back to article The latest stupid yoof craze: Taking selfies - while DRIVING

What could be more stupid than spending your days taking pictures of yourself? Snapping a selfie whilst speeding along the motorway, which is apparently becoming a thing. There are 3,727 pictures on Instagram which use the #drivingselfie hashtag and almost 1,900 using #drivingselfies. Underneath some of these pictures is …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surely these selfies, by their very definition are evidence of driving without due care and attention. Start prosecuting, that'll sort the problem nice and fast.

    1. Alex in Tokyo

      Cited on Photographic Evidence. Couldn't agree more.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Surely these selfies, by their very definition are evidence of driving without due care ..."

      No, because a single still photo doesn't prove you're moving. Even if there's apparent motion blur and surrounding vehicles, armco out of the right hand window, it's still not proof on its own (particularly in the world of editable images). "Yes, I was in the outside lane of the M3, and I did take the picture, but traffic had ground to a temporary halt and I had my engine turned off, yer honour".

      The best such photos would be is supporting evidence, for example if the police catch the user in the act on proof-grade video, or witness the act themselves.

      1. Rob

        Almost

        But if they are sitting in their car with the keys in the ignition (as you would sitting in a traffic jam) and you are holding the phone then they could probably still fine you for using your mobile phone as it is in your hand, regardless of whether the engine is on or not.

        That's about as close as they could possibly get to a prosecution of sorts based on the photo evidence. Fingers crossed though most of these numpties will write a comment with the picture admitting what they were doing at the time to make the prosecutions job easier.

        1. Kubla Cant

          Re: Almost

          @Rob

          AFAIK the law prohibits use of a mobile phone. There's no way to tell from the picture whether it was taken with a mobile phone (illegal), or whether it was a full-plate camera complete with a tripod (presumably not explicitly forbidden).

          1. Lamont Cranston

            @ Kubla

            The photo metadata can give away the device used, can it not?

            Still, little chance of the law stepping in, so let's just cross our fingers that the stupid buggers manage to crash somewhere remote.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Almost

          @Rob

          Hey maybe they should prosecute thought crimes as well. Wouldn't that be good. Not.

          How come all this emphasis is on prosecuting people who have broken a "rule", yet they ignore those drivers who have actually caused accidents (unless there is injury). Having been rear ended whilst stationary, it is not very satifying to know the police had no interested in convicting the driver responsible.

          And BTW, just because someone claims something (on or offline), it doesn't make it true. There's a little detail called evidence.

    3. Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face

      Ever seen a "Police, Camera" type programme, where a driver does something stupid like cutting up a panda car, driving into oncoming traffic and crashing into a pensioner? It's all there on tape, but Lee Boardman often chips in at the end with an inexplicable "the driver of the red Peugeot was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence..."

    4. Tom_

      My passenger took the photo, your honour.

    5. Fink-Nottle

      Prosecution? No chance ... the State would rather use the courts to provide a legal gloss to their attempt to cut benefits to the disabled victims of careless drivers.

    6. Nym

      Sorry, can't be done

      You have to have a witness too (unless you're the government). I talked to a cop, this isn't guesswork. The laws would have to be changed and believe me you don't want it because it would then put all publicly available material into the domain of prosecutable offenses including fiction. We've come close too many times already in Britain and the U.S.A.

  2. Andy 70

    heh

    Darwinism?

    humanity having conquered the basics of habitation, and a bite to eat, then sorted a lot of disease and various debilitating ailments, it's nice to see that stupidity is still able to come to the fore to give the gene pool a bit of a scrub.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: heh

      No Darwinism is where you kill yourself, not where you wipe out a couple of other families in the process.

      1. Crisp

        Re: heh

        You don't have to kill yourself to win a darwin award. All you have to do is remove yourself from the genepool. I think there's more than one guy that it's been awarded to for removing their ability to reproduce.

  3. adnim

    It only matters

    If they take out some unsuspecting pedestrian or another driver if they lose control.

    Perhaps the selfie snapper, if they survive, could be billed for the clean up.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It only matters

      Yeah, and the same for drivers who have accidents as a result of talking to their passengers, or listening to the radio or eating a sandwich or picking their nose. And cyclists. And anyone else requiring clean ups.

      Why special laws for certain categories and not for others?

  4. Captain Scarlet
    Flame

    Driving

    Just give people self driving cars already, hate people who do their paperwork/makeup/god knows what else whilst not moving forward and letting everyone from the other lane cut in.

    DAMN YOU THAT COST ME 10 SECONDS OF MY LIFE >_<

    1. Khaptain Silver badge

      Re: Driving

      >Just give people self driving cars already

      Couldn't agree more, I can't think of anything more chronophagous than having to drive. Removing the human element from the equation would definately improve the situation on a whole.. Think aircraft here, something like 99% of accidents are meat-bag related.

      1. Captain Scarlet

        Re: Driving

        I just want one so I can get in get some more sleep like I used to do on the train (Although people get annoyed if you start snoring and dribbling on them)

  5. cracked
    Devil

    It's not fair

    Is it telling that none of the aging, grey-haired / balding, pot-bellied hacks who inhibit inhabit this place, dared put their name at the top?

    Yes. I think it is.

    Wot this publication needs is a yoof council!

    It needs some reporters on YOP schemes (or whatever the latest acronym is for slave labour solving youth unemployment).

    Never mind an Editor Without Portfolio; this publication needs an Editor Without Wrinkles!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's not fair

      Get off the Regs' fucking lawn.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    CNN Investigation

    Does that mean they searched the website in question for a couple of keywords?

