Plain clothes ‘spotter’ helps police catch driver every two minutes | ITV News

32 comments

1. Good. I regularly walk home past rush hour traffic, and I see people on their phones, eating, no seat belts, kids not belted or with proper seats, adults smoking with kids, obviously “modded” reg plates designed to avoid ANPR/Speed cameras.

   And then we wonder why vehicle insurance is so high.

2. Good.

   Any means necessary to get these a’holes off the roads.

3. 15 drivers caught in half an hour. This means that they can’t really control whether people still use their phones behind the wheel or not. It’s a far bigger issue than they can control.

4. lol brilliant

   Couldn’t care about the teen about to lose his license or the mum with the 4 month old. The rule is simple

   No phones.

5. Must be a terrible driver, you’d think the police would just arrest them instead of catching them every two minutes….

6. Good, fuck these idiots.

   Getting caught using a phone whilst driving should be a guaranteed ban IMO, the current penalty isn’t enough of a deterrent to stop people.

7. Last year, going home on my bike from work a guy drove straight into me while I was giving way to him to turn right. He was on his mobile phone, while turning. Broke my leg.

8. I once saw a guy on the M1 driving a landrover in the middle lane using an electric razor to have a shave using the rear view mirror.

9. The specific wording makes it sound like he’s just some random guy who does it in his spare time to help the police.

10. For mobile usage? Yeah, good, fuck ’em. Driving distracted is dangerous, especially to people outside your vehicle, and it really needs more enforcement.

11. An old boss used to drive a van and steer with his knees while rolling cigarettes, no matter the road. I used to say I’d roll it for him and he’d say he’d been doing it all his life, stupid pratt.

12. We love to claim that as brits we’re born and bred to queue well.

    But put us in cars and we become [Mr Wheeler](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mwPSIb3kt_4)

    People need to remember that driving is a privilege, not a right. The road ahead of you does not need to be clear for your journey.

    It’s likely the immature thought that, “I’ve always done 45 in a 30 and never had an accident therefore I am an incredibly skilled driver”.

13. Fine each lawbreaker £1k and give the catcher half of it, the rest going to a donkey sanctuary.

14. There’s **one simple trick** these police officers hate….

    Follow the rules of the road.

    If you do that – don’t speed, don’t be on your phone, don’t make dangerous/reckless manoeuvres – they can’t touch you. It’s that simple.

    When you drive a motor vehicle you have the capacity to cause death and serious injury to yourself and others relatively easily – as such, it’s a serious responsibility. If you can’t handle that responsibility in a safe and mature fashion – there’s always the bus.

    I have no sympathy whatsoever for those caught speeding or on their phone etc. I also have little time for the whole *Well they didn’t do much for my burglary* – ok? There’s a very limited number of officers and they can’t be deployed everywhere and they can’t get everything right every single time. There were nearly 30,000 people killed or seriously injured on the roads last year – it’s absolutely right that we should be trying to lower this as much as possible. Enforcement is a good method of doing this.

15. And here I am, had my motorbike stolen, then while I was recovering it was threatened by the thieves and had my (and a helpful bystanders) windscreen put through with a machete..

    I got a crime number by text message..

16. “We see people texting and calling [and] people scroll on social media, we’re seeing people Facetiming, watching films or playing games or scrolling through apps.” Shocking.

17. Great. Get unsafe people off the roads.

    I’ve campaigned for years to get cyclists to have to register and insure their bikes for public use, but for some reason no one seems to want to know. Weird…

18. Just pay me a % per successful report I submit and I’d quit my job and loiter around traffic lights for a total of 4 hours a day. I’m happy that I’m now a millionaire and the police because dangerous drivers are convicted.

19. Ok couldn’t be more stereotypical if I tried, but that photo, the dude ticks all the I AM PLOD boxes. I’d spot him a mile away at 6mph.

    J/k.

20. There is a massive disconnect with drivers. Most probably don’t realize or have in the forefront of their mind that what they are driving if something goes wrong will/can kill/maim other people.

    When I initially learned to drive forklifts, for instance, the instructor had us watch very graphic video clips showing what happens when you fuck around and find out on one.

    There isn’t anything remotely like that for driving a car. There aren’t graphic adverts on television, nothing is mandated when taking theory tests.

    Show people a child being hit by a car and dying on the side of the road whilst her mum wails, or a guy burning to death because he was speeding and hit a tree and the message will soon hit home.

21. The one that pisses me off is the guys who have new(ISH) cars that have android auto or apple play that still use their phone handheld , like you can use your voice to call or message anyone through that it’s just insane

22. In London alone, every week an average of 2 pedestrians are killed in road accidents. It’s a far bigger killer than any of the other risks people associate with London (e.g. knife crime, terrorism etc) but is just seen as normal or “better than it used to be”.

    Every death represents a family torn apart, parents/children/siblings living forever in grief over a loved one lost so suddenly, and it’s all considered normal.

    People trying to improve road safety are heros.

23. AI traffic enforcement is the dream. UK roads are awful. 

24. I find it bizarre that the likes of cyclingmiky exist on YouTube

    Surely if a guy can make a living off cycling round London capturing offenders the police could do it too?

25. Even the buses bloody speed around me. Was aimlessly just driving behind a bus, keeping up speed when I looked down at my speedometer and saw I was going 10 miles over the limit keeping up with the bus. Immediately let off the accelerator and slowed down. Don’t get me started on the mums either on their phones or doing their makeup as they drive their kids to school

26. That poor copper is gonna be spending all his rest days in court! Not worth it!

27. Pre-mobile phone days, mid-80s, I still remember watching the local copper drive by looking intently in the rear view mirror… while combing his hair 😂

28. Maybe rather than trying to sneak catch people we could invest in fixing our roads and making it faster / easier for us to get places?

    The current infrastructure in the U.K. is a complete joke.

29. What are the rules on Uber drivers? Because Uber keeps sending me requests while driving and with passenger onboard. And I wish the authority in charge would stop Uber from doing that, it’s distracting as it blocks the gps view and now you have to click X to see the road where tithe going or accept assuming the 4 seconds was enough to even know wtf it is you’re accepting

30. My mum nearly got ran over by a guy using his mobile phone as she crossed the road, as he wasn’t paying attention to anything other then the txt he was sending.

31. Good. I say go one further and deploy land mines with speed detection and electric robots like the 20 seconds to comply thingey in Robocop

32. That driver must be really fed up if he’s getting caught every two minutes.

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