Drivers to be banned from picking up mobile phones

[flowrider]

I thought it was already banned to use a mobile phone in a car for anything whilst the car is in motion, I also thought the hands free part included satnav and music but now I see that I can use my phone for both satnav and music as long as the phone stays in a cradle.

 

[Nicebutdim]

Like I always say about people that don't pick up dog dirt, take the dog off them and put the owner down.

not before you have rubbed their noses in it (both owner and dog)

 

[markjay]

...Does anyone know how to factory navigation on a 2011 E Class (with NTG 4.5 & Audio 50) to re-route from congestion as well as Waze or Google Maps ?

The TomTom Live Traffic service became available on MB cars as of mid-2013. This service relies on a built-in Vodafone 3g simcard fitted in the car, which cannot be retrofitted. So the short answer is that there's no live traffic option for your 2011 car.

The only traffic information service available to you is the free TMC, and it has very limited usefulness, among other things because it only covers motorways and main routes.

You can opt to fit after-market Apple CarPlay / Android Auto unit to your car if you wish, and you can then use Apple Maps / Google Maps / Waze etc from the car's infotainment system screen. www.comandonline.co.uk will know if there's an Apple CarPlay / Android Auto upgrade that is compatible with your car.

 

[markjay]

I thought it was already banned to use a mobile phone in a car for anything whilst the car is in motion, I also thought the hands free part included satnav and music but now I see that I can use my phone for both satnav and music as long as the phone stays in a cradle.

This is my understanding of the situation:

Before the mobile phone ban, prosecution of drivers holding a mobile phone while driving was based on the generic offences of driving without due care and attention, or dangerous driving, which was sometimes difficult to prove in court.

The legislation that came into force in the late 90s (from memory), made it a specific offence to make or receive calls using a handset that needed to be held 'for any part of the call" (meaning it was illegal to hold the phone to dial a number and then put it down while talking), as well as send or read text messages.

That meant that the police (or the CPS) now only needed to prove that the driver held the phone, and no longer needed to prove that it was distracting or dangerous to do that.

The issue that came to light as mobile phones developed over time, was that there did not seem to be a case against a driver who held the mobile phone, but wasn't actually making or receiving a call or texting (as can be demonstrated from the call log). That meant that using the phone as a camera or a satnav wasn't specifically banned, because there's no legislation forbidding drivers from using a camera while driving (which meant that any prosecution will have to fall back to the generic offence of driving without due care and attention). And, in essence the same applied also to a driver using his phone as a Nintendo game console while driving.

The new law is meant to fix that, by making it a specific offence to use your phone for any purpose other than those specifically permitted.

Again, this is my understanding.

 

[markjay]

See also:

NADER ELDARF v THE QUEEN - Judgement - Patterson Law

IN THE CROWN COURT AT HARROW NADER ELDARF v THE QUEEN On Appeal from Willesden Magistrates’ Court ——————————- JUDGEMENT ——————————- 1. On Friday 21 September 2018 we allowed an appeal by Nader Eldarf against his conviction by Willesden Magistrates’ Court on 23.05.2018, for driving a motor...

www.pattersonlaw.co.uk

DPP v Ramsey Barreto - The dos and don'ts of mobile phone use when driving. It's not that confusing, it turns out.

An appeal by way of case stated from a decision of the Crown Court which quashed Mr Barreto’s conviction for driving a motor vehicle while using a hand-held mobile telephone, contrary to S.41D of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Regulation 110 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations...

www.centralchambers.co.uk

The courts ruled that the legislation only prohibited use of mobile phone for the purpose of 'external communication', so there was nothing in the law that prohibited drivers from holding the phone and using it as an iPod or camera while driving (or, by extention, as a game console, etc).

 

[AW8]

........The only traffic information service available to you is the free TMC, and it has very limited usefulness, among other things because it only covers motorways and main routes.

You can opt to fit after-market Apple CarPlay / Android Auto unit to your car if you wish, and you can then use Apple Maps / Google Maps / Waze etc from the car's infotainment system screen. www.comandonline.co.uk will know if there's an Apple CarPlay / Android Auto upgrade that is compatible with your car.

Thanks - that makes things a bit clearer. Any future work on car will be considered against vehicle value & how long I may keep it. I may give them a call to get an idea choice(s). (I now think mine might be NTG 4.0)



In the meantime I have my Waze set up with voice commands enabled. I have used Waze before in background to support muted factory nav using directions in centre of dash dials.

