It all started to go fubar when they stopped walking in front of cars with a red flag.
Couldn't it fall under the umbrella of either 'Driver was careless, reckless or in a hurry' or 'Driver failed to look properly'?
That doesn't mean the accident rate wouldn't have dropped further if the mobile phone scourge wasn't so prevalent behind the wheel.
It all started to go fubar when they stopped walking in front of cars with a red flag.
Áll forms of transmitted conversation fall under the same header. So no taxi coversation nor trucker unless stopping (where permitted!). Police excepted ofcourse. like with most anything. Not that it is safe when théy do it but because it is in the direct interest of the State. See smoking.
The current level of sanction would be enough subject to there being more than slim to remote chance of actually being caught.
This has possibly already been said .... but what’s the difference between talking to a passenger & talking to someone using a hands free device ?
As a mobile breakdown engineer i would be pretty much buggered if I wasn’t able to pick up calls whilst driving ( hands free of course ) and I’m sure it would cause issues with many other trades too .
Dave
It's a headline grabbing distraction.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
It shouldn’t make any difference who I’m talking to , but no it’s only used for work calls .
With the amount of different people that need to contact me , either from my employer or from various NHS ambulance service locations, a 2 way radio isn’t an option these days .
I’m sure you can appreciate some of these calls are time sensitive , having to wait until I could find somewhere to pull over before I could receive job details would be unacceptable.....
Dave
Last edited by spanner monkey; 13th August 2019 at 21:05.
As cars become safer for drivers, the evidence shows that they actually become less safe for other road users (pedestrians, cyclists, etc).
The most likely reason is that drivers are willing to take greater risks, knowing that they are less likely to get hurt. It has been suggested that the greatest benefit to road safety would be gained by having a large blade, pointed at the driver, in the centre of the steering wheel.
If they ban hands free phones, will they also ban wife's banging on about something. Also will they ban talking sat nav systems, children in the back seat, pets, nose picking, pretty girls on the pavements, wild animals running out, etc.
Surely a better option would be simply ban private transport, then we can day dream to our heart content.
The worlds gone crazy!
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The reverse is true.
It's much more distracting if you're coming up to a junction/ roundabout and you don't know where you're going and have to work it out yourself versus having a sat nav which gives you fair warning of where to go a few hundred metres before (so you can focus on being in the right lane, giving way to traffic / traffic lights, etc).
Sat Navs can help you focus on the road whilst phones take your attention away from the phone. Try doing any other task whilst on the phone and it will affect what you are doing to some extent. Why would driving be any different?
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
When I use it, I set the satnav before I start the engine, and I find it helps me concentrate on the road rather than looking out for signs. It also warns me about traffic jams. What other technology are you talking about?
The evidence shows that hands-free phone calls are distracting. So why not ban them?
As for people who are "on-call", they can find a safe place to stop and phone back once the engine is switched off.
So how would the taxi industry cope then? More and more firms are turning toward app based booking and job dispatch. How would that work without a mobile.
I presume you use taxis now and again? Unless you live in a small town that has small taxi fleets, then I’m afraid the two way radio is a thing of the past.
I find the sat nav useful for the same reasons. Forewarned at junctions/roundabouts so easier to be in the right lane, not searching road signs for information. In my car you can have the sat nav map in front of you instead of the speedo and rencounter display, so even easier to see at a glance. No more distracting than looking at the speedo.
I don't think banning handsfree is necessary, any more than banning car radios and music in cars.
As an aside I was with some friends travelling up the M1 a couple of years back, sitting in the front passenger seat of my friends Toyota Landcruiser. As we slowly passed a large Mercedes saloon I looked at the driver, only to see an I-pad or similar held on the steering wheel and the driver typing away. At 70ish MPH. Gobsmacked.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Last edited by Andyg; 14th August 2019 at 07:42.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I find all the buttons on the centre console more distracting than the on screen (and steering wheel) phone controls. I don’t even have a touchscreen.
Most in car design these days is about aesthetics rather than ergonomics; it’s far more difficult to use than in previous generations.
I'm sure there is a level of distraction caused by talking on the phone while driving, even hands free. But other posters here have mentioned the other technology incar which can be far worse. My last car had a large, probably about 8"x6" touch screen in the lower centre of the dash, it was in totally the wrong place, you really had to look to the left and down to see or operate the screen.
One day I realised I must have travelled a hundred yards at least while scrolling through digital radio stations, switched the screen off after that.
My car now doesn't have one, but it's still too easy to find oneself scrolling through the trip computer readings on the little screen in front (via the tip of the indicator stalk though, not touchscreen). A few seconds looking at how many miles left in the tank, average mpg, average mph etc and that could be a pedestrian dead. If it all locked to the only settings you actually need to drive safely once on the move, that would be a big safety improvement.
Many years ago I was working at Thorpe Park (doing roofs), mid 1980's during the day we watched Michael Hazelwood the British water skier practicing on the lake. Anyhow I digress. On the way home south bound on the M25, in my mates 2.0 Ford Capri, we noticed a car pulled over on the hard shoulder. A female was a tempting to change a flat tyre drivers side at the rear. She was wearing a short skirt that was not covering her modesty as she bent over, no under garments existed. Now this stretch of the M25 near M3 has four lanes, all of the vehicles in all the lanes (I presume driven by males) decided to stop, it was like a scene from the Dukes of Hazard. Cars were veering across four lanes of traffic, the air was full of burnt rubber and smoke as dozens of car drivers decided to become knights in shinning armour. My mate was looking across me while trying to control a full lock skid. It was carnage, how no one died I'll never know, as we looked back I could see cars reversing back up the hard shoulder to toward the distressed maiden. You had to be there
Idiot last night on the M27 near Jct 2. I was joining the motorway on a blood bike, car on inside lane didn't see me, I joined behind him, then he put his brakes on, had his interior light on, and was looking at his bloody phone sending a txt. I have a helmet camera and filmed the whole thing.
The increased risk behaviour following from saffety features is called the Peltzman effect.
The risk for pedestrians et all also increases with the weight of the cars. Not only causes the increased kinetic energy more damage, the braking distance increase also because of tyre load sensitivity.
The safety con does sell ánd makes the cars more costly thus increases State revenue.
You could start by enforcing the already in place laws before adding to the list that are ignored, how about people who place their sat navs right in the middle of the windscreen using it like some kind of 'head up' display, bizarre.
I'm fairly sure it comes down to what you are used to. Some drivers are on the phone all the time and cope very easily with it. Some who may not undertake calls on a regular basis may well be distracted. I have been on many long distance drives, as a passenger, where the driver has take a call and been well equipped to deal with anything.
The world is evolving - we are quite capable of adapting with it. there is no need to put unnecessary restrictions on day to day activities. However, I do believe more needs to be done about the women I have seen (yes, I am sure there are men guilty too, I just haven't seen them yet) doing their full make up in the mirror, or eating a bloody bowl of cornflakes, while driving in heavy traffic!
As for drink driving - I wouldn't dare go out on the roads without having first had a drink - it's bloody dangerous out there! ;)
It's just a matter of time...