Re "once the problem was rectified".
What's to stop him unrectifying it further down the road? I doubt that the gear was, or could be confiscated.
Central Scotland Police have expressed their incredulity at a trucker who was happily making his way from Aberdeen to Dover with a DVD player and laptop on his Hungarian vehicle's dashboard. The well-equipped driver was pulled by road policing unit operatives at Craigforth weighbridge on 21 September, the Telegraph explains, …
"The best way to avoid being involved in a collision, or being caught by my officers"
Well, as "his officers" are going to do sod all when they do catch someone, why should anyone care? Grow a pair and take these morons to task! This driver should have been prevented from continuing, charged and his employer contacted to deal with the truck.
[Lack of] Enforcement of the rules in this manner is exactly why there are so many idiots on our roads.
Sorry, but there is nothing in the law that would allow the police to prevent the driver from continuing. All the police could do was report the driver with a view to prosecution, this isn't an offence for which they could issue a fixed penalty. Given that he was probably driving on a foreign licence I don't think they could issue a fixed penaly anyway.
Spout on in your Daily Mail reader fashion if you must, but at least bother to check what powers the police have before you do.
"McMillan explained that a key to collision avoidance is not having stuff like DVDs and laptops blocking your view of the road"
Presumably satnavs that stick to the windscreen are on the no-no list then? Fair enough the guy is a douche, but let's not say that it was for blocking the view of the road - it's for driving without due care and attention.
In the West we are used to having impressive in-dash audio systems, In my oart of the world the in-dash audio spaces are usually filled with pop-out DVD players and TV screens that can easily be seen by ANYONE in the vehicle, including the driver.
These devices are also offered as optional accessories for trucks, and the like, too. In VietNam they are commonly fitted in taxi's as their cost is relatively low.
Maybe this helps explain how over 1,000,000 people are killed in China annually and over 13,000 in VietNam (population ~90-million).
For those who want to show off their wealth driving their Mercs or Bimmers one way is to fit individual pop-up players for the rear seat passengers.
Getting paid to drive a taxi, white van, truck or anything else does *NOT* make someone a "professional driver"!
As you mention, those who think of themselves as "professional drivers" are often extremely *bad* drivers because they think they know it all and probably think they have right of way over everything else on the road too which makes them very dangerous.
"McMillan explained that a key to collision avoidance is not having stuff like DVDs and laptops blocking your view of the road"
Of course - blocking the view of the road is the only issue here.
So if my laptop / DVD player is on my passenger seat, that's OK then? Keeping your eyes on the road and not on the laptop/DVD player is not important, no?
Mine's the one with the laptop not in the pocket but on my dashboard.
But how come this guy wasn't fined or banned form driving? If I were to stop at the side of the road and talk on my mobile phone, but happened to leave the engine running, I could expect a fine and point on my licence, or even a ban -- but this guy can drive a truck on main roads while watching a DVD and he just gets a slap on the wrist. How come?
I think you need to have a read through the road traffic act and find the bit that says you can be banned for this. Then again only a Daily Mail reader would think that the police have the power to ban a driver.
All the police can do in this situation is report the driver with a view to prosecution. And I've read nothing in the story that says they didn't. They can't prevent him from continuing if he rectifies the problem.
My laptop would be wired to the rig, showing everything, from oil flow to tire's pressure to extra cameras on blind spots. Regular dashes these days lack so much information. Most cars won't even show the engine temperature, for chrissakes!
I'm thinking 747 with glass cockpit right now for some reason.
I had a car that showed even battery voltage and oil pressure. On a regular sedan. I loved that dash. You knew the car engine was cold in the morning because the oil pressure was too high. As it heated, the oil thinned out, and the pressure dropped. If it didn´t drop, was a dead giveaway for oil change, for example.
On a recent trip to the Lakes my girlfriend spotted two lorry drivers reading the paper whilst driving, one of them was using his mobile too (didn't see them myself - I was concentrating on driving!).
These wagons typically have cruise control, so the drivers are in no danger of being caught be a speed camera. Since that's the only kind of law enforcement that we have on the roads these days, it's hardly surprising that this happens.
We need more traffic cops, with powers to DO something about these clowns.