Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving

occy · 12-09-2012, 07:26

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?

legends wear 7 · 12-09-2012, 07:49

Needs to become as socially unacceptable as drink driving has become, needs the kind of graphic ad campaigns that drink driving had.

Stiggles · 12-09-2012, 07:54

Hidden NFC/RFID tags in cars and software built into phones which cannot be disabled which disables the phone while the car is in motion.

Or something similar.

Popadopalous · 12-09-2012, 07:56

Laws are only good provided there are people enforcing them. We all know what is and isn't against the law so I think campaigns are a bit pointless.

The punishment isn't enough to deter people or even prevent them from committing the crime in the first instance. The £60 fine should increase to several hundred but I still don't think that'll be enough to deter people completely.

the chimp · 12-09-2012, 10:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stiggles

Hidden NFC/RFID tags in cars and software built into phones which cannot be disabled which disables the phone while the car is in motion.

Or something similar.

So passengers can't use their phones ?

alan1302 · 12-09-2012, 10:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stiggles

Hidden NFC/RFID tags in cars and software built into phones which cannot be disabled which disables the phone while the car is in motion.

Or something similar.

How would you allow a passenger to use a phone and not the driver though

Schadenfreud · 12-09-2012, 10:10

I have a hands free kit and use it all the time. Even then sometimes I pull over if the call is quite technical as I really need to focus on the call.
What really grinds my gears is seeing someone in a £50,000+ car with a phone stuck to their ear... there really is no excuse whatsoever!!!

I'd like to see their cars crushed a result... harsh but not as harsh as killing someone.

c4rv · 12-09-2012, 10:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stiggles

Hidden NFC/RFID tags in cars and software built into phones which cannot be disabled which disables the phone while the car is in motion.

Or something similar.

so how about passengers in the car ?

c4rv · 12-09-2012, 10:45

Its scary the amount of people I see texting while driving. There is no need for it, really.

occy · 12-09-2012, 11:45

Driving using handsfree / Bluetooths or whatever is just as dangerous. Your more interested in the the phone call.

Dai13371 · 12-09-2012, 11:50

Talking to your BT unit on your sun visor could be dangerous, but refusing to talk to your wife in the passenger seat can also be risky.

Schadenfreud · 12-09-2012, 11:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by occy

Driving using handsfree / Bluetooths or whatever is just as dangerous. Your more interested in the the phone call.

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.

-Batman- · 12-09-2012, 12:02

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

occy · 12-09-2012, 12:02

Quote:

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.

Your not concentrating on the road and what's around you. If your call is important they will continue to keep ringing or they can wait until you pull over to a safe place.

Drivers need to start to wake up. When we didn't have mobile phones it was safe, so there needs to be a tougher sentence.

skunkboy69 · 12-09-2012, 12:22

If the authorities are really wanting to stop mobile use while driving ,crush the offenders car instantly.They'd soon get the message.

Stevo44 · 12-09-2012, 12:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by skunkboy69

If the authorities are really wanting to stop mobile use while driving ,crush the offenders car instantly.They'd soon get the message.

via text?

cat666 · 12-09-2012, 13:15

Voice calls are acceptable as long as handsfree is used. No different to chatting with a passenger.

Anything which involves pushing buttons and/or looking at the screen is a distraction.

Mark in Essex · 12-09-2012, 13:35

Same as somebody said above - I don't see a problem as long as you are talking hands free and it's only a "light" conversation, but if it gets technical (like it does with my work sometimes) I always ask to call them back when I can pull over.

It's the same as having a standard conversation with one of your passengers compared to one that you really have to think about or even worse an argument or having to deal with screaming kids in the back.

I think the police should come down really hard on anybody where anything IS effecting their driving (drinking/eating, reading maps, shaving, fiddling with car stereo or on the mobile).

tdenson · 12-09-2012, 13:50

Quote:

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.

It's not the physical act of holding a phone that is dangerous. It is the brain bandwidth that gets consumed by having a remote conversation with someone that is dangerous. I have a Parrot hands free which I use quite a bit, but when I do it is a calculated risk, I know I am not as safe when on the phone. I tend to avoid calls when driving in unfamiliar territory for example.
AIlthough I don't use a handset to my ear, if it were a clearly proven risk to drive one handed then manual shift cars would have been banned long ago (plus smoking). One can drop a phone to respond to an emergency (not so easy with a cigarette though !).
As far as talking to passengers is concerned this is totally different. The difference with a phone call is that the person at the other end is not aware of what's going on at your end, most passengers will understand if you suddenly stop talking and conversely will keep quiet when they appreciate you are negotiating a difficult junction or whatever.

