Yet another needless death caused by phone use.

[chrisleuty]

What's the app?

Powering off would be a pain but shut off use would be sensible?

There is a driving option in Focus on the iPhone which limits incoming notifications etc:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208090

 

[Cerdic]

Perhaps they could get out of their car to make the emergency call.

Unless, of course, they are injured and unable to get out. Or maybe they are trapped inside a damaged vehicle…

 

[Alex321]

Perhaps they could get out of their car to make the emergency call.

Not always. That is why there is the exception in the law which allows for making emergency calls while driving when it is not safe or not reasonable to stop.

 

[icowden]

Minimum 10yrs jail and 20yr ban.

The Judge will follow the advice of the sentencing council. I would guess that the Judge will start at Level 2 (Driving that created a substantial risk of danger) or Level 1, the most serious level (a deliberate decision to ignore or disregard the rules of the road and the great danger being caused to others). One of those starts at 5 years, the other at 8 years. He didn't plead guilty so no discount there. There are aggravating factors - trying to pretend that his baby son was playing with the phone and driving unsafely with his child in the car. There may be others. From the article we don't see any mitigating factors.

I'd expect 7 to 10 years depending on the starting point.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/crown-court/item/causing-death-by-dangerous-driving/

Depending on the circumstances with his child, his brief may argue for an element of a suspended sentence.

 

[Cycleops]

Unless, of course, they are injured and unable to get out. Or maybe they are trapped inside a damaged vehicle…

Don't most cars now have a feature that calls the emergency services automatically if there is a crash?

 

[Alex321]

Don't most cars now have a feature that calls the emergency services automatically if there is a crash?

I haven't yet owned such a car, though admittedly the most recent car I have owned was built in 2015.

I don't think most cars have the ability to call at all, they need a mobile phone to be present and turned on if they are going to be able to do that.

[EDIT]
Having just looked it up, it seems that most cars built since 2018 have such a feature built in - will make the call automatically if airbags are deployed.

 

[icowden]

Sadly until using a mobile when driving becomes socially unacceptable. Tech and car companies wont come up with a real hard line solution.

Elon Musk already has. It's called stopping people driving and letting the computers do it. This is much safer.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Elon Musk already has. It's called stopping people driving and letting the computers do it. This is much safer.

yeah right

 

[tom73]

Elon Musk already has. It's called stopping people driving and letting the computers do it. This is much safer.

Not exactly a mass market solution and will do nothing to bring about social attitude changers.

 

[icowden]

yeah right

Well, 42,915 people died in motor crashes in 2021. Around 400 of those crashes may have involved driverless cars. When self-driving tech was actually enabled the death rate is almost zero. Tesladeaths reports higher numbers but includes a lot of incidental deaths where autopilot may not have been solely to blame. In any event the numbers are way below those caused by humans.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Not exactly a mass market solution and will do nothing to bring about social attitude changers.

Not yet a mass market solution.

 

[tom73]

Not yet a mass market solution.

In the mean time 1000's will continue to die or be left with injuries some life changing due to driver attitude. In turn continue to treated more easily by the law due to society continued view of it. Tech solutions now or in the future will do little to deal with the real threat we are facing daily on our roads.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Well, 42,915 people died in motor crashes in 2021. Around 400 of those crashes may have involved driverless cars. When self-driving tech was actually enabled the death rate is almost zero. Tesladeaths reports higher numbers but includes a lot of incidental deaths where autopilot may not have been solely to blame. In any event the numbers are way below those caused by humans.

Presumably the world & not just the UK, 400 out of 43000, let's make it 400 out of 40000 1%? But how many of the 1,446,000,000 cars are driverless capable, I suspect a lot less than 1% so by that they are more dangerous, based on your small sample.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

In the mean time 1000's will continue to die or be left with injuries some life changing due to driver attitude. In turn continue to treated more easily by the law due to society continued view of it. Tech solutions now or in the future will do little to deal with the real threat we are facing daily on our roads.

They will be the solution. We should engage with, and welcome them. I'm sorry I don't have a solution for the now, that's beyond me I'm afraid.

 

[Vantage]

There needs to be a law which entitles cyclists and pedestrians to carry a Gatling gun to spray the vehicle of a dangerous/careless driver with copious amounts of bullets.
Betcha they'd soon start driving nicely.