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UK MPs call for hands-free phone ban in cars

We know playing with your phone while driving can be dangerously distracting but a group of British MPs are calling for the UK’s ban on phone use while driving to be extended to hands-free devices.


The report from the Transport Committee states there’s evidence even a hands-free device creates the same risks of crashing as holding one’s mobile phone while driving.

The committee’s report found the rate of police enforcement in the UK of in-car mobile phone use has declined by more than two-thirds since 2011. In the same period, the number of people killed or seriously injured in incidents involving a driver using a mobile phone has risen steadily. In 2017 alone, there were 43 deaths and 135 cases of serious injuries resulting from such incidents.

Transport Committee chair, Lilian Greenwood MP, said: “There is also a misleading impression that hands-free use is safe".

"The reality is that any use of a phone distracts from a driver’s ability to pay full attention, and the Government should consider extending the ban to reflect this.”

The Committee’s findings echo those of the World Health Organisation’s 2011 report on in-car mobile phone use. The WHO found the cognitive distraction of using hands-free devices has been shown to result in reduced visual monitoring of a driver’s surroundings and their vehicle’s controls.

The WHO’s report also cited evidence a driver using a hand-held phone might actually exhibit safer, compensatory behaviour such as slowing down or increasing following distances compared with a hands-free user. That’s not to say, however, that holding your phone while driving is in any way safe or responsible.

Other studies – including one this year from Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute – have found handheld phone use to be dangerously distracting and hands-free usage to be demonstrably safer.

In Australia, it’s illegal in all states and territories to use a mobile device while driving or waiting in traffic unless you’re using Bluetooth or a hands-free device or the phone is mounted in a cradle that doesn’t obstruct your view of the road.

The penalties for phone use, however, differ in each jurisdiction and some states and territories also have additional restrictions:

 

Australian Capital Territory: You can only use your hands-free or cradle-mounted phone to make or answer a call or use the navigation while driving. Learner and provisional drivers can’t use a phone at all while driving.

Penalty: Between $245 and $577, depending on what you used the phone for, plus up to four demerit points.

 

New South Wales: You can only use your hands-free or cradle-mounted phone to make or answer a call, use the navigation, or listen to music while driving. Learner and provisional drivers can’t use a phone at all while driving.

Penalty: $344 fine and five demerit points

 

Northern Territory: You can only use your hands-free or cradle-mounted phone to make or answer a call or use the navigation while driving. Learner and provisional drivers can’t use a phone at all while driving.

Penalty: $500 fine and three demerit points

 

Queensland: You can only use your hands-free or cradle-mounted phone to make or answer a call or use the navigation while driving. Learner and P1 drivers under 25 can’t use hands-free devices or the loudspeaker function of their phone or any passengers’ phone.

Penalty: Currently a $400 fine and three demerit points, although the Queensland Government has proposed a hike to $1000. Double demerit points apply for subsequent offences within one year of an offence.

 

South Australia: You can only use your hands-free or cradle-mounted phone to make or answer a call or use the navigation while driving. Learner and P1 drivers can’t use a phone at all while driving.

Penalty: $534 fine and three demerit points

 

Tasmania: You can only use your hands-free or cradle-mounted phone to make or answer a call, use the navigation, or listen to music while driving. A ban on learner and provisional drivers’ use of hands-free devices is coming next year.

Penalty: $300 fine and three demerit points

 

Victoria: You can only use your hands-free or cradle-mounted phone to make or answer a call, use the navigation, or listen to music while driving. Learner and provisional drivers can’t use a phone at all while driving. The same applies for smart watches.

Penalty: $484 fine and four demerit points.

 

Western Australia: You can only use your hands-free or cradle-mounted phone to make or answer a call or use the navigation while driving.

Penalty: $400 fine and three demerit points

 

Regardless of whether hands-free phone usage is safer or more dangerous than holding one’s phone, it’s fair to say anything that’s going to distract you while you operate your vehicle isn’t ideal. Try to save your calls for after your trip.

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