Using a Telephone Whilst Driving

Azari

Tarmac--- wrote: »

No, that's not what I'm suggesting. What I saying is that just because there's a green light showing you don't have a god given right to carry on ahead without checking what may come hurtling into you. Simple as that.

Not absurdity, just the Highway Code. Re-read it sometime. Everyone should.

I already stated underlined part.

However, your comment was, in this instance, just passive-aggressive waffle.

There was no suggestion that there was any indication that the car in question would be unable to comply with the traffic signals.

Commenting on the incident as described in the way you did is tendentiously suggesting that part of the fault lay with the victim and there is no evidence of that whatsoever.

arcon5

Why is people are so anti-mobile whilst driving... yet it's rare to hear people whine about those smoking whilst driving? If you ask me, this is much more dangerous than holding a phone.

(I'm not condoning this by the way.)

arcon5

vax2002 wrote: »

At a conference of the countrys leading accident investigation specialists including police, the conclusion was that the most dangerous driver on any road and the one most likely to cause a fatal accident is one who concerns themselves with other peoples driving habits.

Like this...

nonnatus wrote: »

One such man, the other day, had pulled onto a teeny bit of pavement at a roundabout!! I tooted, slowed down and asked what on earth he was doing, had he broken down, did he need help moving the car? People behind ME now getting annoyed but he just told me to mind my own business, he had to take a very important call!!
Obviously his call was far more important than the journey of all the commuters he was blocking.

And there lies the problem really - everyone thinks their own little lives are so much more important than everyone else. And we have become slaves to those little black boxes...

I wonder whats more dangerous...


the person parked on the pavement using the phone

or

the person snailing past a parked vehicle trying to start up a conversation inconveniencing drivers in tail and potentially causing a hazard when drivers try to pass you.

arcon5

Oh and lets not forget supermarket car park drivers AND pedestrians.... the second you enter a supermarket expect all the usual rules and common sense to vanish - whilst you have cars not looking for people crossing the zebra crossing and paying no attention to other moving vehicles and the pedestrians who think it's clever to damn well walk behind you when you're reversing in to a bay!!! Oh and there's always one parent not watching their kid wonder in to the road!!

(sorry a little off topic now )

Azari

arcon5 wrote: »

Why is people are so anti-mobile whilst driving... yet it's rare to hear people whine about those smoking whilst driving? If you ask me, this is much more dangerous than holding a phone.

I can't say for certain since I would never consider using a phone whilst driving, but back when I smoked I never noticed any danger from smoking. (But if I couldn't light a cigarette without taking my eyes from the road I'd go without until I had to stop for something). I also would not smoke with the window open.

Anything can be dangerous unless you give driving absolute priority but something you can do automatically, without thought, such as smoking is very unlikely to be as dangerous as something that inherently requires some concentration and with a non hands free kit, also interferes in a major way with the mechanics of driving.

Tarmac---

Azari wrote: »

I already stated underlined part.

Well done. But as you clearly stated you didn't see my point I merely just thought I'd reiterate it. Now that's passive aggressive.

Azari wrote: »

Commenting on the incident as described in the way you did is tendentiously suggesting that part of the fault lay with the victim and there is no evidence of that whatsoever.

I'll concede that I didn't word that particularly well - and it was not intended to be used in that particular context. What I intended to say in not so many words was: Look right.

Azari

Tarmac--- wrote: »

I'll concede that I didn't word that particularly well - and it was not intended to be used in that particular context. What I intended to say in not so many words was: Look right.

Yes, I fully agree that you should always be aware of what is going on around you - especially if you are the first to enter a junction (as a driver or pedestrian) after the lights change.

I just thought that you were trying to suggest some of the blame could be shifted to the victim in the instance under discussion - for which we have no evidence one way of another. Sorry if that was not the case.

Gavin83

Azari wrote: »

I can't say for certain since I would never consider using a phone whilst driving, but back when I smoked I never noticed any danger from smoking. (But if I couldn't light a cigarette without taking my eyes from the road I'd go without until I had to stop for something). I also would not smoke with the window open.

Anything can be dangerous unless you give driving absolute priority but something you can do automatically, without thought, such as smoking is very unlikely to be as dangerous as something that inherently requires some concentration and with a non hands free kit, also interferes in a major way with the mechanics of driving.

Surely if driving while speaking on the phone was considered too much of a concentration diversion then you wouldn't be allowed to do it at all, even with a hands free kit?

Surely the danger with mobile phones is that you have to use a hand, therefore only leaving one to drive. On this basis smoking while driving would be more dangerous. Both require you to hold something but the difference is one has the potential to burn and cause further distraction. At least you could drop a phone in an emergency.

bluangel1239

fluffnutter wrote: »

Whiplash compo!

Been there, done that

shaun_from_Africa

Gavin83 wrote: »

Surely if driving while speaking on the phone was considered too much of a concentration diversion then you wouldn't be allowed to do it at all, even with a hands free kit?

Surely the danger with mobile phones is that you have to use a hand, therefore only leaving one to drive.

There have been many tests done, both in the UK and overseas, and just about all of them seem to reach the same conclusions.
Just 3 different ones found by doing a very quick "google search".

What may come as an interesting surprise is that, even if a cell phone is being used completely hands-free, the risk of having an accident doesn't seem to be reduced. Apparently, the act of conversing on the phone — not holding the phone to your ear — is the more dangerous distraction

A study commissioned by a leading UK insurance company, Direct Line (2003), revealed that talking on any cell phone while driving is so mentally distracting that it is as dangerous as driving when slightly over the legal blood-alcohol limit. (In Britain, the BAC limit is 0.08%, the same as in the U.S.A.) Despite these results applying to hands-free phones as well as hand-held ones, Direct Line drew a line by suggesting that the findings should be used

A publicity image from the 'Think!'
road safety campaign in Britain.

to bring about a total ban on the use only of hand-held cell phones while driving

According to a study by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) drivers are four times more likely to have an accident while using any mobile phone.
Reaction times were slower than those under the influence of alcohol and it found the risk of an accident was raised for up to 10 minutes after a hands-free call had been made, suggesting a driver remained preoccupied long after a call ended. "Drivers found it easier to drive drunk than to drive while using a phone, even when it was hands-free," says a TRL spokesman