RB5_245

Oh i'm in trouble. I don't know any other way to drive!

RB5_245

Most of the people I know have no qualms about driving whilst on the phone. If you can't concentrate on the road as well then perhaps you can't operate a knife in conjunction with a fork, it's not rocket science ffs.

Iain Young

A lot of people have no qualms about driving after having a few beers either.

It's been proven many times that your reaction times are severely impacted when using a mobile phone and driving. Are you saying that's not a problem?

RB5_245

yes, in no uncertain terms.

You are capable of prioritizing. If road conditions warrant it you just stop talking as you concentrate on what needs to be done.

GC8WRX

Well said mate, that goes for me and most of the people i have asked today!

GC8WRX

I want to take a test to see this "severley impacted" research myself, like i said before, they use people who already have slow reactions, so the effect is exaggerated.

Lets see the test done with 18/30 year olds of all proffessions, not 56 year old women with bad eyesight and hearing!

I bet it does **** all to me!

About the same loss of reaction as talking to the missus, maybe 1/20 second???
and you cant stop people talking to their passengers right?

I bet having two young kids in the back screaming and throwing stuff about has a bigger impact than most other non drug related stuff!

Any care to have a go at proving either way?

Abdabz

It is absolutely staggering to think anyone can consider holding a mobile phone when driving to not be a problem
That split second where when having a conversation you can simply shut up is a little different when your mid conversation with your iphone pressed against your ear.
"sorry friend of gland, I'll just have to put the phone on the seat while I swerve to avoid this nice innocent little BANG"... Or would these glands just throw the phone somewhere while they sorted it?

It's all quite simple though really. It's illegal, and it shouldnt ever happen just like drink driving, gang rape or child murder. There is a law that says dont do it, there is a punishment range set out in law for those who are caught. Best way to not risk being caught is to not do it...

Holier than thou Abdabz who has never taken or made a call when driving

GC8WRX

THats like saying if your changing a cd whilst driving, you deserve the same punishment, cos for that "split second" you werent 100% focused on the road ahead!!

and i dont care what you say 99% of peoole have all done that!!!!

Im not trying to cause friction, im just saying its not that bad and there are other things they should be clamping down on, like bad lane disciplin, dangerous driving, uninsured cars, mot failures etc!

cdfracing

Made me laugh on the way home today ....


Saw a woman holding her phone about 3 inche's away from her mouth (must of had it on speaker)

Still not hands free love

RB5_245

That is a very disturbing sentance, that someone could possibly think that worries me a lot. Either brainwashed or has a very lax view of rape and murder

I hope it was one of those 'type without thinking' moments.

saxperience

Any research from reputable sources to back up your claims?
Some peoples views will differ, best to get something to backup instead of pulling 'facts' from the air

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

I have over 7 years driving under the belt and never had a point in my life. Have used a mobile for most of them whether it was standard/hands free in the car. It truly makes you wonder if the sort of people in the tests should really be driving if the task of engaging in the act of conversation,renders them unfit to drive.

trails

iTrader: (41)

not exactly scientific KoT...more your opinion

did you seen the Mythbusters test...

richie001

iTrader: (3)

I've seen that episode of Mythbusters and i was surprised how bad her driving got but she did make a comment at the end that you can put the phone down if needed

Iain Young

Using that logic, you could say that because Michael Schumacher can drive at 200mph without crashing we should all be able to do it everywhere.

There have been hundreds of surveys made by Univeristies, Department of Transport, and even TV shows on this (I remember one recently where Dominic Littlewood found that reaction times when on the phone were worse than after having 7 vodkas), and they all all have the same conclusion. When you are talking on the phone, you are not concentrating on the road. It's just common sense. A quick google brings of a plethora of sutdies on the subject.

Sometimes I can't believe the selfishness of some people when they are willing to risk my life (and other road users) just because they "have" to have that important phone call whilst driving and swerving all over the motorway. See it every day, and have lost count of the number of times I've almost been "side swiped" by people talking on the phone and not concentrating on what they should be doing - i.e. driving.

David Lock

If I'm stuck stationary on a Motorway in a 3 mile accident tailback I dont see anything wrong phoning home saying I am going to be late?

dl

Iain Young

I don't see anything wrong with that. It's the people who use them whilst driving 2 feet from the car in front doing 80mph I have a problem with.

OllyK

I did, and the problem was they kept trying to respond to the questions whilst negotiating a difficult track whereas in reality you'd tell the person on the other end of the phone to hang on for a minute or ask to ring them back.

OllyK

I have a problem with that regadless of whether they are using a phone or not.

trails

iTrader: (41)

iirc they were trying to recreate a normal scenario where holding a conversation would require you to think about your answer, this is the time when your concentration is diverted from driving and towards your response.

In reality you wouldn't answer the phone...unless you have god-like driving skills that the rest of us can only dream of possessing.

Bottom line is it does divert your concentration away from driving which can ONLY lead to a reduction in quality of driving.

OllyK

That's kind of the point, the level of concentration you maintain whilst driving is not constant, you as the driver have to make that assessment and if talking either on the phone or to a passenger becomes and issue then you need to stop it. I can quite ahppily chat to a passenger whilst crusing down a quiet motorway, but I won't be doing much talking if I'm in the centre of a city I don't know and am trying to find somewhere.

trails

iTrader: (41)

absolutely agree (although when I'm in the centre of a city I don't know I'm usually lost and cursing loudly), iirc it has also been proven that a telephone conversation requires more concentration than conversing with a passenger.

