Would you politely remind a driver using a mobile is illegal?

[Viper '69]

First of all,i do not condone what the van driver was doing OR what the cyclist did.However,if this debate is about statistics-how many people are killed on our roads due to plain and simple driver error? I'm pretty sure it is more than the amount killed by someone using a mobile phone,MAYBE even more than the drink-drivers! IF this is the case,then the stats would show that it's safer to drive while making a call or being over the limit or both!

 

*gets coat*

[spindrift]

I'll assume the answer to my question is no.

 

 

Exactly.

 

 

No, it most certainly is not safe to use a mobile whilst driving.

[Paul2412]

Exactly.

 

 

No, it most certainly is not safe to use a mobile whilst driving.

 

Even when your sat in traffic? Am I assuming that, whilst sat in traffic you'd never dare change CD or turn the volume up or down?

[Viper '69]

Raw numbers perhaps - i doubt as a percentage though.

 

Makes you think though........

[mj.scuba]

Is there any real data any body can post regarding the accident stats.

The research might show it to be just as dangerous under test conditions in a lab, but I'm interested to see how that translates to real life.

 

I would assume that more people use their phone whilst driving than drink drive, so if using a phone whilst driving is more dangerous than drink driving, I would expect the number of deaths or serious injury caused by mobile phone driving to be higher than those caused by drink drivers.

[spindrift]

Even when your sat in traffic? Am I assuming that, whilst sat in traffic you'd never dare change CD or turn the volume up or down?

 

Nope, because speaking on a mobile is quite different to changing a cd.

 

Unless you can find studies that show that drivers who change cds are as dangerous as drunk drivers?

[Paul2412]

Nope, because speaking on a mobile is quite different to changing a cd.

 

Unless you can find studies that show that drivers who change cds are as dangerous as drunk drivers?

 

Well, not really.

 

On a mobile, you are generally holding the steering wheel with the other hand and looking straight ahead.

 

Whilst changing CD, you aren't looking at the road at all.

 

You seem to be high on statistics, and low on common sense.

[spindrift]

Well, not really.

 

On a mobile, you are generally holding the steering wheel with the other hand and looking straight ahead.

 

Whilst changing CD, you aren't looking at the road at all.

 

You seem to be high on statistics, and low on common sense.

 

 

When you change a cd, you are not concentrating on hearing what somebody you can't see is saying.

 

Although it has been illegal for drivers to hold a mobile at the wheel since 2003, it is still lawful to use a hands-free kit as long as motorists are in proper control of their vehicle.

 

But now the research by the University of Utah psychologists, published in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, could throw the law into doubt.

 

It found that the drivers on their phones took 20 per cent longer to hit the brakes when needed.

 

The average following distance also increased by 30 per cent - which the scientists said reflected drivers' failure to keep pace with traffic around them.

 

Memory performance declined 11 per cent, and the ability to do maths problems fell 3 per cent.

 

The results show that driving performance routinely falls while using a hands-free mobile phone and is comparable to the impairment seen in drunken drivers.

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1262447/Hands-free-phones-risky-drink-driving-We-things-time-say-scientists.html#ixzz0t66UjXDI

 

Chatting on a mobile is a dangerous distraction, your comparisons with changing a cd or eating an apple are not at all the same thing.

[scottsmith]

Yet you carry on with the statistics! And quoting The Daily Mail???? Stop it, seriously.

 

If you want figures (as you seem hell bent on them), may I draw your attention to the following:

 

An analysis of a sample of police-reported crashes between

1995-1999 in the USA44 sought to identify the major sources

of driver distraction and their relative importance as a crash

cause. 8% of the drivers were identified as distracted at the

time of their crash,and the specific sources of distraction were:

 

Outside person, object, or event 29.4%

Adjusting radio/cassette/CD 11.4%

Other occupant 10.9%

Moving object in vehicle 4.3%

Other device/object 2.9%

Adjusting vehicle/climate controls 2.8%

Eating and/or drinking 1.7%

Using/dialling mobile phone 1.5%

Smoking related 0.9%

Other 25.6%

Unknown 8.6%

 

From:

http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/info/mobile_phone_report.pdf

 

So eating, say an apple, caused more accidents than using a phone.

[spindrift]

Mobiles are far more common now than in 1995! I think I got my first mobile that year.

 

People like using their mobiles and don't like being told it's so dangerous.

 

There is a definite difference between talking to a passenger and talking to someone on a hands-free phone.

 

Talking on a phone can cause you to mentally "transfer" yourself to the location of the person on the other end. Your brain "imagines" that you are with that person or in the location of the subject you are discussing. This can therefore distract much more than talking to a passenger or listening to the radio.

 

 

This was proven in the case of a lorry driver in Scotland a couple of years back who drove into the back of a stationary vehicle killing one of the occupants whilst using a hands-free phone - despite having full visibility of the vehicle for over 1/4 of a mile before hitting it.