CuBz90 · 12-09-2012, 13:59

Steering wheel technology, if both hands are not on the wheel for more than 10 seconds it starts letting out an annoying alarm

c4rv · 12-09-2012, 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark in Essex

Same as somebody said above - I don't see a problem as long as you are talking hands free and it's only a "light" conversation, but if it gets technical (like it does with my work sometimes) I always ask to call them back when I can pull over.

It's the same as having a standard conversation with one of your passengers compared to one that you really have to think about or even worse an argument or having to deal with screaming kids in the back.

I think the police should come down really hard on anybody where anything IS effecting their driving (drinking/eating, reading maps, shaving, fiddling with car stereo or on the mobile).

AFAIK, all of these are illegal if the police believe its effecting your driving, as is operating a sat nav.

chrisjr · 12-09-2012, 15:05

Quote:

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.

The Transport Research Laboratory have investigated using hands free kits and compared them to holding a conversation with a passenger. If you have 40 quid to spare you can get the full report but the summary still makes interesting reading. Just an extract..

Quote:

Comparison was made between the conversations held over the carphone and with the front seat passenger. There was a clear difference on all conversation measures showing that performance was worse when the response was via the handsfree carphone. It is concluded that hands-free phone conversations impair driving performance more than these other common in-vehicle distractions.

http://www.trl.co.uk/online_store/re...ile_phones.htm

Rodney McKay · 12-09-2012, 18:38

You should be aware that using a hands free kit does not make it 'legal' to use a phone whilst driving.

For starters if your hands free setting requires you to touch the phone to answer or end the call that is NOT hands free.

Also, if you have an accident the Police will take your phone and look to see if it was in use at the time of the accident REGARDLESS of it being hands free. For those interested Google Lord Ahmed who got jailed after he hit a man who had crashed his car on the motorway, even though he wasn't on the phone at the time of the accident he'd been proven to have been using the phone beforehand and got jailed note it was the use of the PHONE and not hitting the man he was done for.

People often state that being in a conversation on the phone is no different to holding one in the car. But it is, in the car your passengers are aware of the road conditions and how attentive the driver is being, for example if you're on a really busy road where it's raining or foggy and cars are braking changing lane etc, passengers are more likely to let the driver concentrate on driving. When on a phone the person at the other end has no idea of your road conditions and may well be asking you quite detailed questions.

On simulators they reckon having a conversation on a phone is similar to being at or over the legal drink drive limit.

The bottom line is you shouldn't really use a phone at all whilst driving. I always advise people to text or email information to reps or van drivers and let them pull over when it's safe to read the message or if they have to be phoned keep the message short as possible.

It was bad law to bring in the law about hand held mobile phones because laws exist already and yes people can be prosecuted for fiddling with their stereo etc if the Police can prove it.

Just to reinforce my point a lorry driver who was using a hands free phone killed someone and got done

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...s-driving.html

Jimmy Connors · 19-09-2012, 22:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by c4rv

Its scary the amount of people I see texting while driving. There is no need for it, really.

Completely agree.

Whilst crawling along the North Circular on Saturday the man in the car behind me was texting. I deliberately changed lanes to get away from him. He was dangerous IMO.

rhod · 20-09-2012, 10:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Connors

Whilst crawling along the North Circular on Saturday the man in the car behind me was texting. I deliberately changed lanes to get away from him. He was dangerous IMO.

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..

12-09-2012, 07:26	#1
occy Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sussex Posts: 25,535	Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving 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?

12-09-2012, 07:49	#2
legends wear 7 Guest Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,070	Needs to become as socially unacceptable as drink driving has become, needs the kind of graphic ad campaigns that drink driving had.

12-09-2012, 07:54	#3
Stiggles Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Dundee, Scotland Posts: 9,293	Hidden NFC/RFID tags in cars and software built into phones which cannot be disabled which disables the phone while the car is in motion. Or something similar.

