| Author |
Message |
    
Myob
Member
Username: Psiman
Post Number: 479
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 01, 2009 - 01:45 pm: | |
Let's not forget here; hands free sets are sooo expensive. Poor old HH can't afford that sort of thing on her meagre wages.
Hang on - have we found something that might legitimately have been claimed on expenses that hasn't been?
Quick - call the Torygraph! |
devonboy
Member
Username: Morgan144
Post Number: 66
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Thursday, November 26, 2009 - 04:22 pm: | |
I say, steady on, Spike, old chap! HH a murderer???? Now if you had mentioned Bliar........then maybe! (or have I just turned into a grumpy old man?) |
Spike
Member
Username: Spike
Post Number: 1062
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, November 26, 2009 - 03:06 pm: | |
wellllll, I was about to agree with you Rob, but after a bit of reflection decided no, DB never said that driving whilst mobiling was the cause of all evil, only that it "typifies" the selfish behaviour, which there is a strong argument for e.g. our conspicuous consumer society is driven by our peceived needs whatever the detriment to the planet and so on.
I also still think that phone use aside, the motor car, our desire to get where we want when we want relates to that selfishness. Understandably CSOs are seen as abhorrent and can you imagine the outcry if the figures I gave below related to CSOs, yet its seen as an acceptable casualty figure in our "need" for a car - ergo perhaps DB has understated it and HH is tantamount to a murderer and should be tried as such, and the person she was talking to needs to go on trial under "joint enterprise" law - or perhaps not ;)
p.s. I don't absolve myself from selfishness |
Rob Palmer
Moderator
Username: Rob_palmer
Post Number: 507
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, November 26, 2009 - 10:10 am: | |
Great stat. but does that prove causality? How many kids are killed by drivers who are not doing anything illegal other than not seeing them run out from between parked cars? I was driving down a street in Fleet in Hants once and, being stone cold sober and fully alert, saw a man acting erratically near the kerb and watched him carefully. As I passed him (in a Volvo), he FELL INTO THE ROAD. I stopped immediately and he was wedged under my car (Volvos have long bonnets) but completely unharmed. You can't legistlate for every situation and risk is never eliminated just reduced to acceptable levels. Its not always the drivers fault!
My point is not that its 'ok' to use a mobile when driving, it patently isn't. But I think that saying that it 'typifies all that is wrong in our society today' is over egging it a bit.
I don't think, therefore I'm not.
|
Spike
Member
Username: Spike
Post Number: 1061
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - 09:44 pm: | |
No not public enemy no.1, should they be?
(source AA)5,000 children under the age of 16 die or are seriously injured on Britain’s roads each year |
devonboy
Member
Username: Morgan144
Post Number: 65
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - 02:24 pm: | |
You are right, Rob, no worries and I am not arguing. There are indeed far more serious issues to exercise our minds. All I am saying is that phones as well as all those other distractions you list are equally dangerous and I suppose that if cars were to be invented all over again, the inclusion of things like radios and cigarette lighters may well be questioned, I don't know. My point is, I think, that people often do not think when they are driving - I include myself in this - and the consequences are entirely avoidable. They are in a little bubble which is on the face of it feels quite safe and cut off from the world and in which they tend to do as they please. Like drink driving many years ago, they do it because they can get away with it. I just think that if people had more sense, then we would not be having this exchange of views and my daughter would not be marking the second anniversary of the death of one of her friends - answering a call whilst driving in a straight line (which turned out to be not so straight) on a quiet country road. Harriet Harman is simply the latest in what will, I fear be a never ending line of similar incidents, all - as I say, entirely avoidable. |
Rob Palmer
Moderator
Username: Rob_palmer
Post Number: 506
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - 01:21 pm: | |
My comments were directed at the fact that people who use mobile phones whilst driving are this years whipping boy and, whilst they undoubtedly present a risk, are probably in no less control than a smoker lighting a fag, someone tuning their car radio, someone disciplining a child or someone driving with the dog on their lap. Talking on a phone whilst driving in a straight line on a quiet stretch of road is a risk but less so than texting whilst driving around town centre roundabouts at night at 60 in the rain. I am not condoning it, just suggesting that, on a balance of probabliites, 'these people' might not be public enemy number one?
Or is it just me.
I don't think, therefore I'm not.
|
devonboy
Member
Username: Morgan144
Post Number: 64
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - 12:34 pm: | |
One tries ones' best, Rob. Mind you, it does sound a trifle Torygraph right wing, on second reading! On the other hand I do feel very strongly that using a phone whilst driving is extemely foolish, not to say dangerous and shows a callous disregard for others. You simply cannot be in control of a vehicle whilst talking on the phone. My partner and I nearly got creamed by some T**T (complete as you see fit) at the weekend on our local roundabout. He was on his phone, driving onto the roundabout, steering and changing gear all at the same time. If Ms Harman gets away with this - she'll probably be fined 50p and disqualified for 10 minutes, I strongly suspect I will be in touch with the DPP or whoever to appeal on the grounds of undue leniency. Then watch my career go down the toilet (again!) |
Rob Palmer
Moderator
Username: Rob_palmer
Post Number: 505
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - 09:26 am: | |
'The arrogance and selfishness of people who use their mobiles whilst driving just typifies all that is wrong with our society today'
Now marvellous a statement is that!  I wish I had said it!
I don't think, therefore I'm not.
|
devonboy
Member
Username: Morgan144
Post Number: 63
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Monday, November 23, 2009 - 02:13 pm: | |
Justa; Ref part 2 of your statement............Why? The arrogance and selfishness of people who use their mobiles whilst driving just typifies all that is wrong with our society today - I'll do what I want and I don't care is the attitude. NOTHING is so important that the call cannot be ignored until it is safe to call back, no matter who you are (or think you are.) Or have I missed the point - is this irony again? |
justa TPO
Member
Username: Justa_tpo
Post Number: 411
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Monday, November 23, 2009 - 12:11 am: | |
..on one hand I want Ms Harman to feel the full force of the law...on the other, I cannot help but feel sympathy for her. |
