Using a telephone whilst driving carries more than a £60 / 3 point penalty

[crockers]

If you're running 2 phones and your car kit can only handle one -- why not have the other one divert to the one linked to the car kit......sorted...!!!

Next Question -- I personally think smoking whilst driving should be banned....you have a lighted instrument in your hands -- if that falls onto the seat are you going to leave it and concentrate on the driving? What about smoke in your eyes? As for the throwing of lighted butts out of the window..Hmmmm. Do you agree ?

 

[amwebby]

If you're running 2 phones and your car kit can only handle one -- why not have the other one divert to the one linked to the car kit......sorted...!!!

Next Question -- I personally think smoking whilst driving should be banned....you have a lighted instrument in your hands -- if that falls onto the seat are you going to leave it and concentrate on the driving? What about smoke in your eyes? As for the throwing of lighted butts out of the window..Hmmmm. Do you agree ?

Smoking whilst driving is the same as eating or using the phone, you don't have both hands on the wheel and can be distracted at crucial moments.

I was nearly sideswiped going around a roundabout by a woman who was smoking and using her mobile phone at the same time. She was all over the road and oblivious of my presence.

 

[Ade B]

I use my phone for my business and take a fair few calls during the day. On the bike I can feel it buzzing in my pocket and then shortly afterwards when the answerphone calls me back. I just call people back once I've stopped, they don't expect me to take calls on the bike although I could rig up my helmet to connect to my phone. I have enough distractions already...

In the car, I can perfectly legally get myself tangled in a cable handsfree kit to take a call, weave all over the road whilst looking a number up and miss turnings due to being absorbed in a conversation.

Whilst there are plenty of distractions in a car whilst driving (flicking through the computer display on my Dad's Omega nearly got me in trouble recently)..

An integrated handsfree is a much better option although I took the ancient one out of the CE as it was ugly and couldn't be bothered with the sim card faffing..

I have so far avoided a Blackberry - I think that we can have too much communication

Ade

 

[jaymanek]

As far as I am aware, eating at the wheel is also illegal so I'm not quite sure that was the best analogy - you may as well say you can drink a beer at the same time without it affecting you



Andy

Oh i know but you hardly see the police cracking down outside the mcdonalds car park...

its just been singled out, thats what i hate... yes of course i would avoid any distraction if possible, but mobiles arent the biggest... they are just the easiest to enforce...

 

[amwebby]

I have so far avoided a Blackberry - I think that we can have too much communication

Ade

My company just switched over to Blackberrys. Not only has my work load gone up as I can now receive emails whereever I am, I've noticed you can't switch the damn things off! You can set it to turn on and off at specific times but there's no on/off switch...

 

[jaymanek]

We seem to have developed a mentality that it is impossible for us to live without being contactable 24 hours a day. The constant "noise" (and I'm not just talking about phones and texts) is one of the reasons we have such stressed out lives.
.

We all make choices, and mine is to work 24/7... when it comes to business im not lax.. i will answer calls wherever I am as otherwise that will most likely be lost business.

I know money isnt everything and safety comes first, and im not promoting it, im just saying its picked on way too much as its the easient distraction to enforce and monitor, giving the police much needed brownie points...

 

[amwebby]

I'm just saying its picked on way too much as its the easient distraction to enforce and monitor, giving the police much needed brownie points...

Is it? I drive about 20,000 miles a year and I see people using phones while driving all the time. I don't see many police enforcing this or any other road laws as they rely on speed cameras and only appear when there is an emergency.

 

[jaymanek]

it definately is... there cant be police everywhere but its still one of the first things they look for when on the beat..

 

[amwebby]

it definately is... there cant be police everywhere but its still one of the first things they look for when on the beat..

Exactly, when they are on the beat, which is only when there is an emergency in my experience. I see people using mobile phones all the time but never see anyone getting pulled over for it.

 

[andy_k]

otherwise that will most likely be lost business.

How much business would you lose if you lost your licence or as you get nearer to a ban will using hands free become more important?

Andy

 

[nick mercedes]

I assume you are referring to a handheld phone. In that case I fully agree as there are so many aftermarket kits available so hands free is very cheap and safer. Double the fine and crush the vehicle, equals no insurance to pay and safer roads from drivers with no concern for fellow road users or pedestrians.

I've always had the ability to do 2 things at once.

I've observed people doing all manner of thing while also on the phone.

Nanny state, innit.

 

[Ade B]

I've always had the ability to do 2 things at once.

I've observed people doing all manner of thing while also on the phone.

Nanny state, innit.

