Mobile Phone blocking in cars

[Daz-RSK]

Just caught sight of this before Christmas.

DfT, car manufacturers and mobile phone service providers are apparently going to meet in early 2017 to discuss ways around trying to limit the number of people using their phone to their ear or texting or posting of FB etc whilst driving, which is illegal. It comes in the wake of the number of accidents / fatalities on the roads as a result of mobile phone usage whilst driving. Also, they probably looked at a recent large survey which showed the lack of care for the law where 1 in 3 drivers have used / regularly use a phone illegally.

So one solution that these parties are looking at is the block the mobile signal once the phone is traveling above xx mph, rendering the ability to call, text, send stuff as useless. There are other solutions on the table, for sure.

I think that whatever route they choose, they are damned. Obviously there is enough concern out there that too many drivers are using their mobile illegally. But to ban all usage, when all cars made now and for the last 5/10 years have Bluetooth capability, seems a nut cracked with a sledgehammer.

I am sure you can see all sorts of flakiness in this concept.

Let's see what happens.

 

[quit]

Some days I'm in my car 8 -10 hours and on the phone a lot !! Via Bluetooth of course and my car reads my texts 

[aucky]

they sould just up the fine to about £500 and if your caught 3 times using it in your hand you get a month in prison,may sound harsh but  while the punishment is so little then people will carry on doing it.hands free is ok if it don't distract you from driving.think they wont get anywere with this anyway when car manufacturers are putting wifi and stuff in cars now.

[Buggyeye]

stupid idea really. what if you get the train/taxi loads? i dont see this working at all

[Scoobyghost]

Manufacturers shouldn't need to nanny us. If people would take responsibility for themselves we wouldn't be in this situation. Bluetooth setups are so cheap now, even cheaper than the current fine. Mines part of the radio, press a button and I'm talking. No different to changing the radio station.

[Daz-RSK]

I think the issue is texting and posting on FB that is causing some concern. Agreed, people should not be doing this. But they still are and I am not sure whether all Bluetooth systems read and convey text & FB messages. As for selfies whilst driving......well that's just another thing altogether.

I think one of the issues, Aucky, is that there are no police on the roads and I can't remember the number of people caught through 2016 with a phone to the ear, receiving fine & points, but it was horrifically low. Just shows that the current way is "unpoliceable" and, I guess, increasing the fine / points will do not a lot if there is no one to enforce it.

If they brought back more police on the roads, that would be a start.  

[Jay762]

Im with SGhost on this one - once again trying to legislate for people doing what they know is wrong, I dont know the answer - I am seeing more people driving with a sense of entitlement (outside lane of empty dual track 50 mph in a NSA limit etc) as opposed to with road sense, due care and attention plus awareness.

Maybe if we all rode motor bikes???

[aucky]

1 hour ago, Jay762 said:

Im with SGhost on this one - once again trying to legislate for people doing what they know is wrong, I dont know the answer - I am seeing more people driving with a sense of entitlement (outside lane of empty dual track 50 mph in a NSA limit etc) as opposed to with road sense, due care and attention plus awareness.

Maybe if we all rode motor bikes???

@Jay762 their is still bikers using their phones

 

[Scoobyghost]

It seems a lot of drivers forget when they're driving a car it needs 100% attention 100% of the time. A lot are too casual now and give up concentrating. That mentality that it won't happen to me. The age old excuse that driving in the middle lane is safer even on an empty motorway. The priority should be keeping you, your passengers and every other road user including pedestrians safe. Not updating your fb status. It should be common sense not to use your phone rather than everyone else trying to look after us.

[Sirspidey]

It seems a lot of drivers forget when they're driving a car it needs 100% attention 100% of the time. A lot are too casual now and give up concentrating. That mentality that it won't happen to me. The age old excuse that driving in the middle lane is safer even on an empty motorway. The priority should be keeping you, your passengers and every other road user including pedestrians safe. Not updating your fb status. It should be common sense not to use your phone rather than everyone else trying to look after us.

Middle lane drivers grrrrrrr. Don't get me started lol

Agree, using the phone while driving is a daily occurrence and can't be policed. I know the point for it are going up this year, but I don't think that will stop it.

