Police Seizing Drivers' Phones After All Crashes

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If you live in the UK, you'd better not be using your phone while driving.

Police are to start seizing drivers’ mobile phones after a crash in order to check whether they were texting or calling while at the wheel. The intent is to crack down on mobile distractions while driving, with recent reports suggesting that more than 500 people are killed or seriously injured each year in the UK because drivers have been calling, texting or posting to social media.
 
I was calling the Police to tell of an erratic drunk driver throwing his empties out the window. By pulling me over, you let that maniac stay on the road, possibly killing someone. I think he was waving a gun around saying "screw the Queen!". I only crashed because that other guy hit me.

Good job, officer. :)
 
I find changing my radio station to find a new station way more distracting then talking on my phone. Doesn't matter if its against my ear, or through my head-unit. Its just as distracting as talking to the person in the passenger seat. This drives me crazy... TEXTING on the other hand needs to be punished big time.
 
I was calling the Police to tell of an erratic drunk driver throwing his empties out the window. By pulling me over, you let that maniac stay on the road, possibly killing someone. I think he was waving a gun around saying "screw the Queen!". I only crashed because that other guy hit me.

Good job, officer. :)

This actually happened to me... Not even kidding. I was driving ON THE PHONE with the police station, The cop car that was sent to pull him over instead pulled me over for being on my phone. He didn't realize I was the one calling the station. He let me go and sped off to catch the other person. I never saw someone pulled over so i guess he didnt catch him. This was at 4am in the morning
 
I'm not sure how useful this is ... since most phones have a reset you could just reset your phone if you knew you were guilty ... in the case of injury or death there would be a trial so even a reset phone could be used as evidence in a trial ... most crashes might result in a ticket but unless you fight the ticket (which would be stupid with a reset phone) you could just pay the fine for the crash and move on
 
This actually happened to me... Not even kidding. I was driving ON THE PHONE with the police station, The cop car that was sent to pull him over instead pulled me over for being on my phone. He didn't realize I was the one calling the station. He let me go and sped off to catch the other person. I never saw someone pulled over so i guess he didnt catch him. This was at 4am in the morning
Having attempted to evade a traffic stop myself (before the officer turned on his lights - plausible deniability), you might not have seen the person pulled over because s/he was followed to a side street.

FWIW, after clearly evading the police officer above, he found me, gave me a good talking-to, and then didn't ticket me for the initial speeding violation (which occurred on an empty road at 3 o'clock in the morning). Really nice guy. :)
 
I'm sorry, but that's particularly poor reporting, which I think you should have realised before linking to it: the article goes on to say that ACPO guidelines are that officers check phones, not seize them.

but new guidelines issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers says that officers should check drivers’ mobiles even in the event of a minor shunt.

Lots of people here use their mobiles to photograph the scene after a crash, so a move to seize phones would be ill-received.
 
What if your phone has a password? They beat that out of you?

I think the operative word here is "Seize" the phone ... once they have the phone they could try and crack it ... and who knows if police have special password resets for phones by now ... maybe if you refuse to unlock it they just confiscate it or give you a fine for refusing to cooperate (no idea what level of self incrimination protection you have in the UK ... their laws are definitely slightly different than the USA)
 
I think the operative word here is "Seize" the phone ... once they have the phone they could try and crack it ... and who knows if police have special password resets for phones by now ... maybe if you refuse to unlock it they just confiscate it or give you a fine for refusing to cooperate (no idea what level of self incrimination protection you have in the UK ... their laws are definitely slightly different than the USA)

In the US this would be impossible and would see massive outrage. If a cop requires a warrant for cell phone access now in criminal cases how exactly would this fly in traffic violations?
 
I was calling the Police to tell of an erratic drunk driver throwing his empties out the window. By pulling me over, you let that maniac stay on the road, possibly killing someone. I think he was waving a gun around saying "screw the Queen!". I only crashed because that other guy hit me.

Good job, officer. :)

Nice :D
 
I drank drove and pulled down a street to evade a breath-stop. having successfully switched to a designated driver we drove through the breatho no probs. If I really did that it would be illegal yes? what kind of punishment would that be? the tires were blad the speed read above proper speed - I was drunk - and the car was tanked out with people and I'm sure weed carriers.
 
I have been to two parties stopped by police. Both times I did not have a mobile though, but could have used one. The first one I actually got lost in the streets so it would have helped. Another different occasion I got lost driving and had to phone a pay phone to get directions by a road map over the phone.
 
In the US, they detain you indefinitely, depending on the judge.

"Hey bud, what you in for?"

I refused to unlock my phone and the cops couldn't figure out my password was my birthday in reverse

"hardcore, dude ... hardcore" :cool:
 
I'm not sure how useful this is ... since most phones have a reset you could just reset your phone if you knew you were guilty ... in the case of injury or death there would be a trial so even a reset phone could be used as evidence in a trial ... most crashes might result in a ticket but unless you fight the ticket (which would be stupid with a reset phone) you could just pay the fine for the crash and move on

They can always search phone records instead. Would just take longer.
 
They can always search phone records instead. Would just take longer.

And they are unlikely to search records for every single crash (unless they have a lot of time and money or very few crashes) ... they already had the phone rule for accidents that involved injury or death ... this was expanding it to include all accidents ... I doubt they would investigate every wiped phone unless you ended up in more than one accident ... I would agree that where there was an injury or death they would subpoena the actual records for a phone
 
Minus someone tweeting the accident in real time similar to Tom on the show Parks and Rec, I could imagine it'd be easy enough to fight in court. Unless they can pin the accident down to happening within a few seconds time frame in many cases the driver could claim to have been pulled over during the use and the accident occurred after resuming driving. Obviously traffic cameras could expose this but only if they're present.
 
