Modern Vespa

Gwent Police hope a shocking film about the consequences of texting while driving will help prevent crashes.

The film, which was made by Peter Watkins-Hughes, stars young local actors and is expected to be shown in schools.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8203091.stm

gore week on modern vespa.

This needs to be seen, especially by those the ad is targeted to.

My daughter was in a car with her best friend who was driving. The friend started texting and my daughter firmly took her phone away from her. I gather her friend was very upset.

I'm very proud of my daughter. Smart kid, just like her dad. 8)

There are devices that are mandatory additions to vehicles for persons that have been convicted of DUI. They disable the ignition when the person blows into the device, if there is a reading more than .05.

There are scrambler chips that can disable cell phones. These devices should be made as mandatory as seat belts in autos. They would disable the cell phone when the ignition is enabled.
The DUI check should also be a mandatory addition to the automobile.

There is absolutely NO reason that a cell phone should be used in an operational auto. Stop on the side of the road, shut off the engine, then text, call or whatever.

I sound like a preacher, but I do like to drink and I have (2) cell phones. BUT I don't do either if I am driving.

I know, I know, the cell phone lobbies and the boozers would shoot the idea down, but think about the carnage that would be reduced.

Have you ever heard of a passenger? So I have to pull over so my passenger can use their phone? And there is no way you can only block the phone in the car, scramblers don't work like that.
And you are suppose to sit on the side of the road in 100 degree weather with the engine off? You have to think things all the way through.

Also, you are Innocent till proven guilty in the USA.
I don't drink and drive, I would be PISSED if they wanted to put a breathalyzer in my car. Take cap of mouth wash before a meeting and I can't start my car

Wayne B

I have seen this before and want to say that this is the most well made PSA movie I have ever seen on this subject and drives the point home in a way that even the most dense teenager can understand. I've seen it on YouTube where it is broken up into smaller chunks, but for some reason they flagged it for over 18's only.

Although Americans may not understand the heavy Welsh accents, the point of it transcends any language barrier. More harrowing for parents will be the parts where the police come the to their houses in the night to break the news to them, and the meeting at the hospital between the father of the teen driver that caused the crash and the grandmother of the young children that were killed in the car the texting teenager hit.

I am sitting my son down and making him watch this in the hope that he "gets it"

First, let me say that I do not drink at all (don't like it), nor do I text while driving (since I hate texting at all), HOWEVER.....I am a grown adult and I don't need the government controlling my life and telling me what I can and cannot do safely. I have figured it out all on my own, thank you. We in America are already headed to the direction of Canada as far as healthcare is concerned (and I work in this field), but I would rather not go any further than that, thank you!

As Wayne B already pointed out, your incredible idea has quite a few flaws in it....so thanks anyway, but back to the drafting table for that.

I am not trying to be a jerk, but control and censorship are never the answer, rather self responsibility IS.

this started as a public service announcement made by the police in wales and has been generating worldwide since. it's all over facebook, the internet and the news. from what i hear it's affecting a lot of people...especially kids. i hope it works...

Your sentiments make me smile, southern friend.

I am glad they do, my northern neighbor!

You Sir, Madam, Thing, Whatever completely miss the point. Muppet.

Kids in the back using their phones?

The driver must not be distracted, that is the point.

I think I give up...

Good PSA, but it seems the phone is in the drivers hand and in her other the wheel. but Icould be wrong I've been before.

What did we do before the advent of the cell phone????

I agree, distraction is indeed the problem.

BTW, I am a sir.

Not sure what you do for a living, but I need to be available 24/7/365 for work. So, if I didn't have a cell phone, I would be at home or work 7/24/365 next to my phone

And yes I pull over when there is a SAFE spot to do so. When riding though, I ride first and pay attention to the person talking second. Phone is set to auto answer so I am not distracted by answering the phone, I just say hello and will tell someone I can't talk. I never dial or text, have sent 2 texts in my life.

Wayne B

It's got little to do with Governments 'controlling' our lives.

Setting aside the Human cost, what does it cost in financial terms?
I'm paying for the lack of self-control by individuals.
If they can't do it themselves, force them to do it!

Draconian penalties for those who deliberately and unnecessarily put the lives of others in danger.

+ 1000!!!

In the good old days , we used to have pagers and an answering service. When the pager alerted you, you would find the closest pay phone, (or private land line), connect to the AS and be patched through to your party.
Not quite as quick as a cell phone, but just as effective and one heck of a lot less expensive than a 3 year cell phone contract.
AND, one hell of a lot safer.