[Mr B]

van drivers and businesses need phones working.
This idea is not workable unless your phone had gps active, would also be easy hack around any implementation or use older hardware devices .
End of day more severe punishment for offenders is only way. While writing text is indeed major stupidity, actually making or taking a call is no bother and with Bluetooth & other wired handsfree more safe than many other things you can be doing while driving such as eating, smoking, playing with sat nav, playing with audio system etc .

It not just drivers who an issue, pedestrians wondering round like zombies with smartphone or tablet in their face are a risk to themselves and everyone else, fine them as well ...

[Scoobyghost]

Cyclist with headphones in 😠😠😠😠

[aucky]

Cyclist with headphones in 😠😠😠😠

Have to admit i have headphones in sometimes when am on mountainbike,usually just have one in though so i can still hear if a bear goin to attack me in woods [emoji3]

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[Scoobyghost]

Off road is fine. I'm the same. When I'm on the road though I wouldn't want to risk it.

[stants]

Off road is fine. I'm the same. When I'm on the road though I wouldn't want to risk it.

^ 😂 just mind the street furniture attacking you instead

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[Scoobyghost]

Off road is fine. I'm the same. When I'm on the road though I wouldn't want to risk it.

^ 😂 just mind the street furniture attacking you instead

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That was the dog! 🖕[emoji23]

[Jay762]

22 hours ago, aucky said:

@Jay762 their is still bikers using their phones

 

Very funny

[Daz-RSK]

23 hours ago, Mr B said:

van drivers and businesses need phones working.
This idea is not workable unless your phone had gps active, would also be easy hack around any implementation or use older hardware devices .
End of day more severe punishment for offenders is only way. While writing text is indeed major stupidity, actually making or taking a call is no bother and with bluetooth & other wired handsfree more safe than many other things you can be doing while driving such as eating, smoking, playing with sat nav, playing with audio system etc .

It not just drivers who an issue, pedestrians wondering round like zombies with smartphone or tablet in their face are a risk to themselves and everyone else, fine them as well ...

This is where I feel the modern world has gone mad. Why do people need to be contacted 24/7 ? In the past, this was never the case. Even as late as the 1980's, if people were not near a phone (and that happened on the move before mobile phones), they could be got hold of. If businesses are more than one person in strength, there is the alternative that the mobile diverts to "an office" or to another fixed phone location where it can be answered. Otherwise, they leave a message on the answerphone.

Sometimes, people just can't be got hold of for a variety of reasons. Unless it is a genuine emergency service that is being provided, I think that there is nothing that can't wait a couple of hours. It is merely paranoia that makes people believe they should be able to be contacted 24/7 but there is no research that shows if someone is uncontactable, it has a detrimental affect. 

What research has shown though is that using a mobile phone, hands free, is about the equivalent of as much control of the car as driving just over the limit on alcohol. Probably some of you will argue this out. Many say that why not have no passengers then because this is the same - people talking in a car is still a distraction.

But I think the difference is that talking hands free means the other person is not part of the scene, part of the environment. If you think, you sail on up a m/way with 3 of you in the car and someone pulls out in front of you, carving you up. You all become part of that scene, the conversation stops and then everyone is having a go at the idiot driver. Leading up to this, everyone takes a deep breath at the near escape of the accident that was that close to happening. On a phone, the party is remote, has no idea of the situation and is expecting answers or conversation, even though they don't have the full grasp of the situation. Further, I know of few people who will hang up a phone when the driving condition is more difficult, like the situation ion the m/way I describe. 

I use the phone on hands free whilst driving but not so often. Personally, if that ability was taken away, just from drivers, I think the roads would become safer. If they removed all of the other paraphernalia as well that they seem to stick in new cars that are distracting, it would be even better. I have no issue with the ability to be taken away from drivers. I do have some issue with passengers (car and train) having no signal though and this is where this falls over. 