I found this;

Cellphone vs. Drunk Driving

Myth: It is just as dangerous to talk on a cellphone as it is to drive drunk.
A British study that asked subjects to do memory tests, reasoning, and mental arithmetic, found that cellphone use did hurt driving. The study also compared it to drunk driving, though Adam didn't describe the exact results of that comparison.
For this mythbusting, they wanted to focus on the talking aspect of cellphones, instead of dialing, as drivers would some sense to them would dial when the car was not moving.
For the test they used Kari and Adam as the test drivers and they went to Infineon Raceway near Sonoma. The test course had four parts:

• Accelerate to 30mph and then stop at a stop sign.
• Parallel park
• Time trial: average 15mph through the whole course (not faster or slower)
• Accident avoidance: while going 30mph, told to switch to left, right, or center lane

Each part was graded by an instructor who was in the car with them.
Sober/Control Run

Both Adam and Kari passed the course, though Kari had a bit of trouble parallel parking.
Cellphone Run

For the cellphone run, Jamie talked to the driver on a cellphone asking three types of questions: * repeat the sentence (e.g. "The driver was stopped for driving 67mph in a 20mph zone") * verbal puzzle "If Jack stole Ann's ball, who's the thief", and the more difficult, "If you see a picture with a diamond, rectangle, and a circle, and the circle is to the right of the rectangle, and directly above the diamond, is the rectangle right above the diamond?" * list five things about a particular subject "Give me five things that are in the interior of your car," "Give me five things that are part of your daily work."
Kari failed, including offenses such as using her elbow to steer and failing over half of the obstacles. Adam failed as well.
FYI: Kari's answers to "give things that are part of your dialy work" included: "Kissing ***" and "doing my hair." Adam's daily work list included the more boring: "drilling and tapping," "making phone calls," "Checking my e-mail," "avoiding phone calls from certain people."
Drunk Driving Run

Both Adam and Kari got their blood alcohol level to just below 0.08 (legal limit), with police officers on hand to do the breathalyzer. Neither Adam nor Kari had eaten, so both were as hungry as they were tipsy.
Kari zipped through the stop sign, but her parallel parking was "one of her best efforts... marginally good." She went too fast through the time trial part and killed a couple cones. She failed again, but not as bad as with the cellphone test.
Adam failed the parking test, and "half failed" the time trial for not looking both ways. Overall he failed as well.
Overall

The cellphone tests were failed by a much bigger margin, though Adam's observation was that you can put down a cellphone -- you can't get instantly undrunk. Also, they tested the drunk driving below the California legal limit -- Adam, at least, has gotten much drunker for MythBuster tests than that.
Confirmed

lozgti

If you were involved in the above test,the phone people would be concentrating more on the test than the call.

I reckon under normal circumstances (driving using a phone) you are far more interested in your call than the road

The Snug Rhino

Sums it all up - you are saying that you are able to prioritise the phone call over concentrating on driving at certain times......and unless you are parked - you shouldn't.

davegtt

Lets be honest, when driving and speaking on the phone at the same time your concentration on the road is actually increased as you spend more time watching for a copper

richs2891

still see lots of people holding the phone while driving - but as there are no pilice around to enforce it - the chances of getting caught and fined are small.
Agree with whats been said if we had more police on the streets actually enforcing general bad driving, in my eyes would not need to come up with such silly laws and increased fines - seems to me the goverment have pretty mucn given up on driving standards and are trying to recify it by bringing in very silly laws !
Oh and no one yet has mentioned that the police use radios - mostly hand held in their cars yet the majority dont have any extra driver training to cover the uses of these. So what does this say about the latest goverment statitics that its dangerous !
Richard

RB5_245

Not at all.

Driving on an A-road for example, you're using a tiny bit of your brain power to concentrate on the road. There's a lot going on in your head that has nothing to do with driving. Why not use that on the phone?

Stop looking for a gap to overtake, give yourself a bit of room and chat away. All you're looking for is hazards. If a significant hazard appears you will instantly give 100% concentration to the road automatically. You're brain wont let you continue talking about that account, or what's for dinner.

In town I often give mumbled wrong answers, or nothing at all, stop mid sentance. That's because the brain demands what it needs to drive properly.

I think though that conversation subject is important, I know from experience rallying it's easy to talk about the subject at hand while concentrating fully, though it might be difficult to answer something like 2+2. Likewise a full blown argument would pretty much have to alter how much thought was given to the road.

It should be down to personal judgement imo.

I don't hold with the 'you shouldn't have the right to endager me' arguement. On those grounds we should all be confined to sterile cells for our entire lives, the world is dangerous. Harden the F*** up!

Iain Young

Which is all well and good for sensible, intelligent people. Unfortunately most people driving on the roads are complete idiots and do not adhere to your exemplary driving standards.

You obviously don't have to drive down the M4 every day. Seen so many accidents, near misses, that it's not funny. I estimate that I have to slam on the brakes or take avoiding action at least 3 or 4 times a week, and almost always the driver of the other car is on the phone and often hasn't even noticed what they were doing...

I have no doubt that good drivers could handle the phone at the same time as driving, unfortunately, most people on the roads are not good drivers.

RB5_245

Exemplary! Not me, though I'm not saying anything incriminating after that pistonheads story about that guy that had his posts being used in court against him

What you've noted is driving without due care and attention and should be treated as such. Phone or no phone.