool

Cool people don't txt.
Really cool people don't have a mobile phone.

[candor]

Yep there was a car following me after dark with no headlights. Out of Naenae and thru to Kelson other day. A cop sitting at the intersection left turn onto motorway, just before right turn up to Kelson, turned the blind eye despite a full visual for couyple of minutes (lights red). Metink had met alcohol/DUI quota, and was concentrating on speed productivity measures instead. It woulda been so easy to catch that sus car but no bite.

Fatjim. Like put the phone where...

[Coyote]

Cool people don't txt.
Really cool people don't have a mobile phone.

Funny you should say that as I don't have a phone either. I lost it, went back to where I knew I lost it and it was gone. Some homie must've gone past and thought "churrr, nu fone bro".

They all know the Nokia codes to switch numbers and such so they've just scored an upgrade.


Power wheelies on an NC30 in the later post were meant to be the giveaway to the former comment being a pisstake.

[Coyote]

Yep there was a car following me after dark with no headlights. Out of Naenae and thru to Kelson other day. A cop sitting at the intersection left turn onto motorway, just before right turn up to Kelson, turned the blind eye despite a full visual for couyple of minutes (lights red). Metink had met alcohol/DUI quota, and was concentrating on speed productivity measures instead. It woulda been so easy to catch that sus car but no bite.

Fatjim. Like put the phone where...

I've had cops flash their high beams at me when my headlights have failed to work.

Reminds me of the simpsons episode where Wiggum is pursuiting a car at night. The car being chased turns it's lights off and dissappears so Wiggum believes it must be a 'ghost car'.

[Big Dave]

post were meant to be the giveaway to the former comment being a pisstake.

I got it - although not from that hint.

[Coyote]

I got it - although not from that hint.

Because you're a smart cookie.

I've had to explain my sarcasm a lot more often than I ever used to. I think I'm being too smart and subtle about it cause it seems people only understand blunt and obvious.

[Big Dave]

Because you're a smart cookie.

I've had to explain my sarcasm a lot more often than I ever used to. I think I'm being too smart and subtle about it cause it seems people only understand blunt and obvious.

It's always a fine line and some rooms are tougher than others.

I've worked with a lot of comics and stand ups.

Garry Who used to tell me that he could 'hear' the mood of the crowd before he went on and adjust his act for that.

We need a KB mood ring.

[Swoop]

Actually - nobody much in Aus texts while driving as it's too big a bust.

How much and is this Australia wide or different for each state?

[Big Dave]

How much and is this Australia wide or different for each state?

Not sure - only lived in NSW in the mobile phone age.
Everyone went hands free.

[spudchucka]

I would call it an assumption, rather than a generalisation. And it was based from what I have seen posted here by you.

No malice intended, just an observation.

As far as it being a 'stale stereotype', surely when you deal with liars and criminals all day long you must soon start to feel everyone is lying, heck even Scumdog himself admitted it. Similar to the car industry, when I started years ago I was told to remember that 'buyers are liars'. And sure a lot of them are, whether they intend to or not, and some of them are plain straight up with you. But I've seen salespeople develop a distrust for every customer they deal with. It's not healthy.

An assumption? That makes all the difference since its such a reliable method of judging the character of a human being.

I spent six years as an area sales manager before I joined and I'd agree that many customers do lie in an attempt to screw better deals out of you but then I also noticed that many companies lie to their representatives who then inadvertently lie to their customers.

I never became cynical towards customers because I figured that they were just playing a game and trying to look after their own best interests. In fact in the six years I only ever found one customer that I refused to deal with because he was such a shocking liar.

Company managers on the other hand lost my trust completely and I would seriously scrutinise the integrity of any manager before I worked as a representative of any sort again.

In my time as a cop I've met a few cops that have become seriously disaffected by their work, only a few. Most cops do become naturally suspicious of others though, that's the nature of the work.

In the context of this thread people have been saying that if a cop sees a a person texting while driving the cop should issue a ticket, they obviously trust a cops judgement well enough to encourage this. On the other hand, how many threads / posts have there been on this forum that slam police for issuing tickets in circumstances where the only proof of the offence is the cop as an eye witness? The classic being speed offences. Accusations fly around of cops just making up speeds and issuing tickets to drivers based on speed readings obtained from other vehicles.

My comment in relation to this, (that seems to have rubbed you the wrong way) is an observation on my part as a person that has been frequenting this forum for some years now. I see a certain amount of hypocrisy when I read comments suggesting cops should be able to slap out an infringement for this offence but under no circumstances can cops be trusted to police another offence honestly.