Fixed Charge Offense (Mobile Phones)

bINNIe23

Hi,

Hoping people here can offer some advice rgding the following?

>I was less than 50 metres away from my kids school and was going to surprise them with a "daddy picks up the kids" (due to being let off work early that day). Kids are off at 2:30pm,,,,i was there at abit after 2:30pm

>I texted our Nanny (who was scheduled to walk the kids) i dunno, about 25 minutes before i arrived at the school.

>Because i never received a text from the Nanny, they had no idea i was on the way to collect them. It was pissin rain, and the traffic (i kid you not) was STOPPED.

>I finally received a call from the nanny just as i was 50 metres from the school entrance (as mentioned above). Due to the rain, the surprise collection, and the time, i felt the urgency to take the call in order to let them know that i was there to collect them.

>I picked up the phone. And thats when the walking cop knocked on my window.

>End of story.

Protesting the ticket and getting off scot-free would be fabulous! ..or, at least a reduction in the fine? Increased fine and increased points would be lease desirable. Do i stand any chance going to court with this?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
-B

whomitconcerns

The answer is no, you don't have a valid excuse. Sorry!

s15r330

You were in control of a vehicle (stopped or not) and you were caught on the phone. It's pretty cut and dry.

magentis

What if a child walked between your car and the one in front of you,dropped something,and bent down to pick it up while you were looking at your phone?

whippet

considering you have admitted to the offence in a particularly high risk area with very unfavourable weather conditions ..id say you'd be putting your neck on the block if you looked of leniency in front of a judge.

Get a car kit.

NUTLEY BOY

This type of event is best seen as a strict liability type of offence.

Once the facts are proven the offence is deemed to have been committed.

This then shoves the onus back to the offender to dislodge the presumption.

The arguments offered would not constitute a proper defence or mitigation.

MarkAnthony

Can afford a nanny but too fecking lazy to get a hands free or probably just pair up the phone to the bluetooth in the car.

>Error! Sympathy not found.

sdanseo

I genuinely don't see the harm in swiping or typing into a phone while stopped way back from the front of a queue if the phone is in a holder - your eyes are on the road and the handbrake is probably on. You can take a call on the built in speaker this way which is usually sufficient for quick conversations too.

On the other hand, holding it and taking a call only means that when traffic moves, you probably won't hang up, so I can see why that's banned while stopped also.

You can legally type an address into a satnav while stopped, but not into a phone, for example.

TLDR however, I can't, alas, (and don't) do the above you can't do what you did. The law is the law and there isn't a way around it. You deserved what you got unfortunately.

MarkAnthony

So you're there typing "What ya wearing sexy" or more likely "<insert useless information we never needed to convey before mobiles>" and look up and you're the Muppet that didn't notice an ambulance screaming up behind the traffic queue. Ah sure well you only delayed it by 5 seconds. Now multiply this by the number of cars on the Quays on any given days waiting at the lights.

Alternatively a cyclist or biker gets stuck between you and a lorry on the outside, dead biker because you weren't paying attention and didn't move to avoid the accident.

When you're driving, drive the fecking car. If everyone did this you'd have more times for gassing on the phone out of the car and off the road.

gizmo555

sdanseo wrote: »

You can legally type an address into a satnav while stopped, but not into a phone, for example.

What if, as is very common, the phone is a satnav?

slimjimmc

gizmo555 wrote: »

What if, as is very common, the phone is a satnav?

Doesn't matter imo, the phone is still capable of 2-way communication even if you're only using it as a sat nav.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2006/act/23/section/3/enacted/en/html

“ mobile phone ” means a portable communication device, other than a two-way radio, with which a person is capable of making or receiving a call or performing an interactive communication function, but for the purposes of subsection (1) does not include a hands-free device;

gizmo555

It says:

A person shall not while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place hold a mobile phone.

I'd have mine in a bracket stuck to the windshield and I might be using the touch screen but not actually holding the phone, in much the same way as I might use any of the buttons or dials on the dashboard. Is that OK?

haveringchick

It's a wonder there are not more fatalities then there actually are
I have to turn off the radio and everyone has to shut up when I parallel park
Pay your fine and park safely and turn off the engine in your car the next time you want to use your phone
Very simple realllly

slimjimmc

Yeah afaik there's nothing prohibiting you using sat-nav functions once it's hand-free so long as you don't fall foul of other laws such as careless/dangerous driving. Texting or emailing is banned even if handsfree.

sdanseo

gizmo555 wrote: »

It says:

A person shall not while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place hold a mobile phone.

I'd have mine in a bracket stuck to the windshield and I might be using the touch screen but not actually holding the phone, in much the same way as I might use any of the buttons or dials on the dashboard. Is that OK?

Alas not, the new SI (178/2014) prohibits sending or receiving SMS, MMS or E-Mail unless completely handsfree (see below). To the letter of the law, you can't even press and hold the home key to activate speech recognition.

slimjimmc wrote: »

Yeah afaik there's nothing prohibiting you using sat-nav functions once it's hand-free so long as you don't fall foul of other laws such as careless/dangerous driving. Texting or emailing is banned even if handsfree.

No, you can send messages without touching the phone.

SI 178/2014 wrote:

3. In these Regulations—

“read a text message” includes access or open a text message (other than by voice-activation) so that it can be read;

“send a text message” includes compose and type a text message, but does not include anything done without touching the mobile phone;

It's a stupid law, because it not only sends drivers straight to court even if the offence in a given circumstance is minor, but also because as a mobile phone salesperson, I can tell you for free that the vast majority of people will be more distracted trying to use the dodgy handsfree voice recognition than actually typing :rolleyes:

I'd have regulated it, as I said before, by the handbrake. If it's on, type away, under the conditions that the handset is mounted at windscreen level, and that you are prepared not to hesitate when traffic moves. Otherwise, eyes on the road. It can wait.

MarkAnthony

Have it regulated by whether you're in a car or not.

sdanseo

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Have it regulated by whether you're in a car or not.

I can see the point of view. You have to regulate for all, not just me (I'd be the very observant type and always conscious of what traffic is doing around me).

One size doesn't fit all, but with the law it has to.