Using Mobile Phones While Driving - New Laws

As far as i believe you cannot be caught on camera for this offence unless you are also doing something else eg running a red light or speeding? (correct me if i am wrong).

How will they continue to enforce the new laws if so when it isnt a clamp down week? Surely there aren't enough police on the roads to enforce it?

I would be more concerned about the fact that in certain areas between 0300 hrs and 0700 hrs Saturday and Sunday there are only two officers on duty!

The rest in vans dealing with the city centre economy.

No need to start a campaign, it is already the law for trucks and buses all over the western hemisphere , just a matter of time before it hits cars. Delay is probably because of all the lost revenue from speeding tickets lol

Different speed limits in different countries, including some roads that are unlimited (in Germany at least).

Cars can be used legally on tracks of course, where a limiter would be a definite problem...

No need to start a campaign, it is already the law for trucks and buses all over the western hemisphere , just a matter of time before it hits cars. Delay is probably because of all the lost revenue from speeding tickets lol

Since motorway are quite safe, a limiter would need to know when to limit to 20/30/40/50 mph.

Since motorway are quite safe, a limiter would need to know when to limit to 20/30/40/50 mph.

That would be impossible to do. I believe large trucks have a limiter to stop them exceeding highway/motorway limits. But to be honest, we are not talking about distracted driving now , I think we have steered off topic. In Ontario distracted driving is killing more people than drunk driving, by a big margin, it is a worldwide problem that should be getting jail time for some of the worst offenders.

It seems as though the police are now catching less drivers using a mobile while driving.

Many deaths have been recorded due to lorry and private motorists texting or actually talking on mobiles.

The police have stated that the drop in convictions is due to less patrol cars actually on duty at any one time.

What seems to be a mystery in all this is why an App is not installed in all mobiles making it impossible to use them in a moving vehicle .

We all see this law being broken every day as motorists seem to think that they will not be caught so ignore the fact that some one could be killed due to their selfishness.

It seems as though the police are now catching less drivers using a mobile while driving.

Many deaths have been recorded due to lorry and private motorists texting or actually talking on mobiles.

 

The police have stated that the drop in convictions is due to less patrol cars actually on duty at any one time.

 

What seems to be a mystery in all this is why an App is not installed in all mobiles making it impossible to use them in a moving vehicle .

 

We all see this law being broken every day as motorists seem to think that they will not be caught so ignore the fact that some one could be killed due to their selfishness.

How would this app know if you are the driver or a passenger?

i see people on phone everyday outside schools most days and especially on motorway

doesnt seem to have made much difference putting fine and points up people still do it everyday

Oh my god , is there a smoking ban in cars over there? That is Orwellian, and I am a non-smoker.

If there are kids under 10 (I think) in the car....

Ok , that makes absolute sense, I was just gobsmacked by the statement about a smoking ban in cars being abused lol.

Sorry,just had a quick look and it's no smoking if kids under 18 are in the car (not 10)..

Well, how about if a 17 year old smoker is driving his own car and puffing away, merrily.

Well as it's illegal to smoke until you are 18, he'd be breaking 2 laws.

Well played sgtkate

It seems as though the police are now catching less drivers using a mobile while driving.

Many deaths have been recorded due to lorry and private motorists texting or actually talking on mobiles.

 

The police have stated that the drop in convictions is due to less patrol cars actually on duty at any one time.

 

What seems to be a mystery in all this is why an App is not installed in all mobiles making it impossible to use them in a moving vehicle .

 

We all see this law being broken every day as motorists seem to think that they will not be caught so ignore the fact that some one could be killed due to their selfishness.

The app you are looking for, maybe, is “airplane mode”.

Nothing will change until drivers take a different view and make better choices.

There is nothing intrinsically safe, after all, about hands-free operation. Even before “car phones” and mobiles the most commonly quoted contributory factor in crashes was “failed to look properly” (SMIDSY) - the advent (and explosion) of phone use by drivers was hardly going to improve that.

Any conversation (handheld or hands-free) that requires the driver to internalise or visualise has the ability to overload his/her cognitive capacity in the very part of the brain used to scan the road. The visual and scanning impairment that these processes give rise to is proven in many studies.

Talking hands-free is not a get-out-of-jail-free card, either.

Companies such as Shell and Network Rail have 10 life-saving rules that, if broken, constitute a no-argument sacking offence. Talking on a phone (handheld or hands-free) and no seatbelt are two of the ten reasons for sacking.

Some time ago I got a reply from SYP and Derbyshire police on the number of phone and seatbelt offences recorded by them in a year.

Both offences in both force areas reported on +/- 5000 offences.

I wasn’t surprised yesterday, then, to hear on Look North that phone offences has been around 5000 as well as to hear that the phone offences recorded had dropped to around half that figure - it now seems that they don’t have enough bodies on the ground to meet what were suspiciously like quotas and tokenism.

Again, not a big surprise to me.

That Look North even suggested that the drop in the figures could be down to changes in driver behaviour was, frankly, laughable. The Editor needs to get out a bit more.

Even before “car phones” and mobiles the most commonly quoted contributory factor in crashes was “failed to look properly” (SMIDSY) - the advent (and explosion) of phone use by drivers was hardly going to improve that.

"But the biggest cause of road accidents in the UK today? The statistics are quite clear on this and it's "driver error or reaction". It's listed by police as a factor in more than 65 per cent of fatal crashes and the heading covers a multitude of driving sins."

What causes that 'error' is unclear.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/road-safety/8702111/How-do-accidents-happen.html

"But the biggest cause of road accidents in the UK today? The statistics are quite clear on this and it's "driver error or reaction". It's listed by police as a factor in more than 65 per cent of fatal crashes and the heading covers a multitude of driving sins."

 

What causes that 'error' is unclear.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/road-safety/8702111/How-do-accidents-happen.html

“Biggest causes in the uk ... today” when you post a link to an article from 2011?

In any case, it is widely accepted that 95%+ of crashes are down to driver error in some way.

The discussion above centred on phone use (and, presumably, its distraction potential). My contribution was meant to give a professional driver trainer’s view of how risky that can be and to suggest that hands-free is not risk-free.

I’m not sure what your contribution was meant to add into the discussion: I don’t think a broad-brush training approach to on-road risk management will involve me saying to my delegates, “ok, let’s see if we can avoid making errors”.