Not before time, I was nearly rear ended at speed by a van, the driver was on his phone but he managed to put the van on the pavement (fortunately no pedestrians).
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hand-held-mobile-phones-changes-to-penalties-for-use-whilst-driving
|
|
The other day, in a French supermarket, I saw a device for clipping a mobile phone to the steering wheel rim. It really does beggar belief.
|
Back when phobile moans were a new thing, I used to attach mine to the sun visor with elastic bands to create a primitive hands free arrangement with the volume turned up to max.
Kinda worked, not well, but sort of ok.
|
Local Cape Town solution.
Confiscate the phone for minimum 24 hrs
Hefty fine. Come down to the traffic police office when the waiting period expires, pay a fine, get your phone back.
Phones not collected within 3 months get 'wiped' and given to charities.
(Oh, cellphone insurance providers are informed, so the user can't 'lose' their phone and get a new one.)
|
A young girl texting was how my brother got his stationary car written off when she drove across the pavement.
Still hard to believe she got away without a prosecution
It just seems increasingly prevalent... I see it all the time and only drive limited miles. Maybe there should be a mobile phone use division, working on commission.
Last edited by: legacylad on Sat 17 Sep 16 at 10:57
|
|
You can buy a Bluetooth earpiece for a few quid on ebay. Mine was under a fiver two years ago and works perfectly so there is no excuse for using a handheld.
|
There are plenty of portable hands-free devices out there. You only have to look.
i.imgur.com/R5vRKcR.jpg
BTW. Why is this in non-motoring? ( kick ----->> not any more )
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 17 Sep 16 at 16:40
|
>> There are plenty of portable hands-free devices out there. You only have to look.
>>
>> i.imgur.com/R5vRKcR.jpg
My ISP does not like that link:
iwfwebfilter.thus.net/error/proxy.html
Anybody else getting same issue?
|
|
Minimum should be £1000 fine and suspension of licence for one year. But none of this is any good without the police to catch offenders.
|
>> You can buy a Bluetooth earpiece for a few quid on ebay. Mine was under
>> a fiver two years ago and works perfectly so there is no excuse for using
>> a handheld.
>>
I bet most are using their mobile but not for a phone call, bluetooth sets would be of little use to them.
|
I have no problem with it if enforcement is sensible. People have been done for holding phones when stationary in traffic, or even parked with the engine running.
It is a slightly hysterical, "Dunblane" measure, designed I assume to be crowd pleasing. Road deaths are a third of what they were in 1990, and half what they were in 2000. If mobiles were as dangerous as some believe, they would be 50,000 a year now, not 1700.
We all manage distractions and aim off for risk factors, consciously and unconsciously. It has just been 'discovered' that elderly drivers are "not dangerous" despite slower reactions and poorer eyesight - because they typically drive carefully.
I don't use a phone hand held on the move. But I wouldn't like to see hands-free use banned,
|
I have no problem with it if enforcement is sensible. People have been done for holding phones when stationary in traffic, or even parked with the engine running.
That is my concern too. The must chat/text brigade do need stomping on, but because it's such an easy 'nick', folk do sometimes get successfully prosecuted when hardly appropriate.
Very much degrades the view of the offence too.
But we've all seen phone users who really deserve to banned from driving - And owning a mobile phone! The latter is hardly enforceable, but would fit the crime.
|
Another perspective. In brief we need to rethink our attitude to the car and it's interface with other technology:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/17/driving-mentality-killed-lee-martin-phone-wheel-safety-campaigns
|
|
New cars are know able to read out messages and updates whilst driving, no doubt be standard soon.
|
I take the opposite view. If you are using a hand held mobile phone behind the wheel that's it. No ifs no butts, no mitigating circumstances. That is the only way you will ever get through to those who think it is an acceptable practice. Make it OK in some circumstances and it dilutes the message
Its's not as if there are actually any mitigating circumstances and it's easy enough to avoid prosecution. Just don't pick up your phone when behind the wheel.
|
|
Somebody who has parked to take/make a call has done the right thing and should not be penalised.
|
Someone who is safely parked and using a mobile phone is not breaking the law.
|
>> Someone who is safely parked and using a mobile phone is not breaking the law.
Some people's idea of "safely parked" leaves a lot to be desired though.
It's still an offence to use the phone with the engine running while stationary. e.g. while stopped at traffic lights or queuing in traffic.
It’s also illegal to use a hand-held phone or similar device when supervising a learner driver or rider.
|
>>It’s also illegal to use a hand-held phone or similar device when supervising a learner driver or rider.<<
I wish someone would mention this to French driving instructors. The norm seems to be a mobile in one hand and a fag in the other.
|
It's possible to answer a mobile while driving, more difficult to make a call while driving.
If in doubt... well, it's obvious: stop in a safe and sensible place. No problemo...
|
>> If in doubt... well, it's obvious: stop in a safe and sensible place. No problemo...
>>
>>
A sensible phone addict, you must be joking.
I saw a baby's bib for sale recently, the logo was "Get off Facebook and feed me!"
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 18 Sep 16 at 16:49
|
No fines needed for using a hand held mobile whilst driving.
1 month immediate ban - car parked up and keys confiscated.
2nd offence = 1 year ban.
Much more effective than £100 or even a £1,000 fine.
Stranded maybe many miles (many hundreds of miles!) from home & having to
get home without their car / van /lorry would be a bit of a trauma
|
While increasing the fine and points is certainly a step in the right direction, it will never reduce the problem if it isn't enforced.
The problems are caused by people texting and reading messages far more than taking or making calls
Until we get Plod back on the roads and motorways, the increase in fines will do little to deter anyone who still uses a phone while driving.
