It's not uncommon for people to record their whole trip for social media, not just take to a picture.
That's still a distraction. Even if they don't intend to upload the entire recording they are paying less attention to the road in order to pay attention to their "performance".
On your last point... It's still damaging because it normalises it. UK has very harsh stance on this and you'd get in shit even for point 1. There should be zero tolerance on this. They're a dickhead driver regardless. Two dickheads don't make it right.
Incorrect, in the UK you can touch/use the phone if it's mounted in a cradle. Touch it un-cradled though and wham that's instant points even if it was out of battery and turned off
I have some great news for you. Look at what took effect yesterday in my state! Using a mobile device, including at a red light, is now a primary offense (you'll get pulled over for just that).
This just applies to PA, but it's a pretty big state with a population between Sweden and the Netherlands, so it's not nothing!
yeah i was gonna say. they enforced the no texting law for maybe a year here, then they just started using "I thought I saw them texting" as probable cause to pull over anyone they wanted.
I live in PA and I'm not holding my breath for this shit to ever be enforced. I'm a school bus driver and last year I had a local cop pass me when I was stopped with my red flashers on letting kids off the bus. He was driving with one hand and looking at his phone in the other - never even saw me.
I'm a school bus driver and many of my coworkers use their phones (talking, texting and even doom scrolling) while driving a bus - sometimes even when they have kids aboard. And these buses have internal cameras that are always recording! I don't understand how they're not fired or at least suspended for it, but I suppose the driver shortage has something to do with it.