12-09-2012, 07:56	#4
Popadopalous Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 664	Laws are only good provided there are people enforcing them. We all know what is and isn't against the law so I think campaigns are a bit pointless. The punishment isn't enough to deter people or even prevent them from committing the crime in the first instance. The £60 fine should increase to several hundred but I still don't think that'll be enough to deter people completely.

12-09-2012, 10:00	#5
the chimp Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: ]]]-- N.F.F.C. --[[[ Posts: 11,635	Quote: Originally Posted by Stiggles Hidden NFC/RFID tags in cars and software built into phones which cannot be disabled which disables the phone while the car is in motion. Or something similar. So passengers can't use their phones ?

12-09-2012, 10:05	#6
alan1302 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: West Yorks Posts: 6,180	Quote: Originally Posted by Stiggles Hidden NFC/RFID tags in cars and software built into phones which cannot be disabled which disables the phone while the car is in motion. Or something similar. How would you allow a passenger to use a phone and not the driver though

12-09-2012, 10:10	#7
Schadenfreud Guest Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1,291	I have a hands free kit and use it all the time. Even then sometimes I pull over if the call is quite technical as I really need to focus on the call. What really grinds my gears is seeing someone in a £50,000+ car with a phone stuck to their ear... there really is no excuse whatsoever!!! I'd like to see their cars crushed a result... harsh but not as harsh as killing someone.

12-09-2012, 10:44	#8
c4rv Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Essex Posts: 16,218	Quote: Originally Posted by Stiggles Hidden NFC/RFID tags in cars and software built into phones which cannot be disabled which disables the phone while the car is in motion. Or something similar. so how about passengers in the car ?

12-09-2012, 10:45	#9
c4rv Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Essex Posts: 16,218	Its scary the amount of people I see texting while driving. There is no need for it, really.

12-09-2012, 11:45	#10
occy Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sussex Posts: 25,535	Driving using handsfree / Bluetooths or whatever is just as dangerous. Your more interested in the the phone call.

12-09-2012, 11:50	#11
Dai13371 Forum Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Ammanford, South Wales Posts: 7,911	Talking to your BT unit on your sun visor could be dangerous, but refusing to talk to your wife in the passenger seat can also be risky.

12-09-2012, 11:54	#12
Schadenfreud Guest Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1,291	Quote: Originally Posted by occy Driving using handsfree / Bluetooths or whatever is just as dangerous. Your more interested in the the phone call. 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.

12-09-2012, 12:02	#13
-Batman- Forum Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 5,338	A complete 12 month ban if caught texting or having a phone glued to your ear

12-09-2012, 12:02	#14
occy Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sussex Posts: 25,535	Quote: 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. Your not concentrating on the road and what's around you. If your call is important they will continue to keep ringing or they can wait until you pull over to a safe place. Drivers need to start to wake up. When we didn't have mobile phones it was safe, so there needs to be a tougher sentence.

12-09-2012, 12:22	#15
skunkboy69 Guest Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 8,966	If the authorities are really wanting to stop mobile use while driving ,crush the offenders car instantly.They'd soon get the message.

12-09-2012, 12:54	#16
Stevo44 Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Around London somewhere Posts: 471	Quote: Originally Posted by skunkboy69 If the authorities are really wanting to stop mobile use while driving ,crush the offenders car instantly.They'd soon get the message. via text?

12-09-2012, 13:15	#17
cat666 Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,045	Voice calls are acceptable as long as handsfree is used. No different to chatting with a passenger. Anything which involves pushing buttons and/or looking at the screen is a distraction.

12-09-2012, 13:35	#18
Mark in Essex Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 3,644	Same as somebody said above - I don't see a problem as long as you are talking hands free and it's only a "light" conversation, but if it gets technical (like it does with my work sometimes) I always ask to call them back when I can pull over. It's the same as having a standard conversation with one of your passengers compared to one that you really have to think about or even worse an argument or having to deal with screaming kids in the back. I think the police should come down really hard on anybody where anything IS effecting their driving (drinking/eating, reading maps, shaving, fiddling with car stereo or on the mobile).