It doesn't matter what level the fine and points are, if the risk of getting caught are as low as they are now, it will never be a deterrent.
Pat
|
Indeed. The penalty can be taken to extremes; no enforcement will mean little notice is taken.
It's not THAT long ago, relatively, since Britain would routinely hang pickpockets. Other pickpockets would work the attending crowd. So much for extreme deterrents.
Might be a question of joining up the tech, so that only emergency numbers work (or something) when the phone is moving at a certain speed, at a certain altitude, and on a road, rather than a railway. You could even make the phone inoperable/restricted at zero speed, if the car is running, or some such variant as appropriate.
Satnav already knows that stuff so the data can be available at both phone and car end.
|
tinyurl.com/od5m7v4
Hong Kong's attempt to get through to thick people...
|
>> Might be a question of joining up the tech, so that only emergency numbers work
>> (or something) when the phone is moving at a certain speed, at a certain altitude,
>> and on a road, rather than a railway. You could even make the phone inoperable/restricted
>> at zero speed, if the car is running, or some such variant as appropriate.
So ban passengers making calls too?
For me, there is no evidence that phone calls are any more dangerous, in themselves, than many other tasks or distractions undertaken by drivers. The KSI stats have fallen dramatically as mobiles have gone from a minority pastime to almost saturation, and there is no denying that a great many people are still using them handheld while driving. Some days it seems like every white van man.
It's careless people that are dangerous. If they weren't being careless with a phone, it would e something else.
The simulation results suggest we should be seeing far more accidents than we are, so there is something wrong. I suspect that, in real life, users do not generally prioritise the task in the same way as in simulations.
This: "The research by the RAC also found attitudes to mobile phone use behind the wheel have relaxed over the last two years with those who say it is acceptable doubling from 7 per cent in 2014 to 14 per cent now. The percentage who are happy to check social media in stationary traffic, at lights or in congestion has increased from 14 per cent to 20 per cent, too.
A third of drivers surveyed admitted they've used a mobile for calls - and not with a handsfree system - while one in five admitted they'd sent a text, e-mail or posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram." is just not congruent with the implication that phone use is the major issue.
As I say, it's immaterial to me. But is 'they' think this is a great step in road safety, they'll be disappointed.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 19 Sep 16 at 21:44
|
>>
>> For me, there is no evidence that phone calls are any more dangerous, in themselves,
>> than many other tasks or distractions undertaken by drivers.
I'm sorry but I have to beg to differ. It is quite easy to spot drivers on motorways who are either surreptitiously or blatantly using mobiles just by observing the vehicle's progress; as they get more absorbed in the call, the vehicle slows down and meanders.
My lorry has a hands-free phone, and if I happen to be speaking via that for any length of time I have noticed that it's very easy to lose my driving concentration. Yet that isn't a problem if I'm speaking to a passenger in the vehicle. Any observers of human behaviour care to tell me why this should be the case?
|
>> My lorry has a hands-free phone, and if I happen to be speaking via that for any length of time I have noticed that it's very easy to lose my driving concentration. Yet that isn't a problem if I'm speaking to a passenger in the vehicle. Any observers of human behaviour care to tell me why this should be the case?
I think it's largely to do with feedback. If the person's there with you, you wouldn't worry too much if they didn't immediately respond to something you said. On the phone, however, you would worry - you'd wonder if they'd heard you, if there was someone else taking their attention or if you'd been cut off. Put simply, a phone conversation requires more concentration.
|
I've certainly noticed drivers slowing HM, which is an example of them managing the risk. Perhaps the ones who don't slow down present a higher risk.
The question about talking to a passenger is interesting. The explanation may be in part that, with a passenger, both of you can see what is going on and are more likely to pause or pace the conversation around what is happening outside the vehicle.
An interlocutor on the phone has no sense of what is happening around the driver he is talking with, and the driver may feel slightly more pressure to keep talking (or more likely listening, the other party being unaware of what is happening and therefore likely to carry on speaking when the driver's workload is high, during an overtake or negotiating a roundabout for example).
|
>> Until we get Plod back on the roads and motorways, the increase in fines will do little to deter anyone who still uses a phone while driving.
Exactly. Prosecution will be very low because of this.
Unless, the law is changed so that fellow motorists will be able to report offending drivers using their own e.g. dash cam footage etc. That will drastically reduce the problem. Give reporting public some % of money raised as fines and suddenly you have plenty of people to do the policing for nothing.
|
I think the biggest danger is texting and updating facebook...
What in your life can be so important...
|
I agree 100% their is no need to be on the phone whilst driving it is stupid and needs a hefty fine and ban.
However, if stuck in traffic, stationary, or at traffic lights that are red, PROVIDING the phone is in a cradle, why can you NOT touch the phone , to read text messages.......but you CAN REROUTE the sat Nav, retune the radio, pick up the I touch and change songs ALL whilst driving .
The prevalence of people now driving with Large headphones, whilst driving , totally oblivious to their indicators still clicking, ignoring emergency services cause their in their own little world and cyclists with only bells., voices or whistle to attraction attention......this is far greater a risk. Another major gripe, is mainly old people driving along, with their dog sitting on their lap......I've seen at least three this year, it's so dangerous
|
AAIU if phone is in a cradle then it's not covered by present law which deals with handhelds. Since the legislation dates from era of the Nokia 3020 it needs updating to deal with smartphone related activity not then forseen.
They can still have you for due care or not in control offences whether phone in cradle, satnav or radio.
|
|
A date has been set for the new tougher penalties for using a mobile whilst driving: 1st March 2017.
|
Not before time either.
Pat
|
Car phone penalty proposals. - Mike Hannon