I respect the law re mobile phone use & careless driving etc. Very aware of the dangers & consequences of distractions.

 

[AW8]

I sometimes wonder what happens to people when their satnav or phone breaks mid journey. It must cause something akin to post traumatic stress.

can people still read maps?

Navigating along complex unfamiliar routes prior to sat-nav often involved folk driving whilst looking at directions or maps...Far from ideal.

The UK driving test was changed some years ago to feature use of sat-nav.

 

[markjay]

Navigating along complex unfamiliar routes prior to sat-nav often involved folk driving whilst looking at directions or maps...Far from ideal.

The UK driving test was changed some years ago to feature use of sat-nav.

Yup - every minu-cab driver in London was driving with an open A-Z of the front passenger seat....

 

[baxlin]

Yup - every minu-cab driver in London was driving with an open A-Z of the front passenger seat....

But if they had an automatic, the A-Z would lean against the selector lever, and they could keep a finger on the map exactly where they were.

As demonstrated to me once by a colleague.....

 

[Deleted member 126251]

I sometimes wonder what happens to people when their satnav or phone breaks mid journey. It must cause something akin to post traumatic stress.

can people still read maps?

I doubt that many people born since ~1988 can!

 

[Deleted member 126251]

not before you have rubbed their noses in it (both owner and dog)

Not the dog's fault. Very old fashioned idea for training a dog. Dogs also have to $h1T and don't know where it is appropriate in the street or otherwise and would not know why their nose is getting rubbed in it. The lazy owner has taken the dog out to $h1t in the street because they are too lazy to clean up their gardens. Freshest droppings are seen early morning when the scummy night walkers have been about!

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Pity they didn't ban hands free as well. There is more than enough evidence that taking a call while driving is a massive distraction. If you have evert travelled with a driver busy talking on the phone, you will know what I mean.

IMO all cars should be fitted with a device that blocks signals while the car is moving!

 

[artyman]

If I get a call while driving (hands free) I tell them I'm driving and will call back later.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

I totally agree that taking/making a call whilst driving can be distracting. However, it’s like most things in life, the more you do it the less odd it feels. So a company rep doing 30k PA taking/making call after call will chat away effortlessly. A driver taking/making the odd call every few weeks will feel distracted and unnerved.

Same goes for many things for example using the cars sat nav system. The more you use it, the more fluent you become.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I still think a bigger deterrent to a fine would be on the spot confiscation of the phone. You get it back when you've paid your fine and the points are on your licence.

And grounded for a month

 

[Y3CHR]

I can't really see any issue with this, if the phone is in a cradle then sat nav / music can be adjusted.

Car play and the likes are making it more and more easier to manage communication on the go, interestingly enough id be wondering how long that continues. Is it just as distracting answering texts etc as they appear on the screen or are read out ?

I have turned off whatsapp notifications etc on one of my cars through Car Play as i do find it a distraction.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

We managed for years without being available 24/7 I have to ask why people think they need to be reachable on that basis.

The genie is out of the bottle and ain’t going back in - we’re a “connected” society now.

 

[markjay]

I totally agree that taking/making a call whilst driving can be distracting. However, it’s like most things in life, the more you do it the less odd it feels. So a company rep doing 30k PA taking/making call after call will chat away effortlessly. A driver taking/making the odd call every few weeks will feel distracted and unnerved.

Same goes for many things for example using the cars sat nav system. The more you use it, the more fluent you become.

Agreed, though the same can be said of other driving skills, while the law is set at the lowest common denominator.

I vaguely remember reading a story back in the eighties (?) of a British F1 driver who was caught speeding on the Motorway and was prosecuted for the offence of dangerous driving instead of speeding (due to his excessive speed), but was acquitted in court after managing to convince the judge that given his experience with high-speed driving his speeding couldn't be classified as 'dangerous'. Anyone recalls such an incident?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

IMO all cars should be fitted with a device that blocks signals while the car is moving!

I don’t know about other phone manufacturers but on my iPhone you can do a very similar thing: “Do Not Disturb While Driving” that sends the person calling you a text that says you’re driving and you’ll get back to them.

 

[Larkone]

Police should be allowed to stamp heavily on the offending device and then hand it back with a ticket.