The recent spate of Hondaspam prompted me to read HJ's notes on the new Honda Jazz, at www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?md=1174, where I saw some alarming words "10 cupholders for American market (illegal for driver to use them on the move in the UK)".
I don't feel short-changed by having only 2 cupholders in my man's Almera, but I am worried about the note that it's illegal to for the driver to use them on the move in the UK. Is this really true?
For long journeys, I fill two insulated mugs with tea, and enjoy being able to take the odd sip when I'm driving in clear conditions. I don't drink when negotiating heavy traffic or hairpin bends, and I drink one sip at a time, replacing the cup after each use. It is only in difficult driving conditions (heavy rain, poor visibility, heavy traffic, narrow roads etc) that I pull over before taking a drink.
I thought that this was OK, because I thought that the principle was to ensure that proper control of the vehicle is retained at all times. Having my left hand briefly lift a cup seems no more distracting than using a gearstick and pedal on those primitive cars which reguire the driver to change gear manually.
Section 148 of the Highway Code -- www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycod...9 -- saysSafe driving and riding needs concentration.
Avoid distractions when driving or riding such as- loud music (this may mask other sounds)
- trying to read maps
- inserting a cassette or CD or tuning a radio
- arguing with your passengers or other road users
- eating and drinking
- smoking
I read this list as advisory rather than mandatory, as something which I should take care of because it might be dangerous, rather than something which is banned in any circumstances. But is my reading correct?
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I read this (...) as advisory rather than mandatory as something which I should take care of because it might be dangerous rather than something which is banned in any circumstances. But is my reading correct?
As far as I know, yes, in general - although people have been prosecuted for eating/drinking on the move (ISTR someone was even "done" for such whils stationary at traffic lights).
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As far as I know yes in general - although people have been prosecuted for eating/drinking on the move (ISTR someone was even "done" for such whils stationary at traffic lights).
Half the time we don't get the full story from the press with these incidents. IIRC one instance of the above where a woman was prosecuted whilst stationary at traffic lights was prosecuted because she didn't respond to the green light and held up traffic.
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How far does the eating-drinking restriction go? Our new Verso has a deep pot between the front seats (behind the row of three - yes, three - cupholders - that is perfect for holding an open bag of Jelly Babies where the driver's hand can drop naturally into it when a blood-sugar boost is required. Common sense says this compromises control no more than adjusting the heating or the radio volume, but...?
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Hands free hat anyone?
www.baronbob.com/Drink-HatYellow-main.jpg
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If everyone wore that hat there'd be no road rage. You couldn't be angry at someone wearing that hat could you?
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You'd wonder what was in those innocent-looking coke tins though wouldn't you... They have this thing called Wyborowa in your parts BBD.
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"They have this thing called Wyborowa in your parts BBD"
My favorite tipple Lud, I drank a bottle with my cousin last night. The Polish way is to leave it in the freezer till it becomes gloopy then drink it in shots 5-10 mins apart.
Back on topic, the other day while I was in a long line of traffic at a level crossing, I watched a bloke driving in the oncoming lane in a big SUV with a phone to his ear completely engrossed in his conversation. He drifted towards the gutter, over the entrance of a side road and hit the corner of the curb head on with his front wheel. This curb was so high it would have ripped the skirt off my car but his 4x4 was just launched into the air, the guy nearly flew out of his seat, he gave the roof a good smacking with his head and of course he dropped his phone. He was right alongside me at this point, I could see the shock on his face, he was lucky not to have broken his neck. I'm not normally bothered by phone users until they start dithering or getting under my feet but it was a satisfying feeling to witness this guy get what was coming to him.
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BBD very heartening tale.
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I suppose it depends on the mood of the person ticketing you. One person was prosecuted for drinking from a water bottle while stationary at traffic lights, another for eating an apple while on the move and a third for eating a sweet which his passenger had both unwrapped and popped into his mouth. All of these were reported in the press - I am sure there are many more we do not read about.
I have a stash of jelly babies or travel sweets in the car, which my passenger happily feeds me. I also will sip water from a 'sport' type bottle on a long trip - the chilled can holder is by my right hand.
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I too am a jelly baby addict, but I restrict my intake to the occasional pack for a long journey. Like WillDeBeest, I can retrieve them without using my eyes, and I don't even need to look when arranging them with my hand to ensure that I have them the right way around. (As a matter of courtesy, I bite their heads off first, to ensure that they don't suffer so much).
The prospect of being taken to court for the consumption of jelly babies seems to me quite outside the realms of probability in any sane society, but entirely plausible in this nanny state :(
I hope that the passing of sentence is done with sufficient theatricality. Magistrate, donning black cap, saysMs NowWheels, you have been found guilty of the consumption of jelly babies in a public place, an act which you performed flagrantly and with clear intent, but without regard to public moraliity. The sentence of the court is that you shall be taken from hence to your place of retribution, where at the appointed hour you shall be hung by the legs until the jelly babies be shaken from your body. May God have mercy on your soul"
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 05/06/2008 at 20:17
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I think it's perfectly all right for you to booze and tope away at the wheel NW, and to juggle - one handed of course - with a couple of hedgehogs at the same time if you feel like it, provided it doesn't slow you down or distract you of course.
But I am afraid you may be in for a bit of an onslaught from those who believe the standard model human can only do one thing at a time. My advice is to pay no attention to those legalists and mimsers. The true red-blooded chainsmoking driver is with you, I feel sure.