This is why my other vehicles are big freakin' trucks. Physics, you gotta love it.

I wonder if moderators are the only ones who can trash a respondent with impunity????

To answer WayneB's situation, we used to use pagers that gave an audible alert to make contact. We would then go to a pay phone to return the contact. Now, if we were driving a vehicle, we could pull off the road to a safe area, shut off the engine and use a cell phone. I am against any kind of cell phone usage while operating a vehicle. The reason that the government gets involved with laws is that people aren't resposible enough to do the safe thing on their own. Go back and view the video again and imagine yourself on a scooter or motorcycle being hit head on because someone was using their cell phone. Seems like a pretty high price to pay for the convenience of using a cell phone while driving.

Another + 1000!!!!

Please to strongly disagree...

So when I was in a ambulance this spring with a busted leg, I shouldn't have tried to contact my family as to where they could find me until I thought they had come home?

When the area flooded a few years ago and I was trying to get to my daughter home she shouldn't have tried to call me to let me know where I could get her. I should have just turned off the cell phone and driven aimlessly with my fingers crossed?

When I get stuck in a traffic jam on the interstate and I can't get to my business to open in time (which means families are standing outside the door, waiting) I shouldn't call the shop next door and have them post a small note saying I'm on my way?

Just a few weeks back I saw a little girl run in front of a car and was struck. I should have waited and driven down a few blocks until maybe I could pull over and find a safe place to call 911? (BTW...she's OK.)

Look, I hate people talking endlessly on cell phones while driving...I really, really, do. I double-hate texting while driving. Still, I keep the cell phone on in my car when I am traveling or commuting in case it is needed. I don't dial...if the voice dial doesn't work (and on those earlier Chocolate phones the voice recognition is awful) I wait.
When the phone rings, I look at the ID and screen my calls. If it's from my home or an employee, then I pick it up...if not, it goes to the voice message.
When I do have to answer the phone, I use a hands free device. I'm still amazed at the number of people who will spring large amounts for a road tank but can't shake enough change loose for a Bluetooth device.

In other words, I choose to behave responsibly.

But what is scarier are people who can't discriminate between any given value of behavior and assume that all similar behaviors be lumped together as "bad" or "wrong." For example, texting while driving with one's head up one's ass being regarded as the same as answering a call from one's wife saying the furnace just exploded. This type of low-level thinking is the same thing that leads to little children being expelled from school for drawing a cowboy with a dreaded gun because its still a gun, or a teenager being expelled for having an aspirin because it is still a drug. It's the stuff petty bureaucrats come up with so they can avoid the work of actually being responsible for making an intelligent decision.

And scarier than road-ranging idiots are people who think that government should micro-manage behavior of everyone else. Aren't they trying to pass a law against body odor somewhere now?

For the record: I'm all for a law against drivers texting while driving. I'm also all for a law requiring drivers to use a hands free device while on the road.

However, to say there is absolutely no reason to use a cell phone in the car is wrong. And to say that all problems can be solved by making laws for bureaucrats to enforce will always come back to haunt. (Wait until someone decides they don't like something you do.)

The point of the whole film, I think, was to make this behavior unfashionable.. Socially unaceptable. When a normal person, especially a young person, regards a behavior as no longer being cool, you can betcherass that they will do anything to avoid it.

And as for those who just don't give a damn, no law, no reason, will work anyway. No amount of legislation will cure an asshole. You end up making a criminal out of good people who want to know why their elderly parent might be calling them while the idiots persist in well, being idiots.

And I need another cup of coffee.

PS: For the records, I am not trying to disparage any fellow MV here...I don't work that way. I'm just presenting my side of a discussion. Peace out, dudes. 8)

Menhir, Thank you so very much for putting into words my thoughts exactly.

I cannot wait until the day the great Gods of government tell me how much I should eat so that I don't become obese and cost all the other fit taxpayers additional health care costs.
I cannot wait until the day that we have copious jobs for government employees to enforce the thousands of laws that are already on the books, but are never enforced....instead we just seem to make new ones.
I cannot wait until someone tells me how and when I can do every thing in my life

We have speed limits, but that doesn't stop people from speeding. We have hit and run laws, yet people on this very board have had it happen to them with little repercussion. Last I checked, it is still illegal to steal, but stuff gets stolen each and every day....to include scooters. I could go on, but I don't need to. My point is proven.....making laws to prevent something stupid from happening does not in and of itself prevent that act. You can have a million laws on the books, they mean nothing if there is no consequences. I am sure people you know drink and drive. I feel that drinking and driving is far worse than having a cell phone in the car, not to mention IT IS ILLEGAL....yet it still happens.

