What are your reading habits?

[Under the Covers]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'd be a much more dangerous driver if I couldn't have my mammoth cup of morning coffee during my commute.

But I limit myself to imbibing life's blood fluids while driving. I haven't been tempted to order this handy product yet, helpful though the reviews are. I'm not up to such high-level multi-tasking.

P.S., I read at railroad crossings, also.

I followed the above link to look at that "handy product" out of curiosity as to what the reviews would say -- the questions (59 so far) as well as the reviews are priceless:

• "What's the average number of fatalities per user? Just an estimate is fine."
• "Is [it] strong enough to hold up a microwave oven? I like to cook bacon for breakfast and this would save time on my commute."
• "Does blood wipe off of it easily?"

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's correct, it's not a specific offence. If the police catch you, the offence you'll be charged with is "driving without due care and attention".

If you'd like an example (in this case a woman prosecuted for eating an apple while driving), there's one here. After the court case (the woman opted to go to court rather than accept a fixed-penalty charge) the police said:

In fact if one goes to the trouble of reading your link the matter was not just that she was "eating an apple while driving" as you claim but that she was negotiating a left turn into a junction with an apple in her right hand. The charge would indeed have been along the lines of driving without due care and attention and even if one just relies on the news story the same would likely have applied no matter what she was holding or doing that caused her to lose her care and attention. As the media have a habit of leaving facts out that distract from sensationalism and so focusing on an apple, rather than perhaps on her erratic driving at the time, makes a great story; that just as the liberty you have taken in your post by your focussing on the apple and omitting to mention the inconvenient to your case driving manoeuvre she was performing at the time.

In the end you claimed in your previous post that "doing things like reading, using a mobile phone, or even drinking from a bottle of water, are all illegal while stopped at traffic lights, railway crossings, and so on." whereas (with the exception of mobile phone use) they are in fact not illegal and we now seem to be in agreement on that point.

The UK Highway Code (as do the codes of other countries, including my own) lists some things to avoid "..when driving or riding, such as..." as they may cause a distraction, but in fact that list is both just an advisory not a statement that they are illegal nor not to be done at all, and is not meant to be exhaustive. Doing anything whatsoever that causes a loss of due care and attention may result in a charge. That being so your case would seem to lead to the silliness of a driver being charged doing anything whatsoever, regardless of the status of the vehicle at the time (even "stopped", you say), if there is any possibility at all that such an anything whatsoever activity could during some conceivable future use of the vehicle lead to a loss of care and attention.

Why is it that in UK TV programs such as "Top Gear" we see the talent driving on UK roads adjusting the likes of radios and nav. systems, and sometimes eating and drinking (including your "bottle of water") without charges resulting as you claim they should be? The answer seems obvious, I have never seen a case where the situation was resulting in a loss of care and attention.

I'll leave it at that and won't respond further; it is much more fun wondering why if your claim is true why there are radios, cup holders and ashtrays in UK vehicles if one cannot use them (and why everything in Texas is big).

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Why is it that in UK TV programs such as "Top Gear" we see the talent driving on UK roads adjusting the likes of radios and nav. systems, and sometimes eating and drinking (including your "bottle of water") without charges resulting as you claim they should be? The answer seems obvious, I have never seen a case where the situation was resulting in a loss of care and attention.

I, ahhh, wouldn't use Top Gear as a guide to what is legal to do on UK roads.

FYI, I wouldn't try blowing up any caravans on the road, it's not as common as Top Gear would make out

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

The UK Highway Code (as do the codes of other countries, including my own) lists some things to avoid "..when driving or riding, such as..." as they may cause a distraction, but in fact that list is both just an advisory not a statement that they are illegal nor not to be done at all, and is not meant to be exhaustive. Doing anything whatsoever that causes a loss of due care and attention may result in a charge. That being so your case would seem to lead to the silliness of a driver being charged doing anything whatsoever, regardless of the status of the vehicle at the time (even "stopped", you say), if there is any possibility at all that such an anything whatsoever activity could during some conceivable future use of the vehicle lead to a loss of care and attention.

Here's an example of a woman being prosecuted for drinking from a bottle of water while her car was stopped at traffic lights:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/774655.stm

I'm unable to discover what the outcome of the court case was, but this goes to show that you can indeed be fined for drinking water in a stationary vehicle.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Here's an example of a woman being prosecuted for drinking from a bottle of water while her car was stopped at traffic lights:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/774655.stm

I'm unable to discover what the outcome of the court case was, but this goes to show that you can indeed be fined for drinking water in a stationary vehicle.

The charge isn't "drinking water in a stationary vehicle", it's failing to be in charge of the vehicle. Often in this sort of story there is a lot more to it. Did she have both hands off the wheel at the same time? Was she failing to pay attention to what was going on around her?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by meeera

The charge isn't "drinking water in a stationary vehicle", it's failing to be in charge of the vehicle. Often in this sort of story there is a lot more to it. Did she have both hands off the wheel at the same time? Was she failing to pay attention to what was going on around her?

