NEWS AND COMMENT: The man was on his phone while driving which is illegal in the UK. The two police constables spotted it and gave chase on their horses down the middle of town – an unusual sight to say the least and very cool. They do have a certain presence, don’t they? A nice deterrent perhaps.
I’m told that, in the UK, police officers have been deployed on horseback to try and reduce the number of people using a phone while driving. An interesting concept to use police on horseback to carry out this specific type of work. It’s not going to work unless the car is travelling pretty slowly which must mean in the center of a city or town. Although I think the deterrent aspect is the important one.
The video you see comes from the ASPolice Roads Policing Twitter account.
In the UK, if you are caught driving while using a mobile phone you could face a fine of up to £1000 as well as six points on your licence or even a driving ban. It would seem that the standard punishment is six penalty points, and a £200 fine. The man in the video, I understand, received this punishment.
Since the beginning of 2021, Avon and Somerset police report that there have been more than 4500 fatal or injury-causing collisions.
It’s been illegal to use a hand-held smartphone, tablet computer or any other device while driving a car or riding a motorcycle since March 2022.
Below are some more articles on horses.