People need to take responsibility for their own actions and stop relying on the government to do everything for them.

Getting down off my soapbox....but also pleased to strongly disagree.

I am done with this conversation and am sorry I ranted.

There are a lot more videos here....

http://www.youtube.com/user/richardjonm#play/uploads

and the master original!

Thanks Doug.

No problem.... do you listen to Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 as well?

My excuse is that I was driving through the Devil's Beeftub near Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway and that's the only radio station I could get! Great riding road and I was in a car! At least it was a Ford Focus and I was driving very assertively!

Thanks! I do listen to Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 every day at work, but on the internet of course and I only get the last hour or so of his show, but I heard the piece on this movie but missed where to get the whole thing as opposes to the short snips of it. Now I can get the complete thng downloaded.

Cheers!

i watched the movie after reading jim's post ... went into the kitchen and there was a spot on radio 4 about it!

i agree that mobile phones are very handy in emergencies, but prior to their invention we managed perfectly well without them. electronic communications technologies - all of them, not just mobile phones - have introduced a sense of spurious urgency into our lives that often leads to very poor judgments about when it's appropriate to use them.

Please to strongly agree.
So much of the gibbering that is done on the cell phone while driving can wait.

Regarding the film, I haven't seen it shown here at all except on news reports along with warnings about "what you are about to see" for the faint of hear. I'm sure they are worried about all the calls they'll get from people complaining about the graphic content as their kids are in the other room watching Halloween XXXXIV.

Yet to watch the movie but interestingly our Govt FINALLY changed the law here just two weeks ago. It is now illegal to use a hand-held device whilst driving and the fine is paltry with just a few demerrit points attached. Sadly, the habit is endemic here and it will take years to build a new, safer culture.

I was surprised that a similar bill on hand-held phones was voted down recently in my state. It looks like there was general support for it, but the bill was laden down by being attached to other less popular legislation and some quirky omissions that resulted in the negative outcome. In other words, it probably could have been presented better.

I got a giggle from this quote from one representative:

"Since legislators are among the worst offenders of driving and talking, this is a little like Al Capone voting on tax policy."

Still, I'm betting a bit of smart rewriting and a resubmission will result in a more positive outcome next time.

OK watched it. Yup, shocking and yes, very well made.
Sadly there is emerging research that says these shock campaigns are starting to have little effect on their intended audience (young drivers 16-25 yrs). They say over exposure to graphic content on the web may be to blame.

Irony or what.

Just to prove my point here is one of the most popular music vids in NZ at the moment. Great song but watch the opening 20 seconds of the video. When your heroes model this behaviour....go figure.

I have a friend who lost their 21 year old son who was driving too fast and texting. We tell our children every day not to do things because it could turn out badly. I hate hate hate that my two have learned that this particular rant of their parent's isn't an abstract - they have an all too real example of what can happen.

scootinnc:
> People need to take responsibility for their own actions and stop relying on the government to do everything for them.

Did you perhaps miss the point of the part of the vid with the child saying "Mummy, Daddy, please wake up"?

Some people are so thoughtless/lazy/selfish that others *do* need protected from them.

If *everyone* had decent values and good common sense then we would not need *any* laws at all.

Just watched this with my daughter. She gets her license in 6 months. She thought it was good. It opened up dialogue about how the driver needs to focus, and let the friends do the texting. She is going to share it with her friends, as she feels they would benefit from it.

The difference being YOU sat down with YOUR DAUGHTER.
Some kids never come close to this sort of parenting and sadly all the safety vids in the world won't help them make good decisions.
Well done you

Thanks. It's these groups in a car that scare the $h!t out of me. She wants a pink Buddy, and I'm all for it. (Hard to text on two wheels.)

Saw a truckie in a B-Double coming onto a busy road whilst yapping on his leash today - made me wanna puke!

Thanks for the link Jim.

Utah introduced a ban on texting while driving recently, and within their campaign for Zero Fatalities, they produced this 15 min video on a tragic texting crash.

It is not graphic but very moving and goes deep under your skin. Excellent to watch with a teenager!

http://ut.zerofatalities.com/texting.php

For more info on the general Zero Fatalities campaign, this link will help:
http://ut.zerofatalities.com