Unfortunately, as I say, I'm not able to find an account of the court case. Perhaps she just paid the fine in the end. But this makes the point that even when your vehicle is stationary, you're required to be in full control of it, not drinking water, fiddling with the radio, etc.

[AnnieWhere]

I'm not allowed to switch the radio station while standing at traffic lights? I do have a problem then ... I didn't know that there's such strict road rules...

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Here's an example of a woman being prosecuted for drinking from a bottle of water while her car was stopped at traffic lights:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/774655.stm

I'm unable to discover what the outcome of the court case was, but this goes to show that you can indeed be fined for drinking water in a stationary vehicle.

It would be dangerous for me not to drink while driving. I am literally a dizzy blonde if I don't drink plenty of fluid.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by meeera

The charge isn't "drinking water in a stationary vehicle", it's failing to be in charge of the vehicle. Often in this sort of story there is a lot more to it. Did she have both hands off the wheel at the same time? Was she failing to pay attention to what was going on around her?

I think Harry must be a journalist as he seems to have the habit of leaving points inconvenient to his story out. It seems there may be more to it than reading the headline infers as in the newspaper article he points to it actually states:

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police defended its officer's action, saying:
"Our concern is for the safety of other road users.
"If a police officer feels a driver is not in charge of their vehicle while it is moving, they will be stopped and advice or a ticket will be given. "

Emphasis is mine.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

I, ahhh, wouldn't use Top Gear as a guide to what is legal to do on UK roads.

FYI, I wouldn't try blowing up any caravans on the road, it's not as common as Top Gear would make out

Ah, that is a relief as I was beginning to think that UK cars had cup/waterbottle holders, which apparently are not allowed to be used for drinking purposes, for carrying water to put all the burning caravans out.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

I think Harry must be a journalist as he seems to have the habit of leaving points inconvenient to his story out. It seems there may be more to it than reading the headline infers as in the newspaper article he points to it actually states:

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police defended its officer's action, saying:
"Our concern is for the safety of other road users.
"If a police officer feels a driver is not in charge of their vehicle while it is moving, they will be stopped and advice or a ticket will be given. "

Emphasis is mine.

I think AnotherCat must be a journalist as he seems to have the habit of leaving points inconvenient to his story out, as in the newspaper article I points to it actually states:

She told the BBC: "How can I be out of control if I'm not even moving? The lights were red and I was stationary."

(Emphasis is mine)

[AnotherCat]

Harry, I suggest that you read my post again.

I said "It seems there may be more to it than reading the headline infers...". I then added the quote from the police spokesman which conveys that the vehicle was moving.

At no stage did I make any claim that the vehicle was either stopped or not, I just presented the quote that indicates that the driver and the police have different views on whether it was or not. I had no need to quote the driver as her claim was already a given.

I think from any sensible reading of the news article it would appear, because of the conflicting statements of the driver and the police, that there is, in fact, more to it than reading the headline infers.

You now seem to be claiming that the driver's claim is the only one that matters and that there is no more to the case than that; I suspect because it, taken by itself, supports your case.

[queenofspades]

Other than fiction books on my Kindle, I've been reading a lot of Marvel comics online Love Love Love Captain America Also been reading about setting up a blog...thought it would be cool to sort of document my musings Now I'm learning all about wordpress blog hosting on this site. There's so much to take in!

[crankypants]

I work on the computer for 9 hours a day during the week, when I come home my eyes are burning, sore, and exhausted. So I tend to read on the weekends. Usually I read on my Android device, a 7" tablet. I really like Moon Reader Pro on Android. It's really worth $4-5 I paid for it. MoonReader supports all formatting that other ereaders support, but not blockquotes. EPubreader (Firefox plugin) does support blockquotes. I have written to the authors of MoonReader to see if they will support block quotes. (I'm converting some historical PDFs (WW2) to epub and there are some quotes in there.)


If I'm bored I'll read for 6 hours at a time. Other times I'll read 1-2 hours, then it's off to bed.

[leebase]

I read in bed mostly. Or lying on the coach. I prefer laying down as my position. I read ebooks almost exclusively. I prefer reading on my iPad, but have a new iPhone 6s+ large phone which may change that. I like that all my reading apps pick up where I left off no matter which of the two I use.

I read outside but never in direct sunlight. Mostly during the spring or fall when it's pleasant to be outside.

My reading goes up and down in reverse of my tv watching. They definitely compete with each other for my time.

I read one book at at time for the most part. Or rather two - as I have an audio book going. My audio book listening has suffered to the competition of podcasts which together have almost eliminated listening to music.

I prefer long series to individual book and individual books to short story collections.