12-09-2012, 13:50	#19
tdenson Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 4,214	Quote: 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. It's not the physical act of holding a phone that is dangerous. It is the brain bandwidth that gets consumed by having a remote conversation with someone that is dangerous. I have a Parrot hands free which I use quite a bit, but when I do it is a calculated risk, I know I am not as safe when on the phone. I tend to avoid calls when driving in unfamiliar territory for example. AIlthough I don't use a handset to my ear, if it were a clearly proven risk to drive one handed then manual shift cars would have been banned long ago (plus smoking). One can drop a phone to respond to an emergency (not so easy with a cigarette though !). As far as talking to passengers is concerned this is totally different. The difference with a phone call is that the person at the other end is not aware of what's going on at your end, most passengers will understand if you suddenly stop talking and conversely will keep quiet when they appreciate you are negotiating a difficult junction or whatever.

12-09-2012, 13:59	#20
CuBz90 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Manchester Posts: 3,310	Steering wheel technology, if both hands are not on the wheel for more than 10 seconds it starts letting out an annoying alarm

12-09-2012, 14:40	#21
c4rv Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Essex Posts: 16,218	Quote: Originally Posted by Mark in Essex Same as somebody said above - I don't see a problem as long as you are talking hands free and it's only a "light" conversation, but if it gets technical (like it does with my work sometimes) I always ask to call them back when I can pull over. It's the same as having a standard conversation with one of your passengers compared to one that you really have to think about or even worse an argument or having to deal with screaming kids in the back. I think the police should come down really hard on anybody where anything IS effecting their driving (drinking/eating, reading maps, shaving, fiddling with car stereo or on the mobile). AFAIK, all of these are illegal if the police believe its effecting your driving, as is operating a sat nav.

DS Forums

Using Mobile Phones Whilst Driving

12-09-2012, 15:05	#22
chrisjr Forum Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Reading Posts: 27,916	Quote: 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. The Transport Research Laboratory have investigated using hands free kits and compared them to holding a conversation with a passenger. If you have 40 quid to spare you can get the full report but the summary still makes interesting reading. Just an extract.. Quote: Comparison was made between the conversations held over the carphone and with the front seat passenger. There was a clear difference on all conversation measures showing that performance was worse when the response was via the handsfree carphone. It is concluded that hands-free phone conversations impair driving performance more than these other common in-vehicle distractions. http://www.trl.co.uk/online_store/re...ile_phones.htm

12-09-2012, 18:38	#23
Rodney McKay Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 7,793	You should be aware that using a hands free kit does not make it 'legal' to use a phone whilst driving. For starters if your hands free setting requires you to touch the phone to answer or end the call that is NOT hands free. Also, if you have an accident the Police will take your phone and look to see if it was in use at the time of the accident REGARDLESS of it being hands free. For those interested Google Lord Ahmed who got jailed after he hit a man who had crashed his car on the motorway, even though he wasn't on the phone at the time of the accident he'd been proven to have been using the phone beforehand and got jailed note it was the use of the PHONE and not hitting the man he was done for. People often state that being in a conversation on the phone is no different to holding one in the car. But it is, in the car your passengers are aware of the road conditions and how attentive the driver is being, for example if you're on a really busy road where it's raining or foggy and cars are braking changing lane etc, passengers are more likely to let the driver concentrate on driving. When on a phone the person at the other end has no idea of your road conditions and may well be asking you quite detailed questions. On simulators they reckon having a conversation on a phone is similar to being at or over the legal drink drive limit. The bottom line is you shouldn't really use a phone at all whilst driving. I always advise people to text or email information to reps or van drivers and let them pull over when it's safe to read the message or if they have to be phoned keep the message short as possible. It was bad law to bring in the law about hand held mobile phones because laws exist already and yes people can be prosecuted for fiddling with their stereo etc if the Police can prove it. Just to reinforce my point a lorry driver who was using a hands free phone killed someone and got done http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...s-driving.html

19-09-2012, 22:16	#24
Jimmy Connors Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Home For The Bewildered Posts: 86,545	Quote: Originally Posted by c4rv Its scary the amount of people I see texting while driving. There is no need for it, really. Completely agree. Whilst crawling along the North Circular on Saturday the man in the car behind me was texting. I deliberately changed lanes to get away from him. He was dangerous IMO.

20-09-2012, 10:46	#25
rhod Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,833	Quote: Originally Posted by Jimmy Connors Whilst crawling along the North Circular on Saturday the man in the car behind me was texting. I deliberately changed lanes to get away from him. He was dangerous IMO. 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..