New Guidelines for Mobile Phones

[Terminator]

He told me of an incident when he attended the immediate aftermath of a fatal car accident. The driver had been on the phone to his wife, who was still on the line, saying "What's happened? What's that noise? Are you alright?" to her now-dead husband. He hates mobile phone use with a passion.


He isn't the only one.My life is endangered every day by some muppet motorist or ped on one of the firking things I hate them as well.

Also some people seem to have the bloody things glued to their lugs.

Why is there such an obsession with them?

Heard of people being hit by trains because they tend to forget where they are so very rarely do I use my phone in public in fact it's rare I make a call.If I do use my mobile I try and stand in a place of safety.

 

[AtmoLav]

This is a piece of legislation that confuses the life out of me. I can understand that using a handheld and therefore driving one-handed is dangerous and stupid, but what is the difference between talking on a hands-free and talking to a passenger.

I'm not sure if it's the same research, but I saw some research recently which "proved" that talking on the phone whilst driving slowed reaction times. The research itself was conducted in a simulator, and involved the subject holding a phone in one hand and reciting the alphabet backwards whilst driving.

I can't recite the alphabet backwards whilst not driving, so it was no surprise that reaction times dropped whilstthe poor subjects tried to do it.

If there is research out there that shows that hands-free phone use is dangerous, then surely having a passenger in the car should be put into the same "dangerous driving" bracket.

 

[spindrift]

No.

Face to face communication consists of non-verbal elements. A conversation on a mobile strips these away so concentration is higher- along with the distraction element.

 

[Terminator]

Plus the fact that the usual knobhead normally has one hand occupied as well.

I saw a van driver the other day with one hand on phone and one hand being used to eat and none on steering wheel.

 

[summerdays]

but what is the difference between talking on a hands-free and talking to a passenger.

I think the theory is that the person sitting beside you may pick up on when you seem to be concentrating on the road, or may see the situation for themselves and stop talking. There is also no need to rush the conversation.

However I'm not sure that kids shouldn't also be moved into the dangerous bracket.... they don't know when to shut up and there are many a time we have shouted at ours to shut up at concentration critical moments (usually me the passenger doing the shouting).

 

[BentMikey]

Phone conversations seem to have the ability to suck your brains down the phone line. LOL well not really of course, but they are hugely more attention-consuming than face-face conversations.

 

[Terminator]

Usually I find that a car sometimes has poor road positioning due to the fact the driver is using a mobile.I had a merc coming right at me the other day when I was turning right and then I realized what the knob was up to.

 

[BentMikey]

Mostly drivers on the phone drive like drunk drivers, can't even stay in their lane.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Mostly drivers on the phone drive like drunk drivers, can't even stay in their lane.

Absolutely right. I've done it once, late at night on the A2, and was all over the place without realising it within seconds. Never again. Now I turn the phone off if I'm on my own, or ask a passenger to take responsibility for it if there is one.

 

[skinny man0903]

I remember a few years ago, I was driving home when my phone rang it was my ex wife wanting to know where I was, a police car over took me I threw the phone down. They of course pulled me over, He said he let me off cos I threw the phone down as I'd realized I had done wrong.
He said he didn't want to clean up after an accident, which of course would of been my fault.
Since that day I have never used my phone whilst driving.

 

[Terminator]

I dont mind motorists using their mobiles as long as they kill themselves and not innocent people.That applies to anybody in my family.