UK RIP act, which has just been re-passed as DRIP act, means that all phone records are available for one year. So Police just need your number from your phone to look up the records for the last 20mins or so.

A key lock on the phone won't be enough as that would be classified as a "password" protecting a "computer" which can be demanded under various vague terror type laws.

As a Brit I am quite happy about this one. The number of idiots you see on the phone while on the road is getting annoying. You can usually tell if you are following someone texting or talking on the phone as they are swerving as bad as a drunk driver.

Reprogramming the satnav should also be on the list. Is it really that hard to set the destination before you pull off?

Though, in reality, we have a better law that covers all of this - Driving without Due Care and Attention. Basically, drive like like an arsehole and you'll get nicked.
 
I drank drove and pulled down a street to evade a breath-stop. having successfully switched to a designated driver we drove through the breatho no probs. If I really did that it would be illegal yes? what kind of punishment would that be? the tires were blad the speed read above proper speed - I was drunk - and the car was tanked out with people and I'm sure weed carriers.

I think you're still drunk.
 
Minus someone tweeting the accident in real time similar to Tom on the show Parks and Rec, I could imagine it'd be easy enough to fight in court. Unless they can pin the accident down to happening within a few seconds time frame in many cases the driver could claim to have been pulled over during the use and the accident occurred after resuming driving. Obviously traffic cameras could expose this but only if they're present.

This law is in the UK and they have tons of cameras
 
I think you're still drunk.

Oh I just remembered why I was driving too. I think I may have had anacid trip as well. oh well. u know it stays on your teeth for 6 months after and it makes you shit blood or so I'm told.
 
there is more....

after I had to go to a hotel with my GF who had to be home at MIDNIGHT for her folks. After that I dragged a TV onto the terrace and watched TV and smoked until morning. LOLOLOLOLOL

True Story. She told me never to lie to her again.
 
sry I keep posting. OK you can ban me now. Although I just bought a subscription. Pls
 
They'll just call Appl and Google and use the back door to get around that. Oh that's right, you're not suppose to know about that.

No need to do that in most cases.

All they need to do is find out the carrier and phone number. They have always had the ability to get the call records through legal means. TBH, I don't know why they would need to seize the phone in the first place. The same procedure is in place in the USA, they just need a warrant to do so.
 
I think the operative word here is "Seize" the phone ... once they have the phone they could try and crack it ...
Why would they do that? Check the SIM card number and the IMEI number, contact the carrier, request logs due to suspicion of illegal activity leading to an accident. Voila.
 
No need to do that in most cases.

All they need to do is find out the carrier and phone number. They have always had the ability to get the call records through legal means. TBH, I don't know why they would need to seize the phone in the first place. The same procedure is in place in the USA, they just need a warrant to do so.

Getting a warrant for every driver (200,000+ cars per year) involved would cost a lot more and be a huge waste of manpower but I agree 'seizing' phones is this way is still wrong.

What I would like them to do is simply ask every driver involved for permission to view *only* the call & message history on the phone. That way you only need to worry about the ones who refuse or are unable to respond and are still respecting people's rights.
 
Getting a warrant for every driver (200,000+ cars per year) involved would cost a lot more and be a huge waste of manpower but I agree 'seizing' phones is this way is still wrong.

What I would like them to do is simply ask every driver involved for permission to view *only* the call & message history on the phone. That way you only need to worry about the ones who refuse or are unable to respond and are still respecting people's rights.

. The call logs on a screen are not proof of anything. I could run a simple program that could make the results dirty . Only the carriers logs would get past a lawyer's scrutiny. Nothing on the phone is 'evidence'
 
Its OK I guess if it reduces accidents or deters people. But I have a feeling this is really more about just making it easier for police to assign fault so they can dust of their hands and walk away faster. It will be one of those technicalities like if you hit someone in the rear were if you were doing anything on the phone it doesn't matter what the story is you are given fault. And the insurance companies will be worse. In addition people who do text and drive will start learning to install software that removes all traces of activity from the phone leaving no history or time stamps and forcing the police to subpoena the phone company.
 
In the US this would be impossible and would see massive outrage. If a cop requires a warrant for cell phone access now in criminal cases how exactly would this fly in traffic violations?

Kinda why we threw em' that fancy Tea Party a few centuries ago :)
 
I think you guys are missing the point here. Different country, different laws, different lawyers. There is currently a rather open law in place called the DRIP act that lets Police pull phone records for fairly trivial reasons. It doesn't matter if you reset or wipe your phone, the Police only need your phone number. The rest then comes from the phone company.

All they are going to pull is date and times of calls and messages. Which can then be tied up to the time period of the accident. There have already been a number of cases where it was shown where, for example, messages were being sent from a mobile phone moments before the lorry driver ploughed into the back of a car.

Current rules allow the Police to pull the records in a serious accident. This is just widening the net to pull the records for all accidents.
 
1. Crash
2. Save pics to sdcard
3. Break phone
4. Eat sim card
5. ???
6. Profit
 
1. Crash
2. Save pics to sdcard
3. Break phone
4. Eat sim card
5. ???
6. Profit
Surely that gets updated for modern day...

1. Crash
2. Upload photos to cloud
3. Get mate to Photoshop the evidence to show you weren't even there / someone else driving / attacked by dinosaurs / abducted by aliens
4. Shoot phone with large calibre weapon
5. Eat SIM (why else are they nice tiny little micro sims?)
6. Employ lawyer to lie for you
7. Profit (after deducting legal fees)
 
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