Is a mounted tablet legal for the driver?

RS2000.

Joe_Horner wrote: »

That'll be a "d" then.

He said he thought he may have heard it somewhere, you asked where, I suggested what he might be thinking of.

That's not a matter of what they might "do" him for (I even said they'd be unlikely to use that one!), it's a matter of why / where he might have heard it from.

He could have heard it down the pub.

londonTiger

ok JH point made, yes that's useful bit of information.

Herzlos

londonTiger wrote: »

If the tablet is mounted on the centre console can I use it to write emails while in traffic, and what if the lights go green and I have to drive on and left the table on idle inside the email app but I dont use it at all. Could having an email account open while driving be regarded as driving without due care?

I wouldn't, it'd be the same as texting and you can't do that whilst driving (and yes, that includes at traffic lights). In a static traffic jam with no prospect of moving any time soon, sure, but in traffic? I wouldn't do it even if it was legal.

InsideInsurance

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Television or "other cineamatographic aparatus" is illegal if it can be seen by the driver either directly or by reflection - Construction and Use Regulations (1988) Reg. 109.

They really could do with updating the legislation though given 109.2 states:

(2) In this regulation “television receiving apparatus” means any cathode ray tube carried on a vehicle and on which there can be displayed an image derived from a television broadcast, a recording or a camera or computer.

cant remember the last time I saw a portable cathode ray tube TV

dannyrst

just because your car isn't moving doesn't mean you can stop paying attention to the road. you should still be checking what is going on around you to make sure when traffic moves you're ready to move off in a safe manor.

Joe_Horner

InsideInsurance wrote: »

They really could do with updating the legislation though given 109.2 states:


cant remember the last time I saw a portable cathode ray tube TV

Agreed. Technology always runs ahead of the law but that's well overdue (although potentially within a court's remit to develop by precedent).

Interesting that they specifically include images "from a computer", which would necessarily include email within the definition even if the screen itself is outdated.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

londonTiger wrote: »

we have this stupid law about operating a handheld phone while stuck in traffic with car in neutral and handbrake being "driving without due care". So how does that play with tablets. If the tablet is mounted on the centre console can I use it to write emails while in traffic, and what if the lights go green and I have to drive on and left the table on idle inside the email app but I dont use it at all. Could having an email account open while driving be regarded as driving without due care?

Get rear ended by someone not paying attention in stationary traffic or miss the lights change on a busy junction due to someone messing around and you might not consider it so stupid. Even when you are stationary, things are going on around you that you should be conscious of - you go to set off, did you notice the pedestrians around, the motorcyclist draw up beside you, the guy in front stall, the fact that the queue moved on a minute ago?

Just about anything CAN be considered driving without due care and attention - my car has a facility for reading SMS messages off the phone and I would not consider it wise to use it.

I would not even contemplate that answering emails in driving downtime was anywhere close to sensible. Contrary to popular opinion, the brain does not multi-task, exactly like a computer it actually switches from one thing to another and get too deeply immersed in the email and you will struggle to pay proper attention to the road.

Generally, many people do not give enough priority to the difficulty of the task of driving. Rather than trying to create an environment designed to distract you from the task in hand, you should think really seriously about what it is you are trying to achieve when you are driving, which should be getting from A to B in a fast, efficient and safe manner - messing around with tablets in the car doesn't fit with that IMHO.

dannyrst

IanMSpencer wrote: »

Get rear ended by someone not paying attention in stationary traffic or miss the lights change on a busy junction due to someone messing around and you might not consider it so stupid. Even when you are stationary, things are going on around you that you should be conscious of - you go to set off, did you notice the pedestrians around, the motorcyclist draw up beside you, the guy in front stall, the fact that the queue moved on a minute ago?

Just about anything CAN be considered driving without due care and attention - my car has a facility for reading SMS messages off the phone and I would not consider it wise to use it.

I would not even contemplate that answering emails in driving downtime was anywhere close to sensible. Contrary to popular opinion, the brain does not multi-task, exactly like a computer it actually switches from one thing to another and get too deeply immersed in the email and you will struggle to pay proper attention to the road.

Generally, many people do not give enough priority to the difficulty of the task of driving. Rather than trying to create an environment designed to distract you from the task in hand, you should think really seriously about what it is you are trying to achieve when you are driving, which should be getting from A to B in a fast, efficient and safe manner - messing around with tablets in the car doesn't fit with that IMHO.

not in that order i hope! :rotfl:

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

dannyrst wrote: »

not in that order i hope! :rotfl:

No precedence implied I could add in legal!

londonTiger

dannyrst wrote: »

just because your car isn't moving doesn't mean you can stop paying attention to the road. you should still be checking what is going on around you to make sure when traffic moves you're ready to move off in a safe manor.

mirror [observe surroundings], signal, manouvere.

There is very little danger you can cause by being stationary in traffic and quickly hit refresh on your mounted computer, provided you are stationary in idle traffic in a safe spot (not a junction, tram/rail line, high speed road etc).

After you're done with the "distraction", you follow the procedure above [minus signal] and drive on.