    About 3000 pics out of how many again?

    I'm a bit surprised this article is not signed by Phil Space.

  7. Cosmo

    Seen it on Vine as well

    I've seen a few videos on vine where people are driving down the road - clearly moving - and taking videos of themselves. To do it in the first place is dumb - To do it and have your face clearly visible doing something dumb and upload it to the interwebs? Words fail me...

  8. MJI Silver badge

    Playing with your self

    Isn't that a bit dangerous when driving?

    As to taking pictures while driving, You are boring, outside is more interesting.

  9. MJI Silver badge

    £2000

    So is it a cheap newer car or an expensive older car?

    1. Great Bu

      Re: £2000

      I was thinking "2000 pound cars - what are they all driving Lotus Elise's or something ?" - 2000 lbs. is around 910kg - I would be impressed if you could find many cars in the USA that weigh this little.....

      1. MJI Silver badge

        Re: £2000

        Never understood use of pounds in weight over a stone, totally meaningless to me.

        To me 2000 pounds is a some of money.

        900kg is a weight, nearly a ton(ne)

        1. Don Jefe

          Re: £2000

          It's the equivalent of two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a Smart Two-Four with a full tank of gas and a driver or a draft horse or a wet cubic yard of compost. Convert to El Reg units if you like.

          Whoever made that quote has no concept of comparative weight. Most US automobiles start out around 3,800 pounds and run up to about 9,000 pounds for a full size pickup truck with all the fixins'. It doesn't take much to put together a, literal, ton of material. So many people simply don't know anything about the world around them. It's kind of sad.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: £2000

            OK ok, we get it, the man is obviously a drooling idiot because he didn't say "a 3800 pund car". We get it. Only wish we were all as perfect as you lot.

            1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

              Re: £2000

              Go back to snapping selfies.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: £2000

            'a wet cubic yard of compost'

            A very useful unit - thank-you!

            And 'a wet cubic yard of compost' is pretty much what most American cars are made of.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just when you think people can't be any more idiotic, something like this comes along.

    My faith in human stupidity has once again been restored!

  11. DrXym

    Nature finds a way

    Things like this are just nature's way of weeding the stupidest people out of the genepool. Last year it was extreme planking where idiots were falling off balcony railings, car parks etc.

    1. Don Jefe

      Re: Nature finds a way

      Normally I agree, but automobiles can endanger those who aren't participating in said gene pool cleaning activities.

      1. DrXym

        Re: Nature finds a way

        So could idiots falling from car parks.

  12. Thomas 4

    #newselfietrends

    #rtaselfie

    #arrestedselfie

    ...and my personal favourite

    #havingtheshitbeatenoutofmeinprisonselfie

    1. A Nother Handle

      Re: #newselfietrends

      #smugglingmyphoneintoprisonselfie

      1. Darryl

        Re: #smugglingmyphoneintoprisonselfie

        Those selfies would be extremely dark, you'd think... Even a flash isn't going to help much where that phone is.

      2. Jediben
        Joke

        Re: #newselfietrends

        Those shots tend to turn out quite poorly lit.

  13. Gordon Pryra

    Nothing new here, move along

    I remember when VHS recorders got small enough for home use, we saw a rash of people doing just this.

    Remember the "selfy" of the Japanese businessman doing 200 in his Ferrari down the M1?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    retro filters, a la Instagram

    methinks Instragram (aka FB) will be quick to sue them for "defamation" ;)

  15. Obitim

    How about a couple of after one:

    #crashingselfie

    #amputatedarmselfie

    #deadpedestrianselfie

    #familyijustkilledselfie

    I'm sure there a plenty more

  16. DropBear
    Devil

    Pilots, you say...?

    "Driving is a really serious thing. Can you imagine if a pilot crashed and we found out that people in the cockpit were taking selfies? People would be appalled." - Oh, you mean like the Aeroflot Flight 593, where the pilot's kids crashed the plane while failing to, y'know, actually fly it instead of the autopilot they turned off? Yup, that never happens either. Actually, considering how many times more ordinary people there are than airline pilots, I'm starting to wonder whether a larger percentage of pilots might be crashing their planes aided by their kids than the percentage of people taking driving selfies is...

    EDIT: for the record, it's still unbelievably stupid stuff, for sure. Just sayin'.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cue lots of chavs

    In their hotted up 1 litre vauxhalls driving through southall and ilford taking selfies

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Darwinism...

    Unfortunately they often take others with them.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is a very bad idea, however

    Stupid claims like it being equivalent to getting behind the wheel after 20 pints are counterproductive. If you want people to stop, lying about how bad it is just makes people think it isn't really bad at all.

    Just look at past attempts of similar lies, such as claims about how marijuana will cause you to go on violent crime sprees, trying cocaine once will make you instantly addicted, masturbation makes you grow hair on your palms, etc.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This is a very bad idea, however

      BBBBBBut if they told the truth, people wouldn't take their claims seriously...

      Pipe down citizen, the truth is the last thing they want you to know. After all, the ends always justifies the means.

    2. Lamont Cranston

      Re: This is a very bad idea, however

      Oh, I don't know. 20 pints down? Unfit state to drive. Eyes glued to your phone? Unfit state to drive.

      Now, if you'll excuse me, my LSD flashback is just starting to kick in, so I need to find a multistorey to fly off of.

  20. Scroticus Canis
    Trollface

    Selfie @ yr own funeral....

    Specially shaped coffin so you can have your arm outstretched?

    Need to be quickie selfie if it's a cremation, first take it before the smoke gets too thick, then send it before the phone evaporates.

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