New UK law comes into effect at the end of the year regarding the use of mobile phones in cars. This seems a step too far from the anti-mobile lobby. SwitchBlade has a bee in his bonnet again...
It seems that not only are telephones hazardous to our health because of the copious amounts of dangerous electromagnetic radiation given off (cough, bollox), but also because talking while driving is potentially lethal.
Yes, at the end of the year using a mobile phone in a car will be illegal. The reasons given are that you have to take one hand off of the wheel to hold the phone (so should one armed people be banned from driving), but also the art of conversation distracts you from the road. Hands-free kits will still be allowed but it sounds that they are ear-marked for future stupid laws.
The next step in making driving safer would be to stop us having passengers in the car, especially children who may need reminding to sit down and stop taking their seatbelts off. After that car stereos will be abolished because singing-along and arguing with the fool on the radio is life threatening. Using a mobile phone is no less safe than talking to a passenger in the car, yes if you are driving a car that requires the use of both hands, say a manual then discretion should be used and use a hands free, and if you do only have one arm keep it on the wheel, not the phone.
With the anti-mobile lobby trying to push through a ban on using a mobile phone on hands-free while driving due to safety, anything could happen in the future of cars.
Next someone will be run-over while crossing a road using a mobile phone and then there will be a ban on using a mobile phone while walking. I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with holding a mobile in your hand while driving, but I don't see the difference between that and say holding a cigarette in that hand, or that drink from the McDonalds drive through. If one is illegal why aren't the others when they all take one hand from the wheel and involve you concentrating on other things.
Personally I think the best form of communication on the move is the speakerphone just need to get the 9210 to stay still on the dashboard.
I so totally agree with you man!
These laws are being passed by morons in suits who have chauffeurs to take them to wherever they need to go and stupid do-gooders who have as much common sense as a freshly formatted SD card!
How can this be succesfully enforced anyway? Is it going to be dangerous to scratch your ear while driving just in case someone snaps you doing so?
There are so many things that could fall into this flawed line of reasoning, I think that it's going to be one of those new taxes for the poor (like back in the old days when there was a tax on having windows in your house). It'll happen and we'll be told that it's for our own good but common sense and the evidence of logical reasoning will make it clear that it's for someone else's benefit - because we all know that politicians and people who know how to shake hands will never be had by this law, it's for us - the normal people to realise the power of the all-knowing, all gracious leaders we have.
I'm glad my government has focus groups and 'independent researchers' to think for me. It takes the strain off of my poor worn-out mind :roll:
Well I'm all for it. I think it's a smashing idea. The amount of times I've been a passenger when someone has recieved a call (or god forbid) a text and they have to respond to it right this second. Two hands on the wheel, one thumb typing the text, one hand ready to change gear, two eyes on the road, mirrors and other traffic, concentration on the one ton of hurtling metal at 70 miles an hour, concentrating on when Aunty Mabel is sitting at the table...
Sorry - too many studies show a drop in concentration when using a phone, be it text, vcoice or hands free. Having a car is a responisbility, not a right. If you can't use your phone responsibly in your car (ie switch it off or pull over to answer) then think again.
Don't Drink and Drive
Clunk Click Every Trip
All poo-poohed at the time in the UK, all greeted with horror, all accepted as being sensible now-a-days. I look forward to the danger of talking and texting and drving is treated the same way.
I never mentioned texting, how could you text while driving anyway, seems beyond me. Using a phone while talking, as illustrated is the same as the other tasks. Therefore if you feel you shouldn't talk to Mabel on the phone when driving, is it safe to talk to the person in the passenger seat. I think for safety reasons we should ban passengers.
It has been illegal here for a few years already.
Using my 9210 with speakerphone is "hand free" so that isn't illegal.
But using your mobile in traffic is in my oppinion something dangerous.
Just buy yourself a headset if you still want to make a call ...
As for texting ... blind typing and spell check when I'm at a red light 😃
I love my car, I love my phone. But the new law is a GOOD idea.
No good driver I know uses the phone in the car to say anything but "I'll call you back".
IT DOES slow your reactions. There is a drop in concentration.
Kids in the back of the car screaming that little Timmy has just been sick on his new shoes has that kind of effect. But in reality this is always going to be the case and there's not much that can be done about that.
Mobile phones provide the same distraction but with the added joy of actually holing the phone to your face.
I don't know if any of you have ever been in a road accident but I know that I'll take every advantage I can in that situation. A good one is to have both hands on the wheel and your concentration focused entirely on what you're doing.
It's going to be an annoying and difficult transition for a lot of people. Worth it though..
I am a cyclist. Each time I ride through the city and see someone with his mobile behind the weel I no I have to watch out. Someone with a mobile phone in his hand all of a sudden doesn't see you anymore on your bicycle. They don't give right of way, they meander over the road, they suddenly turn around corners without blinking, they don't look in their mirrors anymore, etc. That's my experience. So I am happy this law will be in effect soon. Their is really a big difference between someone with and without his mobile behind the weel.
People seem to be missing the point here, it's not that i disagree with the banning of holding the phone while talking. It's the aim of a future ban on talking to a phone hands-free or otherwise, full-stop in the future. Also the fact that holding the phone is banned yet smokers waft cigarettes around with only one hand on the wheel while smoking... HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT!?!? It's the consistency that's bugging me, well lack of.
