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Really easy to comply with the law, many vehicles come with factory fitted hands free calling facility and for those that don't aftermarket kits are easy to obtain and not so expensive either.
The problem with the law is it does not require the driver to re-sit the driving test. There needs to be a wider application of this requirement for other offences too eg careless or dangerous driving or speeding if more than 30 mpg over the limit.
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The problem with the law is it does not require the driver to re-sit the driving test. There needs to be a wider application of this requirement for other offences too eg careless or dangerous driving or speeding if more than 30 mpg over the limit.
Following a conviction for dangerous driving the driver is subject to a compuslory extended re-test.
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<< It never will stop all people doing it, because there will always be those who think they can get away with it. >>
That's only half of it. The other half is that they believe using their phone has no serious effect on their driving, and that nothing unexpected will happen.
I don't know the cause, but there was an interesting incident yesterday morning (Friday) at the J12 roundabout on the M56. A large load, probably over 10 tons, of mixed waste possibly for the local incinerator, arrived unexpectedly on the entry to the roundabout because the wagon failed to make the turn and tipped over, either by centrifugal force or tripping over the Armco. Luckily traffic could get by on the inside lane, so no serious congestion resulted.
A phone may have had nothing to do with it, but it looks quite a strong possibility.
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To my mind the problem isn't the severity (or otherwise) of the punishment, but the extremely slim likelihood of the culprits being stopped by the police.
If you don't think that there is any chance of being caught, then whatever the penalty, there really is very little incentive to change.
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This kind of ties in with the driverless cars thread, because people using their phones while driving is going to continue to be a potential danger until such time as we don't actually have to do the driving. The reasons people do this definately include those already mentioned, but the simple fact is, most younger folk simply cannot function without their phones. Being 'offline' and the possibility of 'missing something' on social media is simply to much to bear.
I heard a discussion about this very subject on the radio a couple of weeks ago. It was correctly pointed out, more than once, that the problem with using a phone while driving, regardless of whether hands free or not, is that you are distracted. Which is what happens as a parent while you are driving if the kids kick off in the back. Or if your mates are with you and they are all laughing and joking. Or even if a song comes on the radio that you REALLY like, or has a particular importance or significance to you.
So, to be honest, the sooner they get driverless vehicles sorted out and working properly the better!
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I find society's slave-like "addiction" to the mobile phone in general, quite sad.
Being a "baby boomer", I remember when there were no such things.!...amazing how we all survived..!!!
In any town/city I'm constantly surprised how many pedestrians are on the phone as they amble along.
Yes, I have a smart phone..and it's bluetoothed to my vehicle head unit so I have hands free useage....BUT, I see it as an "emergency" facility should it be needed. I've never (yet) used it on the move. Though it does have a good sat-nav that I use sometimes.
Ordinarily there's beggar all that can't wait until I'm NOT driving.
Of course, the service providers are dancing with glee as the great British public are ripped off as usual...providing extra-ordinary profits for what is often quite an "ordinary" service.
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I drive 90 K a yesr
I run a business so you obviously need the phone alot
Since the law has changed my numbers go to a virtual reception some where in virtual web land and they email me the calls so we dont lose customers
Since I have stopped using the phone on the run I now fully apprieate just how much it distraces you It is very very dangerous even for someone like me who is skilled in holding the phone to my ear at 80MPH while eating shushi and drinking coffee.
I feel more in control of the van and it has not been like this since 1997 !
My journey has proved to me how dangerous it is
Edited by JEREMYH on 26/11/2017 at 07:37
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The only way to solve this serious issue is to treat it like drink-driving,i.e. a (say) six month driving ban. Even the most humble cars now come with bluetooth enabled radios,and virtualy all mobiles are bluetooth enabled. Are these drivers too stupid to know how to pair their phones or are they just too lazy? Every day I see drivers with mobiles to their ears or texting . One answer might be to increase the number of police to pre Theresa May levels because these people know the chances of being caught is almost nil. Insurance companies could also play a part by penalising these idiots.
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The only way to solve this serious issue is to treat it like drink-driving,i.e. a (say) six month driving ban. Even the most humble cars now come with bluetooth enabled radios,and virtualy all mobiles are bluetooth enabled. Are these drivers too stupid to know how to pair their phones or are they just too lazy? Every day I see drivers with mobiles to their ears or texting . One answer might be to increase the number of police to pre Theresa May levels because these people know the chances of being caught is almost nil. Insurance companies could also play a part by penalising these idiots.
