Cyclone Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 What I'm struggling to understand, is if interacting with your (secured to dashboard) phone touchscreen is dangerous and an offence; why is interacting with your car's built in touchscreen device perfectly okay? I should add, I'm somewhat playing devils-advocate here, and I would think scrolling though FB while driving is way too discrracting and should be penalised. The law has expressly prohibited touching your phone, anything else could be covered under driving without due care, but that would be a harder thing to prove in court. I don't think the law makes any attempt to answer the question you pose though as to why the mobile phone is singled out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Cid Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 The law has expressly prohibited touching your phone, anything else could be covered under driving without due care, but that would be a harder thing to prove in court. I don't think the law makes any attempt to answer the question you pose though as to why the mobile phone is singled out. The law is quite clear, if people read it from a reliable site. It’s illegal to hold a phone or sat nav while driving or riding a motorcycle. You must have hands-free access, such as: a bluetooth headset voice command a dashboard holder or mat a windscreen mount a built-in sat nav https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 I don't think the law makes any attempt to answer the question you pose though as to why the mobile phone is singled out. Yep, it does seem a bit contradictory somehow (touch mobile phone bad, touch built in device okay). I guess from a law makers point of view though, it does address a specific modern day problem. I don't have facts to hand, but imagine more people die in accidents caused by lapse of concentration where driver was using a mobile phone, vs, using a built in touch screen device. ---------- Post added 12-09-2018 at 14:18 ---------- The law is quite clear, if people read it from a reliable site. It’s illegal to hold a phone or sat nav while driving or riding a motorcycle. You must have hands-free access, such as: a bluetooth headset voice command a dashboard holder or mat a windscreen mount a built-in sat nav https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law Thanks El Cid. Only illegal to hold? So okay to touch a phone if it's in a mount? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isabelle Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 What I'm struggling to understand, is if interacting with your (secured to dashboard) phone touchscreen is dangerous and an offence; why is interacting with your car's built in touchscreen device perfectly okay? I should add, I'm somewhat playing devils-advocate here, and I would think scrolling though FB while driving is way too discrracting and should be penalised. I think people have become way too addicted to their phones, and can't stand to be bored for even a few seconds. I see people all the time, as soon as they slow down in traffic, the phone comes out and they start scrolling. I had a sat-nav, but I've only used it a couple of times. Mostly because it always falls off the windscreen at the completely wrong moment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Cid Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Thanks El Cid. Only illegal to hold? So okay to touch a phone if it's in a mount? You can touch a radio, so long as its in its holder it will be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANGELFIRE1 Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Topping the charge sheet is failing to look properly (the Smidsy factor – "Sorry mate, I didn't see you', relevant in 20.5 per cent of fatals involving driver error). Could this be improved by cars having side lights/head lights on 24/7? Eating behind the wheel is also cited as a top cause of distractions. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/road-safety/8702111/How-do-accidents-happen.html Surely you don't want to stop a Truck Drivers 5 mile lunch. Angel1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DT Ralge Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 (edited) What I'm struggling to understand, is if interacting with your (secured to dashboard) phone touchscreen is dangerous and an offence; why is interacting with your car's built in touchscreen device perfectly okay? I should add, I'm somewhat playing devils-advocate here, and I would think scrolling though FB while driving is way too discrracting and should be penalised. Doing anything is not ok if anything goes wrong - hence woman reaching for apple in bag on passenger seat, steering goes off a bit - the observed offence (loss of control) still gets a ticket. The same offence is so easily committed by interacting with radio, touch screen or whatever. It’s hard to find a PC, though. ---------- Post added 13-09-2018 at 06:01 ---------- The law has expressly prohibited touching your phone, anything else could be covered under driving without due care, but that would be a harder thing to prove in court. I don't think the law makes any attempt to answer the question you pose though as to why the mobile phone is singled out. I think it is singled out because of the explosion in mass take-up and use of mobile phone. All the other possible distractions have always been there but add to that potential, virtually everyone playing with a mobile and you have the authorities running for the rule book. Hands-free, in any case, may be legal but it can still be lethal (scampers off for flak helmet). Companies are slowly adding themselves to the list of “no phone use while driving” policy holders. Ask yourself whether ANY conversations and away-with-the-fairies moments nudge you into visualising and/or internalising. Then ask yourself whether you are coping with the additional cognitive load in the visual part of your brain. Research shows quite clearly there’s a significant narrowing and shallowing of driver eye movements when this goes on. Edited September 13, 2018 by DT Ralge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 Ask yourself whether ANY conversations and away-with-the-fairies moments nudge you into visualising and/or internalising. Then ask yourself whether you are coping with the additional cognitive load in the visual part of your brain. Research shows quite clearly there’s a significant narrowing and shallowing of driver eye movements when this goes on. Best do away with passengers then, they invariably want to speak and not sit in silence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DT Ralge Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 Best do away with passengers then, they invariably want to speak and not sit in silence. You know full well that there’s no benefit in going down an absolutist route to disprove any assertion. My assertion was merely that lots of things distract and that hands-free chats aren’t as risk-free as many would think or as the Law (and its application) might suggest. Getting drivers to acknowledge this and to recognise and manage distractions is my interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 I don't disagree that talking requires more concentration than not talking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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