So, Lord Ahmet was sending txt messages before having an accident and sent to prison for it. The judge said that the texting had no bearing on the accident but sent him to jail anyway.
It seems the unfortunate guy he hit had already had an accident (over the DD limit)and was trying to retrieve his mobile phone (:w00t:) from the middle of the road when he was struck.
I’m about to go out and wonder how long I should wait after sending my last txt before driving to ensure I ride safely?
I don’t think he should have been sent to jail in this case. Had he been using the phone and doing so had played a part in the incident I would be all for it.
He was texting whilst driving, on a motorway, at about 70mph, in the dark. They have considered it to be Dangerous driving as whilst texting you are both diverting your eyes from the road, and giving your hands something to do for a considerable period of time instead of operating the car. It should be obvious to a normal person that the behaviour exhibited falls well below the standard of a competent driver. It was clear from the investigation that when he made the text he could only have been on the motorway driving.
He got found out because 3 miles down the road he hit someone who was on foot in lane 3 of a motorway. In a fatal or life changing accident the police will seize and examine the phones of drivers (as well as laptops, satnavs etc) to establish whether they were using their phone at or near the time of the accident, as it may have caused or contributed to the accident.
It is unacceptable to text whilst driving. It is also unacceptable to talk on a hand held phone whilst driving, and whilst the law allows it the use of a hands free can be dangerous and distracting. Test by some university have shown talking on a hands free phone whilst driving can be more dangerous than driving over the drink drive limit.
Who’s to say he wasn’t in the middle of writing another after he sent the last one 3 miles before the accident?
If he was concentrating on the road in front of him you would think he might notice an accident and someone wandering around a motorway and slow down, but he didn’t.
He wasn’t. The police can examine the phone and see what you’ve written without sending it. The police have also said that it would have been very difficult to see the accident until it’s too late. The report I’ve read is at Times on-linehttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5805123.ece?
I agree on both points but it clearly did not contribute to the accident in this case…the guy was wandering around the outside lane of a motorway in the dark and not sober…I heard this morning that 30% of people admit to having sent a text while driving and I would suggest that the actual number is way higher than this… The jails will be busy if they start throwing everyone in jail who txts and drives…I also think if he had been Joe Blogs he would not have been put in prison.
The media gave the impression that he had killed a guy while texting - when I heard this I thought - spot on - send him to prison - but then it emerges he had stopped texting three miles before the accident - and the guy he killed had caused the intitial accident because he was drunk and over the limit.
Now I am starting to think that this seriously muddies the waters of this case and that perhaps he was treated harshly.
On the other hand - yeah - maybe he was so wrapped up thinking about the content of his next text that he wasn’t paying sufficient attention to the road ahead.
On balance - if he was paying attention he should have anticipated the crashed cars ahead of him and slowed down in time - so yeah - maybe he should have gone to prison.
Possible I suppose but most phones have an audible notification of txt arrival… I also feel if a phone contributed to this sad affair it was the one being searched for in the outside lane of the motorway in the dark by the drunk driver who was involved in the first accident…
I think this is a good thing and will finally get the message across that wilful dangerous driving will not be tolerated and will be punished seriously. Although he was found out because he had an accident, he was not jailed because he killed the guy - had he been convicted of death by dangerous driving he would have faced 5-8 years in jail. Using a mobile when driving is bad enough but texting when ona motorway is just outrageous.
Only last night I encountered a cager in Fulham coming straight at me, having pushed her way in front of a bus, no lights and a phone pressed to her right ear. She was not risking her life doing this - she was risking mine. I think the prospect of a week or two in jail might help her think through how important that phone call was.
Sorry but there’s a drunk bloke in the outside lane of the motorway WALKING about after causing an accident and he gets killed…not the sort of thing you are likely to ever see again is it. He deserved to get killed the stupid f*cker. As for the texting issue yeah it is a problem but until the police actually pull people over and actually fine them heavily then people will still use hand held phones for calls and texting. Surely smoking is just as dangerous when driving, your holding a very hot object that you have to consentrate on incase you burn yourself, oh and don’t get me started on the make-up applying, shaving and talking to kids in the back seat issues. Drunk bloke causes an accident then WALKS in the fast lane and gets killed, tough.
plus there is more going on here than just the accident…he is a peer and now no longer a peer and I think that this is part to do with it too.
Jail for texting is nuts…jail for not doing anyone any harm is nuts total nuts…
this country doesnt know what justice or the Law is about anymore…its not about using the jails to change peoples practices with such minimal risk…millions nay tens of millions of calls are made every year by phone, without any injury,
in the US they havent made it illegal to text or use the phone and there are more drivers over there than here,…
Nuts total nuts…this country doesnt know what jusrtice and the law is for any more
The only part the subsequent accident plays in this story is the reason Lord Ahmed got found out was that his phone was seized following the accident.
Anyone who drives whilst texting is liable to be prosecuted for dangerous driving, regardless of whether they ara a Lord of the Realm or a commoner.
Anyone who is convicted for dangerous driving is liable to a maximum of 2 years imprisonment.
I don’t think his status is likely to have affected his sentencing, although it could be argued that the sentencing Judge was swayed by the subsequent accident, which it has been decided, was not Lord Ahmed’s fault, and couldn’t have been avoided by a competent driver who was paying attention.
I have no problem with people convicted of dangerous driving going to prison for a short spell. Driving a motor vehicle is not a right. It is a privlege which is earned through the passing of a test. Driving a motor vehicle brings great freedom, but also brings great responsibilities. Those responsibilities include driving in a safe and responsible manner, as if you fail to drive in a responsible manner people can die.
He was prosecuted for texting whilst driving at 60-70mph - not for hitting the guy.
He hit the guy and it was an unfortunate accident - he was not prosecuted for this though.
The texting may or may not have been a factor, but the prosecution was for texting, and the potential it caused for any accident, not this specific accident. That just helped get him caught.
I’m in favour of any action that stops people using phones whilst driving.
Last year I overtook a guy driving really erratically - he was reading a newspaper at about 50mph:w00t:
With you 100% on this…Joe Blogs would not have gone to jail…I know some here bang on about “The Law” and he deserves all he got but I have to saythe law is an ass in this case…LH is every bit as much the victim here as the guy wandering drunk in the outside lane…i wonder how many people who are condemning the guy for driving and txting can honestly say they have never done the same. Few I imagine.
Are you sure about that bit I bolded? I know that some phones will have logs of application start and end times, and many phones will log drafts. However, I don’t know of a single phone that will log unconfirmed activity within an application.
I could see them pulling logs and seeing that the SMS app was started at and exited at but that doesn’t confirm use during that period.
