[flagpole]

Originally Posted by -Batman-

A complete 12 month ban if caught texting or having a phone glued to your ear

i know it's tempting to go for the string them all up line.

i don't think the blanket ban on phones whilst driving is necessary. we already have laws about driving without due care and so on.

it is not specifically illegal to barbecue steak whilst driving but it's still illegal.

if say i am stationary on a motorway, in traffic. is it 12 months ban bad for me to take out my phone and tell someone i'll be late. thus releasing the pressure on me to rush the rest of my journey.

[call100]

The discussion will always throw up two camps..........I use hands free built into the car, but always to tell people I'll call them back when I get to a stop point in my journey. I don't want to hold lengthy conversations while in the car.
That said, I don't think the use of hands free is necessarily a bad thing. What amuses me is that it's the job of someone, in one of the most distracting car environments on earth, to catch and summons you. A Police car has so much going on in it and they are not always doubled up these days.
Personally I would ban children from cars, IMO there can't be anything on the planet more distracting for a driver.................

[nigelbb]

Originally Posted by rhod

An increasingly common sight, especially if you glance at the driver behind whilst waiting at traffic lights. There's that characteristic up and down glancing. Either there's something endlessly fascinating about their steering wheel, or they're fiddling with a phone..

or something else in their groin area.

[tdenson]

Originally Posted by flagpole

i know it's tempting to go for the string them all up line.

i don't think the blanket ban on phones whilst driving is necessary. we already have laws about driving without due care and so on.

it is not specifically illegal to barbecue steak whilst driving but it's still illegal.

if say i am stationary on a motorway, in traffic. is it 12 months ban bad for me to take out my phone and tell someone i'll be late. thus releasing the pressure on me to rush the rest of my journey.

I tend to agree with you, some common sense is needed in this whole thing. As I've said previously, it's not the physical use of a hand that is the dangerous thing, it's the total distraction certain/most phone calls can cause. Sometimes,if I start to feel drowsy on a motorway drive (and I do a lot of motorway driving) I will eat an apple, as a temporary cure until I can make a stop. I would argue vehemently that it is much safer for me to eat that apple than risk driving while drowsy.
Having said that, while using hands free is legal I will continue to be tempted by it and continue doing it until the law changes. I wouldn't be averse to a total ban on phoning while driving implemented via technology e.g. all phones disable calls while in motion (inevitably including passengers). I would just have to change my modus operandum, which wouldn't be a bad thing. However, we probably ought to ban car radios as well. Many car radios I have had have been far harder and more distracting to operate than anything on a phone.

[Jimmy Connors]

Originally Posted by rhod

An increasingly common sight, especially if you glance at the driver behind whilst waiting at traffic lights. There's that characteristic up and down glancing. Either there's something endlessly fascinating about their steering wheel, or they're fiddling with a phone..

Indeed, that was exactly the motion he was doing - but he was moving.

[dontpannic]

Originally Posted by occy

42% of motorists in the UK admitted to speaking on the phoning whilst driving. A poll also admitted that - 20% text, 4% email and 2% use social networking.

Tuning the radio, shaving ( Yes people do ) and eating are all dangeous whilst driving.

How do you overcome this. More traffic police? Or more campaigns to get the warning out there?

I freely admit to talking on the phone while driving. I use a handsfree kit. I freely admit to replying to a text message while driving. I use Siri to send and reply to texts

[neo_wales]

Originally Posted by Schadenfreud

Please explain how a hands free conversation can be equally as dangerous as someone holding a phone to their ear whilst having the same conversation?
It's common sense that holding a phone to your ear is more dangerous than having an ear piece or a handsfree kit.


Total nonsense. You may as well stop people talking to their passengers or listening to the radio.

Research shows that even using hands free a driver is a bad as if he or she had supped a couple of drinks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqrIH9ybNvk

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...ty-120128.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...h-reveals.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_...driving_safety

Personally I feel using a phone when driving should be classed the same as drink driving and the driver getting an automatic one year ban.

[flagpole]

Originally Posted by neo_wales

Research shows that even using hands free a driver is a bad as if he or she had supped a couple of drinks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqrIH9ybNvk

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...ty-120128.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...h-reveals.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_...driving_safety

Personally I feel using a phone when driving should be classed the same as drink driving and the driver getting an automatic one year ban.

i think a key difference is that you are only impaired for a moment if you are on the phone.

anyway i remember a time when using a phone was as dangerous as drink driving have they lowered the drink drive limit now to that of a hands free?

driving itself is dangerous. as with all things there is a balance. there is considerable economic benefit for example from people being able to be contacted whilst on the road. it's very easy to say 'the life of one child' and all that but if that were the case then we may as well just stop driving.

[neo_wales]

Originally Posted by flagpole

i think a key difference is that you are only impaired for a moment if you are on the phone.

anyway i remember a time when using a phone was as dangerous as drink driving have they lowered the drink drive limit now to that of a hands free?

driving itself is dangerous. as with all things there is a balance. there is considerable economic benefit for example from people being able to be contacted whilst on the road. it's very easy to say 'the life of one child' and all that but if that were the case then we may as well just stop driving.

It only takes a moment to kill yourself and others. Perhaps if you'd worked in A&E with me and seen the damage a phone can can do you'd change your mind. More than once the paramedics told us the phone was still on in the car, people at the other end shouting, trying to find out what was going on.

Using a phone a car should be a criminal offence.