BRAKE are calling for hands free devices to be banned!!

[Bonzo77]

Of cause peoples concentration levels will be reduced whie talking. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be allowed to do it.

 

If youre driving and talking on a hands free and someo e asks you a question as youre approaching some tricky traffic, you just say......"hold on a minute", until you have negotiated the traffic. Then you continue the conversation.

 

I use hands free a lot. Why should I have to stop just because some idiots can't do 2 things at the same time?! Driving is easy, very easy. Let's face it, if you can't do something as simple as talk while driving, should you be allowed to drive in the first place???

[jfish1936]

I see different types of conversation, by phone, but also with passengers.

The phone call "Held up at accident site, but OK, heading home now" answered by "OK", is not very distracting.

The phone call discussing the problems of impending givorce, bankruptcy, etc, is very distracting.

But these are the same if the conversation is with a passenger.

On one occasion, I said that a holiday would last about 15 days, and would cost about $300 per day, so that's about $4,500 or call it $5.000 all up.

My passenger pointed out that it was really only 14 days, and it would be nearer $287 per day, "What are you stopping the car here for?"

Answer: "I can do easy sums while I drive, to a few hundred either way. For precise accounting, I need to stop and calculate without having to drive"

[Alien52]

I can't understand why smoking whilst driving hasn't been banned. There can't be anything more dangerous.

 

Jumping off a cliff into shark infested water,perhaps.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 12:57 ----------

 

I wish some one would shut our lass up when I am driving.

It's watch him, or Its on red, or there' a roundabout,or your doing sixty nine,or watch that dog,or you can't park here Planner ses so and on and on and on it drives yer daft.

 

If you can do that while you are driving you are very skilled indeed.

[Bruno]

I can't understand why smoking whilst driving hasn't been banned. There can't be anything more dangerous.

 

erm..... i think juggling would be more dangerous

[L00b]

I can't understand why smoking whilst driving hasn't been banned. There can't be anything more dangerous.

Try smoking whilst riding a motorbike and see for yourself

 

I can understand, at a basic level, why handsfree might not be considered to make much of a difference relative to holding a handset for a phone conversation: in the end, both could be deemed equally distracting because they are 'active' events (the listener pays attention to the other speaker, cogitates, and replies interactively - necessarily lending some focus on the conversation topic rather than staying fully-focused on driving), not 'passive' like listening to the radio (or smoking, for that matter).

 

And at times, I'd consider twiddling the radio whilst under way nearly as dangerous as texting and fiddling with a satnav. Not quite as dangerous, because there's fewer buttons

 

But it's all a question of context: density of traffic, road conditions, rate of speed. All of these factors are supposed to be well understood and assimilated by the notional average driver. So, is the solution multi-bans on convenient improvements...or better and more thorough or selective testing/passing of new drivers?

[melthebell]

I wish some one would shut our lass up when I am driving.

It's watch him, or Its on red, or there' a roundabout,or your doing sixty nine,or watch that dog,or you can't park here Planner ses so and on and on and on it drives yer daft.

 

you do a 69 while driving? hands free? lol

[Eater Sundae]

I vaguely recall seeing an interview with an MP (sorry, can't remember who), who had been involved in preparing the legislation which prohibited hand held phones. He said that research (maybe that research quoted above) indicated that hands free was also dangerous, and had been considered, but they had decided not to include hands free in the legislation, because they didn't think that public opinion would be on their side - ie the public were not ready at that time. (Sorry, I cannot provide any sort of link, as I don't remember enough details to find it).

 

Maybe the public will be ready soon. We see creeping legislation in lots of areas, eg seat belts in the front of cars, seatbelts in the rear, made compulsory to wear them, etc, all passed separately.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 13:19 ----------

 

A few years ago (when the legislation came in) my employer offered hands free kits for those employers who use their cars on company business, compatible with their company phone. I refused. My phone stays in my pocket when I'm driving. I check missed calls and messages, and make any necessary return calls, only after I've parked up.

[medusa]

As the man from the IAM said when he was interviewed on the BBC News channel a couple of hours ago, quite apart from whether it is dangerous and considered morally wrong to talk on the phone using a hands free kit, as an observer outside the car, how do you know which person who is 'talking on a hands free kit' is actually talking on the phone and which is singing to their car radio, talking to themselves or talking to a passenger that you aren't in a position to see?

 

If you pulled over everybody who looks like they are talking then there would be an awful lot of people who weren't using a phone in the first place and every single one that was using their phone on a hands free kit would have the time to hang up in between being instructed to pull over and actually being stopped and with the police officer and could therefore deny having done it in the first place.

[Bypassblade]

I can't understand why smoking whilst driving hasn't been banned. There can't be anything more dangerous.

 

What about all those that eat at the wheel, drink at the wheel just another jibe at smokers FGS leave them alone, they are allowed to smoke. They choose to do it, nobody forces them; on Look North in preview, it showed 2 vans one GPO the other a well know parcel delivery company.

 

Both drivers were caught on phones, one texting; the reg numbers of both should have been obtained, sent to companies & they should have been sacked.

 

I do fail to see though how a hands free kit causes people distraction, my understanding is they just talk into mid air and listen via an earpiece.

[truman]

and every single one that was using their phone on a hands free kit would have the time to hang up in between being instructed to pull over and actually being stopped and with the police officer and could therefore deny having done it in the first place.

 

It's not difficult to examine call logs on a phone.. you would be able to see if it had been in use when you suspected them of having been on the phone..

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 13:25 ----------

 

I do fail to see though how a hands free kit causes people distraction, my understanding is they just talk into mid air and listen via an earpiece.

 

I don't even have an earpiece in my car.. it's all done through the radio.. it's just like having someone sat next to you...I can voice dial without pushing 10 buttons.. I have to press one button the steering wheel to answer.. I can ignore a call if I want (difficult to do that with a passenger )