Driving using mobiles, do you want tougher penalties?

sonny73

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/395735/thousands-sign-petition-wanting-tougher-penalties-for-drivers-using-phones.html

Bl**dy right or load of sh*te?
Personally it winds me up seeing people chatting away on their mobile whilst over taking me when I'm riding :x

blu3cat

Or actually enforce the current penalties for drivers using phones.

What about cyclists using phones (I've seen texting whilst cycling).

softlad

I'm all for safer cycling 'n stuff - but I can't really see how holding a conversation on a mobile is any more distracting than talking to someone sitting next to you in the passenger seat.

Obviously, dialling on a handheld is inherently dangerous while driving - but so is tuning the radio, or changing CDs and neither of them are illegal.....

sorry, I'm going to get flamed for this.....

markos1963

Hangings too good for them!

cougie

The girl texting in the outside lane of the M6 was taking the pi$$. Still - she was only in a small car so if she did rearend someone - she'd almost certainly have killed herself and put herself up for a Dawin award possibly.

Smokin Joe

I do get annoyed when I see drivers on mobiles, but there is an element of hypocrisy here having once been pleasured by a delightful female companion on the M11. It was late at night and very quiet, but I was doing between 80 and 90 the whole time and only had one hand on the wheel, the other attempting to return the favour.

cougie

You just wanted to tell us all that didnt you !

freehub

Just use handes free... sorted.

cougie

You'd THINK it was that easy - but how many idiots do you see driving round with their phones clamped to their ears ?

pepelepew

blu3cat wrote:

Or actually enforce the current penalties for drivers using phones.

What about cyclists using phones (I've seen texting whilst cycling).

It's funny, I see loads when I'm driving my own car. The biggest p!ss take recently was the female paramedic driving an ambulance whilst on her mobile. However, not so easy to spot them when I drive a fluorescent patterned panda with lights on that can be seen from the moon (However it does appear to be invisible when answering emergency calls, other drivers just don't see ot hear it!).

We need unmarked traffic cars on routine patrol, give that tw@t Clarkson something to complain about.

johna101

softlad wrote:

I'm all for safer cycling 'n stuff - but I can't really see how holding a conversation on a mobile is any more distracting than talking to someone sitting next to you in the passenger seat.

I think it's not so much the hand being busy, but the brain being distracted. Over the phone it's much more likely that the conversation is distracting, whether it's an argument, a customer putting you on the spot, hot phone sex, whatever. When you're talking to a passenger you're sharing the experience to a large extent, neither of you wants to die so you both tend to keep things light.

In saying that, I've seen some crackers. Cycling round here at 3pm is like having a school run death wish as the mothers swerve around in their 4x4's while shouting at/smacking/feeding their little darlings in the back seat.

It's all about distraction, and a mobile phone is just one of them unfortunately. Soon I suspect we'll have to contend with drivers watching TV....

nwallace

softlad wrote:

I'm all for safer cycling 'n stuff - but I can't really see how holding a conversation on a mobile is any more distracting than talking to someone sitting next to you in the passenger seat.

To hold a conversation on a mobile without a handfree kit requires a hand to be holding the phone to the ear.

That's why it is more dangerous than speaking to someone in the passenger seat next to you.

It's now widely accepted that doing anything other than driving while driving is bloody dangerous and that includes concentrating on a conversation with someone next to you.

Also recent research has shown that people who try to multitask are a lot worse at everything than those who only focus on one thing at a time.

Therefore cycling should also be covered under the rules as should walking, shopping, trolley driving, checkout queueing amongst others.

And I would therefore also include handsfree kits.

Says someone who hates even loosing attention to drive to find the track skip button on his car radio remote control.

gkerr4

Hmm - I might get flamed here too - but I think there is a time and place for everything.

Middle of the night on an empty motorway, inside lane at 65mph is probably an OK time to hold a phone at your ear - negotiating a set of roundabouts, outside a school, in rush hour - probably isn't.

But typically people can't judge for themselves when things are appropriate so the nanny state bans it entirely.

that said, hands frees are cheap and (still, thankfully) legal so there now the law is in place there is no excuse really. Hell even my tom-tom thing has a bluetooth hands free built in (although no-one can hear me speaking on the damn thing!)

