Photography while driving

[Fasgadh]

I am in dispute in another place as to the legality or otherwise of using a camera while driving a car. I maintain, and seriously hope that this is illegal. I do not believe this to be covered by mobile telephone legislation unless the "camera" is a telephone, or otherwise capable of transmitting. Does any one know what offences might be committed when indulging in this rather worrying practice?

[simonineaston]

Wouldn't have thought you'd have to look much further than 'Driving without Due Care & Attention'... AKA 'allowing your standard of driving to fall below that of a prudent motorist'.

[kwackers]

Strictly speaking anything that involves not having both hands on the wheel is an offence. From what I remember the phone stuff was added to make it easier to prosecute otherwise you need to prove someone isn't in control.

This is off the top of my head though, so I could be talking rubbish...

[simonineaston]

FFi, see this rather well-written site, aimed at the motorist:
http://www.motorlawyers.co.uk/offences/mobile_phone.htm

[meic]

There was a recent item on the Jeremy Vine show where the Police had collected video evidence of many people filming a crash scene holding phones etc out of their cars while driving on the motorway.

Even with that level of evidence and fully enraged by the indecency of the act, the drivers were only issued with warning letters, not prosecutions or cautions even.

[stewartpratt]

Strictly speaking anything that involves not having both hands on the wheel is an offence.

If that were true it would be pretty tricky to operate a car.

[kwackers]

Strictly speaking anything that involves not having both hands on the wheel is an offence.

If that were true it would be pretty tricky to operate a car.

I suspect there are obvious exceptions.

[meic]

To 50% of motorists, "obvious exceptions" includes using a mobile phone.

[snibgo]

I know of no legislation that explicitly prohibits a driver from using a camera that isn't also a mobile comms device. It might be "dangerous", but that's a high hurdle. A lesser hurdle is "careless", or even "cannot have proper control of the vehicle" (RVC&U s104).

[Mick F]

Remember the lady prosecuted for eating an apple?

[Geriatrix]

Remember the lady prosecuted for eating an apple?

Or the one sipping water at a traffic light:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/774655.stm

[Mick F]

Exactly.
So if eating apples and drinking water are illegal, so is using a camera.

[Mark1978]

The highway code says you must keep both hands on the wheel unless changing gear, while the highway code isn't law, it's certainly basis for DWDCAA

[meic]

It says the same thing about hands on bars while cycling.

You have to pick the time that you have a drink but is it basically illegal at all times? I doubt it.

Though that could be due to the absence of an offence called CWDCAA.

[thirdcrank]

This is the current CPS general guidance on prosecuting what they now describe as "bad driving."

Prosecuting cases of bad driving

We will adopt a proactive approach to seeking further information from the police before a charging decision is made. In all cases, prosecutors should liaise directly with the officer in the case to make sure all available evidence has been obtained and sent to the CPS so that we may fully review the case. If necessary, we will advise the police to follow up other lines of enquiry.

This is the specific bit relevant to this thread:

Mobile phones and handheld devices
The responses to our 2007 public consultation have shown how seriously society views the potential dangers of the use of mobile phones and other hand-held devices, while driving. In cases where the driver was avoidably and dangerously distracted by that use, a charge of dangerous driving will be the starting point for our charging decisions.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/pros ... y.html#_33

Anybody able to quote cases where this didn't happen should bear in mind that the current guidelines were only published some three months ago. There's a lot more to go at where this came from. It also seems to illustrate the importance the CPS attaches to the responses to its consultations.