[Sandals]

Just read an article where a family are suing Apple because a collision was caused by a clown using Facetime which resulted in the death of a child. Some people are too infatuated with technology...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38496174

[Mr B]

It the individual not the technology, people been using CB and radio equipment in vehicles for over 3 decades without massive drama. I can remember the huge mobile box heavy as a car Battery we had back in 1990 and amount of people using CB. It no drama with common sense, unfortunately newer generation don't have common sense and also suffer an addiction to social network apps which are the big problem not a basic audio phone call .
 

[Sirspidey]

+1 on that Mr B

[Daz-RSK]

Unless any of you are wired up differently to anyone else, your ability to concentrate of 2 things at 100% is not possible. Someone already mentioned above that driving does actually require 100% concentration.

OK, so the argument then goes that you don't need 100% concentration on the phone. So what's the issue ?

The key issue is that the part of the brain you use to concentrate of current situations around you (junctions, roundabouts, cars around you) is the same part of the brain that you use to picture / visualise situations. Have you ever got to a destination and wondered what happened in part of it, as you have no recollection of it ?

That is where your brain switches from concentrating on actions around you and the journey to something else you are thinking of. Therefore, it is not possible to picture someone's face you are on the phone to and have full concentration of your surroundings. A simple test will show this - post something on here whilst talking on the phone simutaneously will mean that you lose one or the other. You'll either stop the call or stop the post. Unless you are typing the callers words verbatim, you will not be able to do both things at once.

Anyone who argues that they can are superhuman and I haven't come across a guy in a red cape with his undies on the outside yet.

So why can we get away with losing part of the journey when daydreaming and not have an accident ? This is because your thought processing is voluntary, not being forced. You'd soon come out of that slumber if someone carved you up and you recover quite quickly into the here and now. Unfortunately, on a phone, where the caller is remote, you are forced to concentrate on the caller, otherwise, it makes for a very unstable call. Effectively, you'd be answering to stuff you haven't heard. Where you are not compelled to this process and just ploughing through idle thoughts, it is very easy to pull yourself out as there isn't a separate agenda right then to respond to.

So, sorry to be harsh - if anyone here believes that they can adequately concentrate on an audio call and drive at the same time, having full concentration on both, is unfortunately deluding themselves. It is not possible. 50/50 is about the best you get and unfortunately 50% concentration is not enough for the roads, certainly the speed of traffic today. 

Someone mentioned CB radios and stuff that's been going on for 30+ years. Fatalities happened back then as well with CB usage. It's just it wasn't as widespread (99% of people have a mobile vs few % of drivers back then had a CB). Also it wasn't reported in the same way. A fatality happened because of the vehicle's design, not what was being used whilst being driven. Also, vehicle speed today is so much quicker. Where most cars' top end was a little more than the legal m/way limit in the past, today, all cars can achieve 80mph and compared to the past, at so much more quicker time. But to state it never happened, due to CB usage, is in fact false.

Actually, whilst a technicality of being legal, there is a certain risk attached to CB usage today that could land you with a sentence if using it while driving. If the police saw you driving recklessly with a CB in the hand, you would be prosecuted for driving without due care and attention. If you killed someone, you would be facing a sentence and the reason would be not in full control of the vehicle through a handheld radio device.

Just take it as very much conclusive - you take a phone call in your car, whilst moving, you lose some of your ability to drive.

[aucky]

Dont no about mobile phone but i have just seen a guy driving with headphones on and i mean the big dj style things.why what is he thinking.wish i could got a photo.

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[Mr B]

All my parts drivers have wired call mic and speaker system and 90% of similar business use do too without major drama as being described, is it a distraction, yes, but so is so many other things. How many people actually pay actual full possible 100% attention/focus when driving. emergency services etc use radio communication while in some awkward driving situations without major drama. Used sensibly for audio communication it not a big problem, If think driving so difficult while talking to someone try manoeuvring a helicopter while talking to ground crew via headset  ...

[Scoobyghost]

I think the major difference there is you're talking about what you are doing to ground crew instead of talking to the wife about aunt Margarets new net curtains and whether you should be de-weeding the garden at the weekend or playing golf.

If I'm ever called on the Bluetooth first thing said is "I'm driving, what do you want" (don't have time for pleasantrys) if it's not an emergency or a simple quick response then they get binned off and spoken to later.