Mike Healey

To Softlad, Freehub and Gkerr4, try googling mobile phone driving dangers/accidents, etc. Or even log on to http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/advice/ ... t_2007.pdf

Regardless of whether the phone is hand held or handsfree,using one is far more dangerous than you seem to imagine. We are at the stage when the first drink limits legislation was brought in. Denial, disbelief and the absolute conviction that "I know when I've had enough to drink, and, in any case, I drive better when I'va had a few", etc., etc.

Unfortunately we've had a government too spineless to take it on and suffer the unpopularity of hammering drivers until they finally accept that they can't guarantee to use on safely while driving.

softlad

Mike - that ROSPA pdf doesn't tell me anything I haven't heard before. What I am questioning is the claims they make...

I just cannot see how talking on a hands-free is any more distracting than talking to someone next to you....

An old friend of mine used to fly at crazy speeds down valleys while talking on an intercom and reading a map stuck to his knee - he never crashed....

37monkey

There's a website for reporting people who litter from thier cars, why not have the same for mobiles?

bompington

One thing I've noticed is that when you see people doing the old "overtake at 90 then slow down to 60 still in the outside lane" routine (or vice versa), they're almost always on the phone. Perhaps maintaining a steady speed is the first skill to go when you're losing concentration.

SteppenHerring

softlad wrote:

I just cannot see how talking on a hands-free is any more distracting than talking to someone next to you....

Well, there's the thing. If someone is in the car with you, then it's in their interests not to distract you while you're doing something difficult. They will observe and (hopefully) shut up - or at least not expect an immediate answer. With someone on the phone, awkward silences while you are getting the 4 wheel drift just right off the motorway junction aren't understood or tolerated.

The other aspect is that purely verbal communication (over the phone) is harder than face to face. You can't just shrug or nod. It takes more concentration - which you ought to be using for driving.

slowfen

I'm sorry I can't remember the where the research was published, but as I understood it there are a couple of problems with using a mobile.

The first is that unlike a passenger sat next to you, you only have the words and voice tone to understand what is being said, ie no gestures, expressions etc/

The second is that the the sound is a reprocessed digital signal and although seems to be good, is in fact full of gaps and errors at a subliminal level.

The result of this is that even with quite easy conversations the brain has to concentrate that much harder to understand what is being said.

Don't believe me? Just look at how many people slow down walking when they talk on a mobile, and appear very distracted.

And then you add in the use of a hand-held mobile etc.

hopper1

Right..... :evil:

I would say that all those who have responded to this post and not taken the 'moral high ground', regarding the illegal use of mobiles while driving, are probably guilty of doing the same thing themselves... Just not said it! :shock:

I often think about calling the Police to report a driver who is using the phone whilst driving, but this would require me stopping to make that call and, so far, I haven't bothered!
I accept that that makes me as bad as the rest, in so far as I didn't report it, therefore I must condone it!

Mobiles create a distraction...

Steveorow

I think we all agree that falling asleep at the wheel for a few seconds is dangerous and there is numerous studies supporting this .
How can you look at the road and concentrate whats going on in and around the road when you have to look down ( eyes not even processing any information from outside ) when you have to push buttons on the keypad for that few seconds ( alot longer if you are texting ) you are not concentrating on the road .
So whats the difference ? You are not concentrating on the road when you are asleep and you are not concentrating on the road when you are pushing buttons on a keypad . One is percieved as being very dangerous one is accepted even although its illegal .

gkerr4

hopper1 wrote:

Right..... :evil:

I would say that all those who have responded to this post and not taken the 'moral high ground', regarding the illegal use of mobiles while driving, are probably guilty of doing the same thing themselves... Just not said it! :shock:

I often think about calling the Police to report a driver who is using the phone whilst driving, but this would require me stopping to make that call and, so far, I haven't bothered!
I accept that that makes me as bad as the rest, in so far as I didn't report it, therefore I must condone it!

Mobiles create a distraction...

I don't do it now there are point on the table - a fine I can handle, points are another thing.

I agree mobiles create a 'distraction' - but so does many other things while driving - the radio, the wife, the kids, the girl over there with the short skirt, the billboard poster I could go on...
I don't think it's 'that' big a deal in the right place / right time combination.

in fairness though, hands-free is the way to go - there are NO excuses for using a mobile handset nowadays and people who text - which of course is a whole new level of stupidity - need a good kicking. I worry about the potential banning of hand-free equipment as I feel that a lot of the population, whose jobs or businesses require them to be "on the road" quite a lot (i used to be one, i'm not at the moment although I looking to go back) 'need' the time in the car to be productive and to use the phone.

hopper1

gkerr4 wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

Right..... :evil:

I would say that all those who have responded to this post and not taken the 'moral high ground', regarding the illegal use of mobiles while driving, are probably guilty of doing the same thing themselves... Just not said it! :shock:

I often think about calling the Police to report a driver who is using the phone whilst driving, but this would require me stopping to make that call and, so far, I haven't bothered!
I accept that that makes me as bad as the rest, in so far as I didn't report it, therefore I must condone it!