I would suggest that it is a rare talent to manage two things simultaneously as well as one. Driving involves lots of feedback responses and humans are pretty adept at making most of them unconsciously. However...

Whether mobile phone use should be penalised over adjusting the radio, shouting at the kids, sparking up etc. is a moot point.

It certainly doesn't sharpen your senses..

Ade

 

[nick mercedes]

However...

Now there's a man who could survive the North Circluar while on the phone, trying to open a packet of sandwiches, looking out for speed cameras and constant threat of being spotted by plod....

 

[jaymanek]

How much business would you lose if you lost your licence or as you get nearer to a ban will using hands free become more important?

Andy

oh i know... and thats why I have bought a hansfree that does two phones at once.. (see my first post!)

 

[glojo]

My company just switched over to Blackberrys. Not only has my work load gone up as I can now receive emails whereever I am, I've noticed you can't switch the damn things off! You can set it to turn on and off at specific times but there's no on/off switch...

After great thought and consideration, I have come up with the perfect 'Off' switch.

The only problem with it is you might have to come up with your own 'On' switch.

If we accept a 'work' ethic whereby we must work 24/7 then that is a personal choice and much respect to anyone that does this, but I agree with those that suggest we are becoming 'prisoners' to our telephones and perhaps believe we cannot survive without them. Times have changed, we have changed accordingly, but is it a change for the better?

Here's a thought!

I have been thinking long and hard about the motorist being the soft target for the police. I am NOT talking about the controversial issue of speed camera's I am simply talking about the 'invisible' police officer on the beat.

Are motorists a soft target, or are the police doing their job? If a police officer saw someone being robbed (mugged) would they do nothing and turn a blind eye? If a police officer saw someone breaking into a car, or scratching it, would they turn a blind eye? If they saw someone using a mobile phone whilst driving would they turn a blind eye?

Now in the real world what is the chances of actually witnessing someone keying a car? It is easy to call the police thick, or educationally challenged but they did not write the laws, we did. They also do not decide who will be prosecuted.

Tis a to do.

John

 

[barryj]

I couldnt care less about the arguments for ot against, I have hands free kits in all the cars that are compatible with various phones via blue tooth. I however dial and accept calls on my handset, have been for about 15 years long before the advent of hands free and all the fuss.

 

[Irishrebel]

You CAN'T multitask!

The myth that some people can multitask, especially these 'superwomen' who hold it as proof men are somehow defective, has been blown apart by traffic research.

In simulation tests, any form of distraction, phones, eating, drinking, etc. reduces response times and thinking ability in practically ALL people, even those who boasted that they can do it perfectly. It's all about perception, and maybe being TOO self-confident.

And NO, the police do NOT target phone use. That's just hue and cry from those who take their phones to bed with them. PUT THEM DOWN for just a few minutes, please! I bumped into my friend's daughter recently on her way to resit her driving test. She had been caught brushing her hair on her way to work, and lost her licence for a year! YES, and resit! Harsh? Maybe, but proof that all bad driving is viewed circumspectly.

We all know how annoying it is for people to answer phones when in meetings or socialising. PUT THEM DOWN!

On holiday in France, we met a family on a tour of Carcasonne. The mobile rang, the man answered, his wife sighed, rolled her eyes and fumed. I raised my eyebrows. "It's work!" she said, "He insisted on bringing THAT phone!"

"I'd have thrown it into the English Channel if I was you, love!" I said as I thanked the Lord my simple hands-free only works in the UK! NO, actually, it works in the Irish Republic, but I learnt the hard way that I get charged if I even just answer a call! Horrible things; remember when life was simpler?

Tim.

 

[glojo]

What makes me smile is all the emergency services users that drive vehicles without hands fee capability! Are they immune from having accidents? Yes they might be immune from prosdecution but I hate any law that is do as I say, not as I do. BUT.......... I do not include respnding to any type of emergency and safely disregarding certain traffic laws. TWO HANDS ON THE WHEEL. TWO EYES ON THE ROAD. If it's good enough for me, then it is good enough for our emergency vehicle drivers.

We were in Lincolnshire last year and I watched an ambulance driver on a mobile phone pulling out from a side road onto the very busy A15. Not clever.

Just my two penarth
John

 

[st4]

I have to say that using the mobile phone without hands free is something that really irritates me, especially as it seems to be largely people in cars costing £50k+.

I may have misunderstood you but why does the value of the car have anything to do with the crime. Is there an axe you have tio grind with someone who has an expensive car, do they have have "less of a right to commit a crime" than someone with less money?

 

[oldcro]

I'm sure I read somewhere that a company should not phone an employee when they know he/she would be driving if no handsfree kit has been provided.