I think it should be banned.

3pts on your Licence if caught while driving including hand free.

Do you drive while using the phone or do you stop at the side somewhere safe before answering it?

Originally posted by John
I think it should be banned.

3pts on your Licence if caught while driving including hand free.

Do you drive while using the phone or do you stop at the side somewhere safe before answering it?

While I agree that hand held phone usage while driving should be banned, I don't think you can include hands free. Talking on a hands free kit is no more dangerous than talking to a passenger, if anything, less so as there is no temptation to look at the other person you are talking to. Are you proposing banning passengers too? You could argue that even on a hands free kit you are still required to press buttons to receive calls or make calls, but this is no different to changing radio stations, using air con., sat nav, windows, etc etc. Ban all of those too? Also, what about the people that NEED to use phones whilst driving. Travelling sales reps for example, for whom many 'office' hours are spent on the road, and making/receiving phone calls in this otherwise wasted time is a necessity. There is no way that hands free kits should be banned in cars.

im not convinced by "Talking on a hands free kit is no more dangerous than talking to a passenger, if anything, less so"

you have to think on a passenger can react to whats going on around you and stop talking when you need to consentrate on the road, someone talking down a phone doesnt know that

but i agree it shouldnt be banned, just that it should be restricted to bluetooth and not normal handsfree kits

Its no more dangerous than driving after a couple of pints, talking to a car full of passengers, changing radio stations/cd's...there's already far too many laws trying to control the way we live. I say do what you want when you want....just look where you're going occasionally.

do you drive? i really hope not as its people like you who cause accidents

Originally posted by RPG
do you drive? i really hope not as its people like you who cause accidents

i've had a few...won't admit to being a good driver...its a necessary evil unfortunately

Just wanted say, I love the new iggy list!

it should be banned! i can't drive yet, but when i can i wont be answering the fone while driving!!!:x

It should carry a serious penalty to be a true deterrent. Driving while on a mobile is a major distraction. I'm not sure about Hands free though.

They did some tests on TV a while back to prove that when you use your mobile phone, you don't concentrate on the road properly.

The basically had a conversation with someone over a mobile phone (using a hands free kit) whilst they were driving around a short course. Afterwards, they asked questions about the conversation to see whether the driver had been paying attention. What I seem to remember them discovering was that all the drivers drove fine but could hardly recall any details about the conversations.

What this proved was that it was the conversation that suffered, not the driving. They tried to use this as proof that your concentration drops when when you're on the phone... erm... well, that's true - what they didn't really make a big deal of is that their driving didn't suffer!

Anyway... IMHO I think that driving with proper in car hands free kits should be fine. I'm a little more uncertain about a normal personal hands free kit though, as those are a bit "fiddly".

BTW... isn't it illegal to drive without due care and attention anyway? So why ban something that's already covered by law? :?

Originally posted by costessey
i've had a few...won't admit to being a good driver...its a necessary evil unfortunately

I wonder if you will still have such an attitude after you kill a small child or disable someone for life?

What Costessy clearly hasn't worked out yet, and let's hope he/she does soon, is that cars are a lethal weapon. Until people get it through their heads that they are driving an extremely dangerous and heavy piece of machinery that deserves their respect and attention (and with some slow people it takes actually being involved in a nasty accident to get this) they will be a danger on the roads. Unfortunately not just to themselves but to everyone around them.
I couldn't be more annoyed with a remark such as Cost made...time to grow up, kiddo. Before you kill yourself or worse, someone else becomes a victim of your careless attitude to driving a large chunk of metal around.
Nothing is ever so important that it can't wait until you've pulled over or reached your destination. People who think otherwise are suffering either severe egotism or ingrained stupidity IMO.
I've had phone calls from people calling me on mobiles while they were driving a few times - I always hang up on them. When that crash happens, I don't want to be the one on the other end of the phone feeling at least partially responsible for a death or maiming.
Besides, 70% of people I notice driving like idiots are deeply involved in a conversation on a mobile. The rest of us end up driving to protect ourselves from them, and they rarely notice what they've done/haven't done. GGrrrrrrr
:evil:

I completely agree with you there cosywolf, a classic almost cause an accident is when they have half a bonnet sticking out of a give-way junction just as you are about to pass.

How the hell do they change gear, hold the steering wheel and have the phone in one hand next to the ear?

Something has to give.

