Social Media and Motoring Law

Can you believe that just 10 years ago phrases like “you must retweet that”, “I only got three likes for that status”, “#tbt” and “he hasn’t poked me back” would have meant absolutely nothing? 30 June 2015 marks the sixth-annual official global celebration of Social Media Day, a day to recognise and celebrate social media’s impact on global communication. The day was introduced by the digital media website Mashable in 2010.

People are increasingly living their lives on online public domains such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; these social media platforms crave our attention and input. No sooner have you put your phone down than another notification pops up and those annoying little red numbers sit by the app that make you want to see what has happened in the cyber world since you left. There are almost a billion daily active Facebook users and 500 million tweets are sent every single day. Despite these methods of communication being relatively young, they have become ingrained in our lives.

For all the upsides of social media – being up to date with all the latest celebrity gossip, keeping people connected globally, breaking news, allowing freedom of speech and seeing the latest pictures of Kim Kardashian – there are risks. This stems from our perception of a need to be permanently connected to the web and other people. Nobody wants to miss out. They’ve even introduced the term “FOMO” (Fear of missing out) this month into the Oxord English dictionary with the meaning “anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website”.

The biggest risk that social media poses, from a motoring lawyer’s perspective is checking your phone when driving. It may seem harmless enough to spend a couple of seconds seeing the comments on your latest selfie, but accidents can and do happen from momentary lapses of attention. According to one source 27% of drivers admit to checking Facebook while operating their vehicle. This is a huge proportion of the population that are putting themselves and others at risk when on the road every single day. Driving whilst using a mobile phone is currently punishable with a penalty of 3 points and a fine, however there has been talk about doubling this to 6 points. Of course, 3 penalty points would be the least of your worries if you were charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving or an even more serious offence.

So, don’t forget to like our Facebook page and follow Miss Justice on Twitter to keep up with all the latest from the team at Geoffrey Miller Solicitors, here to look after all your motoring law needs in case you find yourself in a sticky situation… Once you’ve finished driving that is!