It infuriates me too when I see people on the phone whilst driving. There's little or no chance of their being apprehended, the police having largely retreated from the highways to concentrate on financial and hate crime, and to mount the occasional purge on tax dodging in order to persuade the public that they still exist.
A classic example of this absence of enforcement manifested itself yesterday when I was stuck on the M53 on the Wirral, trapped in three solid lanes of traffic because of a reduction to one lane further down the road. One car after another sailed past us on the hard shoulder as we sat there seething, their hazard warning lights flashing as if they thought this gave them carte blanche to break the law. Just one strategically placed police vehicle could have nipped this behaviour in the bud and given the offenders a stern warning, or better still a ticket...but instead, the Federales remained invisible and the culprits continued to sail on their merry way to whatever meeting, shopping trip or tryst made them so special.
A further dimension of the "phones in cars" argument is that on occasion the people who call or text you expect a response right away. It never seems to occur to them when they don't get one that you might be driving, so they text or call again, and occasionally drivers will foolishly respond to their persistence and take the call. Its another aspect of our headlong rush towards a desire for instant gratification, where the need to exercise patience is seen as an inconvenience, and only an instant reaction will suffice.
Lots of contributors here will remember the days when there were no mobile phones, and as far as I recall the Earth never threatened to stop rotating on its axis just because someone had to wait for something for more than five minutes.
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Are these drivers too stupid to know how to pair their phones or are they just too lazy? Every day I see drivers with mobiles to their ears or texting
IMO a bit of both, some cant even find the light switch at dusk
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Are these drivers too stupid to know how to pair their phones or are they just too lazy? Every day I see drivers with mobiles to their ears or texting
IMO a bit of both, some cant even find the light switch at dusk
Probably the same people I see driving on lit roads without any lights (or just DRLs/side lights) on, or the back or side door of their van hanging open whilst they drive along. Its bad enough that so many people still use mobile phones without any hands-free function (even that can be dangerous under some circumstances), let alone fiddling with ICE and other functions of the car or van they didn't bother to find out how to use properly or have the sense to change when stationary/parked.
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"I drive 90 K a yesr
I run a business so you obviously need the phone alot
Since the law has changed my numbers go to a virtual reception some where in virtual web land and they email me the calls so we dont lose customers
Since I have stopped using the phone on the run I now fully apprieate just how much it distraces you It is very very dangerous even for someone like me who is skilled in holding the phone to my ear at 80MPH while eating shushi and drinking coffee.
I feel more in control of the van and it has not been like this since 1997 !
My journey has proved to me how dangerous it is
Edited by JEREMYH on 26/11/2017 at 07:37"
This post should be more widely broadcast !!
I have seen a young woman expertly driving around a corner while holding her phone her ear. Some people are simply better drivers than I am. And I've never had sushi - what's it like ?
I have just bought a mobile phone, my first, and it sits under the driver's seat switched off. I use it to tell SWMBO when I'm going to be late.
Edited by hillman on 26/11/2017 at 17:32
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There is very little chance of being caught. It needs squad cars to observe and apprehend.
When it is possible to drive several hundred miles and not see one I can only regard detection as a very low probability.
Self driving cars are the only solution-we can then text smoke drink etc to our hearts content.
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Self driving cars are the only solution-we can then text smoke drink etc to our hearts content.
When those days finally arrive (if they do) I would advise any occupant to look up occasionally from whatever they may be doing, just to make sure they instructed the vehicle correctly. My S-i-L set off some years ago with his satnav, to meet the rest of us at a certain address, but picked the wrong one of several alternatives. Rather like the Chelsea supporters' bus arriving at the wrong Stamford Bridge.
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I drive 90 K a yesr
I run a business so you obviously need the phone alot
Since the law has changed my numbers go to a virtual reception some where in virtual web land and they email me the calls so we dont lose customers
Since I have stopped using the phone on the run I now fully apprieate just how much it distraces you It is very very dangerous even for someone like me who is skilled in holding the phone to my ear at 80MPH while eating shushi and drinking coffee.
I feel more in control of the van and it has not been like this since 1997 !
My journey has proved to me how dangerous it is
I ran a multi-million company until I retired. I NEVER used a cellphone while driving and expected the same of my team members. I also turned my phone off while travelling by train.
There is no one in commercial life who is so important that they can’t be offline for a short period, though plenty think they are and like to play the ‘pace of life’ card.