Surprising the number of people who still do it despite the fact they know if they are seen by the police they will get 3 penalty points on their license and a £60 fine.

The law should be reviewed......anyone found to be using a mobile phone whilst driving should be instantly banned from driving for a 12 month period.

In order to be in full control of a motor vehicle, both hands need to be on the steering wheel......what people don't seem to realise is the fact they are in control of a moving piece of metal of 1 ton or more !

I agree!!

Its very dangerous and i dont understand why people DO NOT TAKE THIER DRIVING MORE SERIOUSLY!!

Drive on the M18 at anytime ... loads of HGV drivers using mobiles whilst driving ... car drivers, its mostly women doing 50mph in the inside lane! About time the police started pulling a few of them over.
Obviously there aren't the police resources as a silver Japanese 4 wheel drive, K4OUCH, overtakes me every morning at around 7.30 - 7.45, he has to be doing well over 100mph weaving in and out of the lanes and undertaking, driving like a complete moron with no regard for anyone that gets in its way!

It has already been banned.. Not that the ban has made any difference, they still rabbit on their mobiles while driving! :loopy:

This thread is over 8 years old...

The ban hasn't made a blind bit of difference. I'm sure we all see countless people on their mobiles while driving, especially white van men. Are they so desperate to spend every spare minute of their lives chatting inanely that they can't pull over and stop if they need to make a call?

It has already been banned.. Not that the ban has made any difference, they still rabbit on their mobiles while driving! :loopy:

I see more people talking on their phones whilst driving now than I ever have, its absurd.

Ugh, I wasn't even a member of this forum when this thread was started.. You know what the Mods are like about people topping ancient threads! :nono:

Surprising the number of people who still do it despite the fact they know if they are seen by the police they will get 3 penalty points on their license and a £60 fine.

The law should be reviewed......anyone found to be using a mobile phone whilst driving should be instantly banned from driving for a 12 month period.

In order to be in full control of a motor vehicle, both hands need to be on the steering wheel......what people don't seem to realise is the fact they are in control of a moving piece of metal of 1 ton or more !


Out of interest how does you change gear without taking your hand off the wheel. Not all cars are automatic nor do they all have sequential paddle shift.

I agree that it was a good thing that mobile phone use was banned but surely the police had sufficient power already on the statute book to prosecute those who were failing to control their vehicles.

There are many things that can be just as dangerous but there have not been specific laws brought in to cover them. It smacks of knee-jerk politicking.

I see more people talking on their phones whilst driving now than I ever have, its absurd.Yup its disgusting they dont care!!!

It really is a shame,DRIVING SHOULD BE TOP CONCERN!! (You should be doing nothing to distract you)

Ugh, I wasn't even a member of this forum when this thread was started.. You know what the Mods are like about people topping ancient threads! :nono:

I don't see them having a problem with this thread. It's still relevant, if not more so, as some have said, the problem seems to be getting worse. The current penalty doesn't appear to be enough of a deterrent for some. Or is it because people think there's little chance of them getting caught anyway? I wonder if peoples attitude changes when they do get done?

I HATE it with a vengeance and would willingly give my free time to sit at the side of the road and photograph these idiots.

The next move should be to stop people smoking in cars, this is equally (or probably more) distractive!

Ancient thread, but:

My wife's car has a bluetooth connection which detects a mobile phone, feeds the signal through the speakers and turns on a microphone in the roof above the driver. I think you can answer the hpone by just talking to it - I wouldn't know, I don't even answer the hpone at home if I'm doing something else (and my home phone has a multi ring-tone capability; calls from 'preferred' callers trigger one tone and get answered, all other callers can wait until I'm ready or leave a message.

I don't see them having a problem with this thread. It's still relevant, if not more so, as some have said, the problem seems to be getting worse. The current penalty doesn't appear to be enough of a deterrent for some. Or is it because people think there's little chance of them getting caught anyway? I wonder if peoples attitude changes when they do get done?

In 2008, Bobby Jindahl (the governor of Louisiana) decided that there were far too many accidents which were believed to have been caused by people using mobile phones while driving. (Single-vehicle accidents in which the vehicle left the road and a cell phone was found in the wreckage turned on (and often with half of an outgoing text message on it.)

He decided to do something about it and if you get caught using a cell phone whilst driving in Louisiana, it will cost you $1000.

I don't know by how much that has reduced the use of cell phones by drivers, but it's probably increased the revenue from fines considerably.:hihi: