How do you think the police can prove someone was on their hands free/mobile?

truebrit

they can check on their mobile phone when the last call was made

JAMES

they`ll use observations whther this watching you from their car the roadside or using cameras

peter w

any day im happy if they enforce the law with the night stick on me and just in case i put a note in my wallet and it reads thanks for the police assisted suiside

charlie

they can check your recent calls to see if you was using the phone at the same time as you was the phone

jerry

insurance companies do if your involved in an accident the first thing they do is check your phone record at the time of the accident

Northern Lad

Get the police to answer why they use hands-free radios. Bet they can`t?

toontaxidriver

should have nothing to worry about if its hands free

Bandit600

not telling.

champer

Usually it's a just question of the officer's evidence that he/she saw you. Guess who the court would believe?
If necessary, they can access the phone company's records to prove the phone was in use at the time.

fred10002003

here in ireland they tend to have a nice pic of yoy with phone in hand looking stupidly at the camera when you notice the flashing light

Jonathan W

If u had a passenger present you could say they were using your phone, or it was in your pocket and it miss dialled ie you sat on your call button!!!

leesbet

with great difficulty I would imagine..
but nothing is impossible..

Spartan L

If someone burgles my home - I'm insured.
If someone using a mobile whilst driving knocks my daughter of her bicycle this is a different league.
Maybe the police should be focusing a lot more attention on these potential killers BEFORE they ruin lives.

hedgeybear

Like Toontaxid and Will point out, I too thought hands free use was legal. I work for a large company and all drivers have hands free car kits fitted. We have to take calls while "on the run" all day. If we had to stop every time the phone went we would never get to where we were going, let alone back again! I'm sure such a large company would not allow employees to knowingly break the law!

Grae(ME)

Somebody already made this point but I thought hands free was legal to. I recently bought a kit to make mine hands free because of that now it seems the law has been changed again or I'm misreading the question.

The Tank

The vehicle registration will identify the driver (if it's not the Registered Owner then that person will be responsible for saying who was driving. "I can't remember" will not be accepted as an excuse, they'll just prosecute the owner).

Mobile phone usage can be traced through phone company records. They can tell what phone called which number to the exact second.

By examining Network Company records they can identify the exact cell the phone was in and by looking at adjacent cell records they can tell which way the phone was travelling in.

In other words, if they nick you then you stay nicked, and rightly so.

theazam

I thought only i knew about that phone company thing ... next time don't your phone while driving use some body else' ;)

bigabadabill

woooooah
the police only have power of assumption. if they physically see you using a mobile device then you are going to get done but the most important thing is maybe the police should not be using their touch screen in-car units or their radio-phone's but as usual the police are above uk traffic law. using a hands free device is the best of a bad evil. however like i have previously said where do we draw the line. radios, sat-nav's, talking to your passenger are all distractions so what do we do, single seater cars?
as an hgv driver i use a hands free mobile phone with a bluetooth headset. what is wrong with that. if i wish to send a txt i will stop my truck is a safe space to send it. so there we have it. a draconian goverment that has encouraged a health and safety state where childgren can no longer play conkers and you can be done for driving without due care and attention if you crash whilst sneezing.......

breezinabout

easy... get it on film!

clkis

The police should be able to confiscate the phone from the driver on the spot.
I also think a website should be setup where people can take photos of people on their phones and upload them in return they get a portion of the fine if prosecution is successful. If the driver denies the offence it can always be checked with the networks. I also think pay as u go simm cards should only be sold to people if they produce two forms of id as proof of their address one of them being a passport this would help stop any crime being carried out via the airwaves. This is my opinion

musonic

Well the obvious answer is the digital records of the telephone network companies, unless the driver hurls his phone out through the window and claims that is has been lost or stolen.

That apart, wouldn't it be better to know how the ordinary motorist can prove when the police are using their two-way radios on the move?

As for increased powers, why not a complete police-state?

This is what we are rapidly becoming thanks to jobsworth civil-servants who couldn't do a proper job if they were offered one.

delta9

Clearing the phone logs and switching simcards will generally do the trick.But i wouldn't worry to much as most police cars i've seen on the road seem to take no notice of people using their phones.The other day i was at a set of traffic lights and saw a driver on his phone with a police car next to him.They didn't do anything which i think is a good thing as lets face it you are not exactly a master criminal using your phone are you.They should spend their time cathing real crooks like rapists and murderers not the already bullied car driver.

mike-from-spain

usually because they see them, you can be on hands free, but of course they can always get the call log checked, this shows the time and duration of the call, so if they were following you at that time on the road, then they know you were using the mobile while driving. thye have used that means to convict people of causing accidents while on their mobile in the past.

RottenDog

The proof would be your cell phone bill - whether it was to prove you innocent or guilty.

MICK B

Oh come on Im not going to GIVE you ideas on how to nick a motorist. We get squeezed for every penny as it is with out trying to come up with new and interesting ways to vilify us even more

Miss Terry

insurance companies do if your involved in an accident the first thing they do is check your phone record at the time of the accident if you were on the phone your insurance is viod the police will find out when they are told you have void insurance so you will get done for that too

Nimbus

the police have powers to stop someone that they see using a phone. They must also have powers to check and look through the phone regarding useage immediately prior to an accident. Being on the phone and causing an accident should be enough to warrant a charge of driving without due care and attention

Rob E

Police often video the offence of using mobiles without handsfree and show it to the offender. Caution or charging for the offence then follows. In the UK using approved type Handsfree devices is legal, all other things being equal.

(Other offences may be more appropriate, subject to the police and prosecution service analysis.)

For those using no hands-free/no video evidence:
More than 1 cops statement should be sufficient to get conviction. Or other witnesses, eg. passersby.

As for checking mobile phone company records. Someone could swallow or 'lose' a Pay As You Go Simcard, not registered to them, and the police would never have any call logs to review. Driver could switch a blank spare Simcard into the phone, whilst pulling over. Call record traces done for the replacement Sim card and hey presto, driver looks to be innocent.

Your question
'What powers do you think the police have, or should have, to check on whether drivers are telling the truth?'

Until truth serum/mind control etc is legalised in the UK, there's gonna be little to do to 'reveal' the truthfulness or otherwise of many people's statements. I don't like the concept of a big brother type society and total surveillance of the public concerns me.

I thought hands free was legal?

Not Ecky Boy

there was a case a couple of years ago (UK) where a truck slammed into the back of a staionary car. It was a fatal accident. The police used the phone company computers to prove that the truck driver had been poncing about, making stupid text messages to his girlfriend in the seconds before the crash.

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