:o}
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I'm hoping that, at least locally, this problem will go away for me. Staffordshire's Chief Constable has apparently decided to ignore government targets and concentrate on proper policing. I can't see how this could include prosecution for the safe use of a cup holder as you have described, so I'll continue to do much the same.
Interestingly, I had a conversation about this with two traffic cops who stopped to talk with me while I was broken down on Bassett's Pole roundabout at Xmas. They were moaning about targets, specifically because I had been there for two hours and was busting to use the loo. Their gripe was that, despite there being bushes I could have hidden in, in the current climate they had no leeway not to arrest and caution me for lewd conduct if they saw me relieving myself in this way. They, and I, felt this to be ridiculous at gone midnight with nobody around.
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at gone midnight with nobody around.
Strangely inconsiderate, indeed verging on sadistic of them GM to hang about rabbiting instead of leaving you in peace to avail yourself of those bosky hollows...
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Ah they were okay, I wasn't that desperate, and they helped me push my carp hire car off the road. I got the distinct impression they were bored and I was an excuse for them to have a break.
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You could always argue your human rights were infringed by them not allowing you to relieve yourself.. and possibly causing a bladder infection/causing unneccessary pain and suffering.
:-)
Edited by madf on 05/06/2008 at 15:17
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I thought it was the same as for mobile 'phones. Stationary, handbrake on and ignition off.
I've been known to swig from a water bottle at traffic lights, although it's amused my passengers to see me switch the engine off first.
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I thought of the cases that made it into the papers, the driver must have been doing something silly, ie. the eating or drinking clearly resulted in a loss of concentration, or they had a look of vacant ignorance when spied by the police?
I used to eat an apple driving home from work every day, but I would not let it affect my driving and would of course be discreet about it. The apple would sit in the centre console until it was convenient to eat some of it.
To sit and take a bite in clear view of plod would be asking for trouble wouldnt it.
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To sit and take a bite in clear view of plod would be asking for trouble wouldnt it.
Quite. So if you get caught eating or drinking and you hadn't noticed Police in the vicinity then clearly you weren't paying attention.
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Perhaps it would save trouble if instead of having a lot of laws specifically forbidding drivers to do this and that, a single blanket charge of 'Failing to pay attention' or similar would cover most eventualities?
After all it's one world these days. Soon they will be running us in for 'disrespecting police officers' or 'insulting the army' or 'slandering the government' as they do in other countries. It's high time the British were finally bashed and bullied out of their traditional cheery bolshiness and made into sullen criminals like the rest of the world's population.
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I used to eat an apple driving home from work every day
I used to eat large cod and ships and drink a can of coke on the way home from uni. That was a long time ago and in a mini which could be steered perfectly well using the knees.
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> I thought it was the same as for mobile 'phones. Stationary, handbrake on and ignition off.
Are we talking about ingestion or excretion here, Tom?
};---)
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Taking a drink or eating whilst on the move can/will be regarded as driving without due care and attention through not being in full control of the vehicle.
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>>Are we talking about ingestion or excretion here, Tom?
Either, or both.
It's my age you see. ;>)
Damn it! put it in the wrong place.
Edited by bathtub tom on 05/06/2008 at 23:58
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But I am afraid you may be in for a bit of an onslaught from those who believe the standard model human can only do one thing at a time.
;) Touché! I did rather ask for that.
Of course, it's quote wrong to say that the standard model human can only do one thing at a time; it's only the male of the species which has a problem with multi-tasking. Those of us unpolluted by testosterone should be exempt from such restrictions ;)
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Those of us unpolluted by testosterone should be exempt from such restrictions ;) >>
I thought women had a bit of testosterone in their, as it were, make-up? There's probably some biochemist brain on here to put me right.
Anyway. Some years back, I was driving through some bit of backwoods Florida early one morning at quite a brisk pace. Unfortunately, the Sheriff of Deadwood County, or wherever, was coming the other way.
He put on his light bar and I stopped. I said good morning to him in my best British accent and he was decent enough, having wished me good morning, just to tell me to "slow it down!".
Point of the story is that I don't think he could book me because he was too busy with a cup of coffee the size of a bucket and a doughnut the size of a tyre while out maintaining law and order.
Home of the brave and land of the free!
Edited by Optimist on 05/06/2008 at 17:12
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just to ask the obvious, what if while you are safely drinking your nice cup of tea, you happen to drop the cup on your lap? I would have thought that most people would tend to fairly quickly divert their attention from the road to spillage as it were, same for smoking you're not telling me you're gonna ignore it burning a hole in your floor carpet!.
I also remember a bbc news story about a driver who crashed while reaching to his glove box for a pack of mints and killed another driver, and iirc was convicted of dth/dng/driv
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I have an old book of Private Eye spoof ads, mostly on the lines of "End --- Misery". One is for a device that fires a sweet into the driver's mouth from a magazine in the centre of the steering wheel.
Actually it would never have occured to me to use a cupholder on the move. I assumed they were for refreshments at race meetings, along with fold-out cocktail cabinets and wicker hampers.
Supplementary question: is it illegal to blow one's nose while driving, or would one have to prove it was an involuntary sneeze?
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Supplementary question: is it illegal to blow one's nose while driving or would one have to prove it was an involuntary sneeze?
Of the two, I suspect that the involuntary sneeze is much more dangerous, since sneezing makes the eyes close.
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Young lady of my acquaintance pranged into another car coming towards her in a carpark once after being overcome by a fit of sneezes.
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