Ban hands-free phone kits, urge Brake

I am pleased to see that the majority of the comments to this article reflect common sense. For heaven’s sake – recognise that life is a constant balance of risks. Some are acceptable – some are not. Placing a ton of metal in the hands of a human being at 70 mph is a risky thing to do but no-one is suggesting that we ban driving! Having a conversation with a metal box whilst I am driving is generally less risky than speaking to a passenger since our own body language tends to make us want to secure eye contact with the person with whom we are speaking if they are present. Yes, I am sure that there is an increased risk of an accident if the driver of a vehicle is speaking to another entity, real or hands free – so is the need to read road signs or noticing attractive advertising bill boards. Driving is an inherently dangerous activity (in silence, speaking with a passenger or being on a hands free phone), but the risk is made acceptable by the fact that our whole society is based around the need to travel faster than by foot! I would suggest that the point at which the risk becomes unacceptable is when the driver is required to carry out an unnecessary practical movement such as holding a telephone hand set or keeping their children under control etc. Incidentally, this would suggest that there is an argument for banning manual cars. Why introduce an unnecessary movement or action when all cars could be made with automatic transmissions? Do I hear a cry from the ‘go-faster stripe’ brigade…? Of-course we shouldn’t ban hands-free telephones in cars. Any way – there will soon be satellite guided vehicles on the road and we can all chat on the phone, make notes or simply sleep on our ever slower, over-crowded, painful journeys… (That’s if we can afford the parking once we get to our destinations!!)

Break is an excellent institution and normally I commend their efforts. However this truly is a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. All examples in this report talk about someone doing something that is already illegal. Why ban something that is safer than talking to passengers to enforce existing laws.

I used to use my phone handsfree but I began to realise that, at the end of a conversation, my concentration ‘returned’. In other words, my concentration was not on the road to the degree that it should be. This is not the same as a conversation with passengers or listening to a radio, neither of which should be a priority or needs to be a priority over safe driving. I do listen to the radio but I know my focus on the programme is incidental — it comes and goes and I miss bits because driving gets my attention. There’s something about a phone call that demands full attention – you ‘know’ you are expected to listen and reply. A colleague who insists on calling me at the office always misses at least one turn when he’s talking to me. What does that tell us? If you kill someone because you had a drink and getting a taxi was inconvenient, you’d expect to get the book thrown at you. We managed well enough before mobile phones. Just how does endangering the lives of others justify maintaining your own personal convenience? I hope you arrive home safe to your family today.

I agree with Julie & Rob – these findings have been around as facts for a long time. Its time people faced up to the fact that a phone whether hands free or not is “a call to action”. There is a perfect solution to the problem that everyone shoulf consider especially the insurers that is a system that has been developed and can be read about at http://www.cu80.co.uk check it out its amazing!

Its great isn’t it all these people who have nothing to do but look at figures and statistics, bet not one of these people sees mobile communications as being part of their working lives, I agree with other comments about people in cars or vehicles with you where will it all stop. What about parents with kids battling in the rear seats, do we lock them in the boot. What about Satnavs I have a factory one built into my 2013 VW CC and if I hadn’t had 30 years of driving experience I know a few occasions where I would have been booked for being sent the wrong way, also a Satnav is both a visual and audible device, how may people do you see at junctions gawping at their Tom Tom and dithering over which way to go, I know people who will believe their satnav over a road sign also you don’t look at a phone when hands free. So hey ban satnavs as well, what about young kids wearing hoodies who drive with the hood up, how does that affect peripheral vision lets ban them as well. Who,s going to police all this, how the hell is anyone going to be able to book you or detect you on the move if you are talking hands free especially if there are two people in the car. Its education and training that is needed not nanny state rules. Technology could overcome these issues why not invent a device that cuts a phone out in a car if it not Bluetooth connected, soon cars will have electronics that will govern the top speed it can travel at the speed limit area its in, and finally what about manufacturers of cars like Volvo who install self parking, automatic brake distance control, lane change control and all the other gizmos that totally detach the driver from his or her responsibility to ensure all is safe cant wait for the legal claims on these systems when they fail or are on 10 year old cars that are not maintained. Personally I would be more worried about Russia and especially the recent comments from China about building 50+ aircraft carriers saying that eventually the USA WILL respect our sovereignty.

Using a hand free kit to talk on the phone is no different to listening to the radio or talking to passengers. I often need to answer the phone while driving for updates on delivery details, road conditions on my route, etc, if I had to pull over every time to take a call not only would this been extremely frustrating for me increasing my stress levels behind the wheel but there would be hundreds of cars stationary on the side of roads creating hazards for other drivers. For people who drive long distances a conversation on a hands free kit is a welcome refresher and often increases your attention or the road. Sitting in silence with no conversation either on a phone or with a passenger and no radio will be extremely dull and I would expect drivers attention to wonder much more in this situation.

I personally believe that using your handsfree system while driving is just as safe or dangerous as talking to a passenger or playing with your radio. As long as you are only pressing the button to answer a call there is no further risk. As for any further use of your phone. Then yes the ban in place is already sufficient.

As a 24hr callout engineer with calls coming in at random occasions from withheld numbers that you can’t phone back for serious issues then a blanket ban would be catastrophic in certain situations. Also would this ban prevent emergency services from taking calls on their systems?
What would be the next stage? Drivers inside sealed cubicles unable to interact with anything or anyone whilst driving?!