Comments on: Landmark UK court case could ban fleet in-car phone use

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:18:29 +0000

I agree with you, Deano. The thought/time distraction of some tasks whilst driving is insignificant compared with others. Mobile phone usage, in either mode, is dangerous.

Salesman – tests in both the UK and USA have shown that the amount of distraction from either handheld or hands-free is pretty much the same. In fact the test reported below shows hands-free is worse than drink driving:

http://www.walk.com.au/pedestriancouncil/Page.asp?PageID=303

But agree with your point “… you can not cure stupid; as long as humans are involved there will be accidents”

By: Cupid Stunt

Cupid Stunt — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:14:12 +0000

“no sentence” – I’ve just sacked the typist

By: Cupid Stunt

Cupid Stunt — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:09:25 +0000

I have made calls on a hand held in the past but have not done so lately. I will take calls using via bluetooth headset or radio but even then only if I am on a motorway.
I regularly see truck drivers making calls in 40tonne semi’s whilst negotiating roundabouts. Yep not sentence is tough enough if you’ve killed someone.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:44:15 +0000

Cellphones have taken on such a pathetic role in the lives of a lot of people. Working in a retail environment, I hear the most ridiculous garbage that is spoken like a girl that urgently had to call her friend and tell her that she had changed her fingernail polish colour. Another lady bought vast amounts of prepay in case her daughters had an “emergency”. When I asked how many emergencys had happened over the last few years she said NONE! I said to her – don’t you think something is not right paying out this money every month?
Can you even begin to imagine what rubbish is talked in cars?

By: The Salesman

The Salesman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:58:28 +0000

No tone, it is the latter
I disagree with you on different levels of distraction and obviously felt i needed more of a description of your thoughts. That’s ok, we don’t need to agree and i don’t feel an urge to convince you to my point of view, Different strokes for different folks. Where the line is clearly drawn between what is and is not legal i am sure will be decided by so called greater minds HTH

By: Deano

Deano — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:34:16 +0000

Salesman,

Maybe I’m just being hot, sticky and crabby but I read a certain tone to your first reply that may or may not have been there, sorry if it was the latter

HTH was an acronym on my part that was possibly a little catty meaning “Hope That Helps”.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I feel that certain things that you do in a vehicle take more thought away from driving than other things, and I believe talking on a mobile phone is one of them, as is dealing with annoying children or carrying out serious conversations with passengers and using GPS units or doing much more than pressing to change a radio station.

I just get the feeling that some commenters here seem to feel that they are good enough to think that doing these things doesn’t take anything away from their concentration on the road and what’s going on around them, and I disagree strongly that this is the case.

Cheers,
Deane.

By: The Salesman

The Salesman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:07:31 +0000

Deno,
“In that you need to engage your brain and deal with them in a two-way manner.”

So there are times you don’t need to “engage your brain” in a two way manner?
My point is you can never remove all distractions, although i agree you shouldn’t talk on a phone while driving unless it is hands free or blue tooth, the act of talking while driving is no mare a distraction or dangerous than anything else that might distract you while driving.
Like I said, you can not cure stupid; as long as humans are involved there will be accidents.
What’s HTH?

By: Deano

Deano — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:17:20 +0000

OK, “to explain”.

Your exact words were “including no listening to radios ect.”

Some of the things you’ve mentioned in your second comment I would put in the same basket, some I wouldn’t. Screaming kids and whinging wife I would put in the same category definately, they can cause more than just simple distraction, in that you need to engage your brain and deal with them in a two-way manner. Things like flashing lights or shiny things don’t require much thought on your part other than averting your eyes and dealing with the problem at hand and moving back on to what’s going on around you.

HTH.

By: The Salesman

The Salesman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:42:52 +0000

Frontman,
Looks like the lady in the photo above has made a few mistakes. First One appears to be she likes Toyotas. Second is she chose one with brown trim. Third, where on earth can you still buy a mobile phone with a pull up aerial?

By: The Salesman

The Salesman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:37:18 +0000

Deno Says,
Salesman, I think possible distractions from listening to a radio compared to the distractions bought about by two way communications such as a telephone call are completely different.

How exactly is it different? Does one distract more than the other? What about screaming kids, winging wife, flashing traffic lights or shiny things, should they be banned? In the words of the famous Pauline Hanson “Please explain”