Mobiles create a distraction...

I don't do it now there are point on the table - a fine I can handle, points are another thing.

I agree mobiles create a 'distraction' - but so does many other things while driving - the radio, the wife, the kids, the girl over there with the short skirt, the billboard poster I could go on...
None of these examples are illegal, though!!

I don't think it's 'that' big a deal in the right place / right time combination.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who cannot distinguish between safe/ unsafe...

in fairness though, hands-free is the way to go - there are NO excuses for using a mobile handset nowadays and people who text - which of course is a whole new level of stupidity - need a good kicking. I worry about the potential banning of hand-free equipment as I feel that a lot of the population, whose jobs or businesses require them to be "on the road" quite a lot (i used to be one, i'm not at the moment although I looking to go back) 'need' the time in the car to be productive and to use the phone.
People used to manage, before...

gkerr4

hopper1 wrote:

gkerr4 wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

Right..... :evil:

I would say that all those who have responded to this post and not taken the 'moral high ground', regarding the illegal use of mobiles while driving, are probably guilty of doing the same thing themselves... Just not said it! :shock:

I often think about calling the Police to report a driver who is using the phone whilst driving, but this would require me stopping to make that call and, so far, I haven't bothered!
I accept that that makes me as bad as the rest, in so far as I didn't report it, therefore I must condone it!

Mobiles create a distraction...

I don't do it now there are point on the table - a fine I can handle, points are another thing.

I agree mobiles create a 'distraction' - but so does many other things while driving - the radio, the wife, the kids, the girl over there with the short skirt, the billboard poster I could go on...
None of these examples are illegal, though!!

I don't think it's 'that' big a deal in the right place / right time combination.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who cannot distinguish between safe/ unsafe...

in fairness though, hands-free is the way to go - there are NO excuses for using a mobile handset nowadays and people who text - which of course is a whole new level of stupidity - need a good kicking. I worry about the potential banning of hand-free equipment as I feel that a lot of the population, whose jobs or businesses require them to be "on the road" quite a lot (i used to be one, i'm not at the moment although I looking to go back) 'need' the time in the car to be productive and to use the phone.
People used to manage, before...

I'm sure people used to manage in the stone age - but we've moved on...

hopper1

gkerr4 wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

gkerr4 wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

Right..... :evil:

I would say that all those who have responded to this post and not taken the 'moral high ground', regarding the illegal use of mobiles while driving, are probably guilty of doing the same thing themselves... Just not said it! :shock:

I often think about calling the Police to report a driver who is using the phone whilst driving, but this would require me stopping to make that call and, so far, I haven't bothered!
I accept that that makes me as bad as the rest, in so far as I didn't report it, therefore I must condone it!

Mobiles create a distraction...

I don't do it now there are point on the table - a fine I can handle, points are another thing.

I agree mobiles create a 'distraction' - but so does many other things while driving - the radio, the wife, the kids, the girl over there with the short skirt, the billboard poster I could go on...
None of these examples are illegal, though!!

I don't think it's 'that' big a deal in the right place / right time combination.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who cannot distinguish between safe/ unsafe...

in fairness though, hands-free is the way to go - there are NO excuses for using a mobile handset nowadays and people who text - which of course is a whole new level of stupidity - need a good kicking. I worry about the potential banning of hand-free equipment as I feel that a lot of the population, whose jobs or businesses require them to be "on the road" quite a lot (i used to be one, i'm not at the moment although I looking to go back) 'need' the time in the car to be productive and to use the phone.
People used to manage, before...

I'm sure people used to manage in the stone age - but we've moved on...

Yep... I asked for that!
Maybe that's why there are answerphone and email facilities on modern phones, that way you can catch up on your busy life when you stop to take a break...

I do understand your point, but 'Devils advocat' has to be played...

snakehips

Tougher penalties ? I'd like to see the existing penalties imposed a bit more to start with. It doesn't matter if the penalty is castration , execution , or being sent to Australia , if nobody gets prosecuted the penalty doesn't get implemented.

Snake

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