To my knowledge we never lost a single penny of business hrough this policy and always traded very profitably. I found customers highly supportive and and least one adopted the policy.
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I ran a multi-million company until I retired. I NEVER used a cellphone while driving and expected the same of my team members. I also turned my phone off while travelling by train. There is no one in commercial life who is so important that they can’t be offline for a short period, though plenty think they are and like to play the ‘pace of life’ card. To my knowledge we never lost a single penny of business hrough this policy and always traded very profitably. I found customers highly supportive and and least one adopted the policy.
Refreshing to hear that.
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Speaking to a friend today who has to attend a phone awareness course because he had his phone next to him whilst driving.
He asked the police to check to make sure he had not made any calls but they still went ahead, but not with six points but attendance at an awareness course.
So the message is to not leave the phone next to you on the seat.
They also reported him to DVLA for the spacing of letters on his number plate.
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Speaking to a friend today who has to attend a phone awareness course because he had his phone next to him whilst driving. They also reported him to DVLA for the spacing of letters on his number plate.
That's verging on bullying by authority. Being cautioned not for doing something, but for provoking a cop into imagining you might be about to.
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Speaking to a friend today who has to attend a phone awareness course because he had his phone next to him whilst driving. They also reported him to DVLA for the spacing of letters on his number plate.
That's verging on bullying by authority. Being cautioned not for doing something, but for provoking a cop into imagining you might be about to.
That's getting very close to the thought police.
" In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), by George Orwell, the Thought Police (Thinkpol) are the secret police of the superstate Oceania, who discover and punish thoughtcrime, personal and political thoughts unapproved by the Party.
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Speaking to a friend today who has to attend a phone awareness course because he had his phone next to him whilst driving.
He asked the police to check to make sure he had not made any calls but they still went ahead, but not with six points but attendance at an awareness course.
So the message is to not leave the phone next to you on the seat.
They also reported him to DVLA for the spacing of letters on his number plate.
Easy to say from the comfort of my living room because I wasn't there, and not under the pressure they obviously put on him, but he should have refused to attend the course point blank. He didn't actually break any law by leaving his phone on the seat and if we were all apprehended for having easy access to the tools required to commit a crime, every joiner, carpenter and cook would be banged up in jail within days.
No wonder so many people regard the police a revenue collection agency rather than a force for public good.
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A good deterrant would be to confiscate the phone and the number disabled permanently.
The hassle of not having a phone and getting a new number (and updating all contacts) would far harder to digest than points in licenses.
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This thread reminds me of the Harry Enfield Self Righteous Bros.
The person in the Mercedes, possibly with an inbuilt hands-free, might well have had a phone to the ear because he was dealing with two calls at once.
There are double standards here, not a word being said about the acceptable legality of ever larger television touch screens which, unlike taking a phonecall or operating a multifunction knob (a term one might also use for a texting driver;-) , require the eyes being taken from the road.
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This thread reminds me of the Harry Enfield Self Righteous Bros.
The person in the Mercedes, possibly with an inbuilt hands-free, might well have had a phone to the ear because he was dealing with two calls at once.
There are double standards here, not a word being said about the acceptable legality of ever larger television touch screens which, unlike taking a phonecall or operating a multifunction knob (a term one might also use for a texting driver;-) , require the eyes being taken from the road.
Indeed - I am not comfortable in many circumstances using a hands-free phone in my car for that very reason, and make sure that the person on the other end (if I even allow calls to be received) knows that I'm driving and, at any point, and for an unspecified time, I will cut the conversation short or tell them to pause the conversation while I make some manouvres or need a higher level of concentration for some reason.
I've only ever received (never phoned out - I now make sure all calls are diverted to voice mail whilst I use the phone as a satnav) two phone calls whilst driving - one was very unnerving, as I was driving in very heavy rain on the south section of the M25 in very heavy traffic at decent speeds, and my then boss (well, one of them) was adamant that I discuss an issue that I later found out was not that important, and yet he wanted my 'full attention' whilst I was trying to concentrate on staying safe, something he obviously didn't appreciate despite me explaining this to him.
Needless to say, the attitude of this manager was quite typical (more concerned with himself and his often petty issues) and was part of the reason I subsequently left the firm. If someone feels uncomfortable about taking a phonecall whilst driving, then my advice is don't, whatever your boss says. Ths issue cannot be that important that it cannot wait until you either reach your destination or can at least pull in to a service stop or car park for a few minutes, rather than risking your life and of others just for the sake of a phonecall.
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