[quote="Ewan-FreEPOC"]Sorry - too many studies show a drop in concentration when using a phone, be it text, vcoice or hands free. Having a car is a responisbility, not a right. If you can't use your phone responsibly in your car (ie switch it off or pull over to answer) then think again..[/quote]
Before I start, I agree there is a problem that needs to be addressed. The problem is that there are too many idiots on the road. Some people can have a conversation on hands free while driving and be no less safe a driver.
Anyway, do/did these so called "studies" take into consideration Police, Taxi, HGV radios etc? Where such people are not only talking as if they were chatting with a passenger, but usually trying to take in complicated details and directions which require a much greater level of concentration, than chatting with someone on a hands free. In fact, while just talking to passengers, drivers often turn to face the passenger as it's human nature to look at the person with whom you are speaking and so are not even looking at the road let alone concentrating on it.
I think using any hand held communication device while driving should be illegal for everyone including the taxi's police etc. Everyone who needs to communicate while driving must use a hands free option, which should not be allowed by law. Driving is a responsibility and it is people that need show such responsibility. Irresponsible people are irresponsible by nature and will always be irresponsible. I doubt introducing a law will change that. Responsible people already use hands free options and they didn�t need a law to say they must. If a law is introduced that also prohibits the use of hands free options then that�s just penalising people who are trying to be responsible and is just something that dumb ass tw*t short sighted politicians could dream up and such fools become part of the problem not part of the solution.
[quote="crafti"]Everyone who needs to communicate while driving must use a hands free option, which should be allowed by law.[/quote]
Excuse the typo, meant to say this.
I think the key here is bad information driving bad (or at least discriminatory) law - certainly all the studies I have seen have show how mobile phone distract but have not compared the distraction with other common "additional" tasks people perform while driving. Other research with a differnt focus for example has shown that peoples abilities to solve problems is dranatically slowed when listening to music - so it would be reasonable to assume that listening to a CD could contribute to the likelihood of accidents.
The problem is that some activities are preceived as "normal" and the risks they pose are acceptable because they would force us to behave agains social norns, e.g. not talking or radios in cars. THe would also be difficult to enforce - problem with mobiles are that they are visible and obvious.
It similar to the rather old joke about the drunk searching for his keys under a lamp post - when a passer by offer to help he asks where the guy thought he dropped his keys and the drunk points into the darkness, the passer buy then asks why he is not searching over there, to which the reply is that there is no light where he dropped the keys.
I tend to agree with this law as well.
One point which people often try to make when justifying handsfree use while driving is that it's no different from talking to someone sitting in the passenger's seat. This is not true, as a passenger who is in the car is able to know to stop talking in the event of an upcoming complication in the traffic situation, whereas someone on the other end of a phone call is unknowing of the moment-to-moment circumstances. This objection still stands even in the face of people wanting in-car Bluetooth connections excluded from the ban.
I take Switchblade's point, though - I also take a dim view of people eating/drinking/juggling flaming torches/doing other stuff that occupies one of their hands while driving as well.
And in answer to one point mentioned above by someone: yes, I HAVE seen people replying to text messages while driving. It's a scary, scary sight...
(OK, I was fibbing about the juggling fire, though. Maybe.).
😉
The question is not just the distraction of talking on the phone, but also what cellphones do to brainwaves. I personally get a headache when talking on a mobile (no, it doesn't happen with landline phones) so I don't use mobiles. Also one time when passing by a large mobile tower that was at the side of the highway I blacked out...just lucky I wasn't driving at the time. I think it will be like cigarettes, sometime in the future it will be proven once and for all time how bad cellphones are bad for the brain, and we'll have dozens of lawsuits against cellphone makers like we do against cigarette makers today.
out in Spain, you should use phone only when inserted in a properly installed hands free kit (not the little earpiece). Bad news that the 7650 does not have a car kit...
even bluetooth solutions are technically illegal. Sounds strange, but the logic is not so much the conversation but the fiddling about with the mobile, finding the number etc
studies here show that people using the phone drive a lot slower and move across the road. It's a study, but it's empirical as well. I ride a motorbike, now as I'm going past a car, I check a) it's not a police car b) there's no mobile being used. Seriously.
It just surprised me that the UK has taken so long to get to this point.
Yes, changing a tape/CD, shouting at your kids, looking at the blonde you just passed, all dangerous, but mobile phone use is widespread & dangerous - if you can't rely on people to be responsible, you need to legislate (eg seatbelts)
The trouble is that mobile phones are the domain of everyone and thus you get all types of people using them. For that reason I suppose a ban is necessary. The main problem I have noticed is with older people who weren't brought up with this kind of technology. They drift around and slow down and generally make a real pain of themselves while driving with a mobile, seemingly incapable of the slightest amount of multitasking.
Switchblade has hit the nail on the head - consistency.
Personally, I have no problem, driving with one hand and talking on the phone. I do not see it as being any different to normal talking, eating or smoking in the car. I certainly listen to music while I'm driving. Admittedly, texting is probably a little excessive, but I admit I have done it myself. I was being extremely careful and making sure I was aware of things around me while doing it, but in reality it is not very sensible. You can't afford to be complacent when doing anything in a car. Obviously it was a straight and long motorway or I'd consider myself terminally insane 😊
However, even so I didn't find that it particularly affected my ability to just drive as I do everyday to be honest! I don't want people to be killed, so I welcome a ban for everyones sake to some extent, but I think the claims of actual danger are vastly exaggerated.