Using mobile phones whilst driving

[williamalex1]

My [new to me] car has a voice recognition Bluetooth telephone system , but seems to have problems with Scottish accents .
There's a cracking video of 3 Scots stuck in a lift that uses voice recognition, if someone could find and post the link.:thup:

 

[ruff-driver]

[video=youtube;r48KA2X2Rb4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r48KA2X2Rb4[/video]

 

[Blue in Munich]

The new government proposals are what's required and I particularly like the idea of young new drivers losing their licence and having to re-sit the test as these are the prime (but not sole) offenders and that, with the inevitable rise in insurance, could/should be a deterrent. However it needs to be made anti-social as drink driving has become for it to start seeping into the psyche of many.

Of course the government can make all the changes to legislation they like but without the sufficient numbers of police officers to enforce this (or many other motoring and criminal offences) how much difference is it going to make. I'm sure, like the drink drive blitzes there will be a huge crackdown, certainly initially but after that, how likely is it to be seen as a priority

How beautifully contradictory Homer.

Question; if the current legislation were rigidly enforced would the legislation need changing? The answer is fairly obviously no. Therefore what the Government should be doing is ensuring that there are sufficient Traffic Police to enforce the law. Instead of which, they make a great political gesture which will have next to naff all effect. Reminds me of the Billy Connolly skit on dangerous dogs, in which Government is described as a great machine for taking a good idea and completely screwing it up. As the man said, don't vote for them it only encourages them.

 

[williamalex1]

[video=youtube;r48KA2X2Rb4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r48KA2X2Rb4[/video]

That's the very one RD :cheers:

 

[selwood90]

I was cut up the other day by a royal mail van at a junction low and behold the driver had a mobile phone stuck to his ear. I gestured at him with my hands to get off the mobile phone and he proceeded to open his door and get out with all the verbal. To which I happily replied with my own verbal. But jesus christ, what is wrong with people. If the phone call is that important pull over somewhere safe and take it. Penalties should definitely be raised. Drives me insane.

 

[ColchesterFC]

I was cut up the other day by a royal mail van at a junction low and behold the driver had a mobile phone stuck to his ear. I gestured at him with my hands to get off the mobile phone and he proceeded to open his door and get out with all the verbal. To which I happily replied with my own verbal. But jesus christ, what is wrong with people. If the phone call is that important pull over somewhere safe and take it. Penalties should definitely be raised. Drives me insane.

I hope you only gestured with one hand rather than both hands. If you're so concerned with road safety then you really shouldn't be taking both hands off the wheel to gesticulate.

 

[MadAdey]

All cars should be like mine and have a fully integrated phone system. I just push a button on the steering wheel and say 'phone Christine'. Low and behold the better half answers her phone. At no point did my eyes leave the road and my hands never came from the steering wheel. It enabled to stay fully concentrated on the road ahead at all times and it was just like she is sat in the car with me chatting.

 

[williamalex1]

All cars should be like mine and have a fully integrated phone system. I just push a button on the steering wheel and say 'phone Christine'. Low and behold the better half answers her phone. At no point did my eyes leave the road and my hands never came from the steering wheel. It enabled to stay fully concentrated on the road ahead at all times and it was just like she is sat in the car with me chatting.

No accent probs ?

 

[MadAdey]

No accent probs ?

You have to put a slight yankee doodle dandee twang to your voice to get it to understand you. A lot of the hands free voice commands do not work as it doesn't like the way I speak the queens English rather than this messed up american version.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

I was cut up the other day by a royal mail van at a junction low and behold the driver had a mobile phone stuck to his ear. I gestured at him with my hands to get off the mobile phone and he proceeded to open his door and get out with all the verbal. To which I happily replied with my own verbal. But jesus christ, what is wrong with people. If the phone call is that important pull over somewhere safe and take it. Penalties should definitely be raised. Drives me insane.

I would have had his registration number and been on to the Royal Mail to cause him as much aggravation as he could handle.

 

[rudebhoy]

A guy I used to work for once arranged to take me to a meeting at a client site. Within 30 seconds of me getting in his car, he was texting someone while reversing!

i asked him what the hell he was doing, he just laughed. I never took a lift from him again. One of the cleverest blokes I ever met, but also a complete nutcase.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I think that unless we take mobile phones away from us as a society, people will always use them everywhere and imposing penalties for doing so won't work.
We all see drivers from every walk of like using a mobile at the wheel every day, just as we see pedestrians walking along head down straight into a road because they are too engrossed in their phone. And let's be clear here, any touching of a mobile phone is counted. So you can forget your google maps, Facebook or any of the multitude your mobile phones will do..it all counts. Just as does using your sat nav whilst mobile, eating an apple or something.
So how do they propose to enforce the new penalties anyway? We don't have enough police on routine patrol to enforce the road regulations as it is. The only way would be more cameras run by faceless beings running them just for revenue. As it is we see far to many of our roads patrolled by these cameras. Just recently I have seen an example of the mindless rules are rules running of these cameras...
A fine was issued for entering and stopping on a box junction, a £130 fine. Why was the motor on the box junction?... Because it had moved forward to let an emergency ambulance out which was hemmed in, so the driver pulled forward onto the junction to let the ambulance go, then once it had gone reversed back off the junction. No traffic was held up, and the emergency ambulance was allowed on its way as quickly as possible. But the council who run that camera just see a motor on the box junction... The reasons for it where irrelevant to it.
so whilst I don't agree with the use of hand held mobiles whilst driving, I have come to the conclusion that nothing will change it and you might as well just let everyone get on with it.

 

[CliveW]

Can we also ban the use of mobile phones whist driving supermarket trollies? Twice today, in Tescos, I was almost mown down by women scurrying round clutching phones to their ears blethering and trying to shop at the same time!

 

[FairwayDodger]

My car has that as well, you're still taking your eyes off the road looking at the screen though so it kind of defeats the object, it just makes it legal but not necessarily right.

Should we remove speedometers, fuel and temp gages etc as well?

Can't understand the objections to hands free phone use, no difference whatsoever to listening to the radio or chatting with a passenger.

Now the cyclists I have seen riding no hands while texting do worry me....

 

[USER1999]

Should we remove speedometers, fuel and temp gages etc as well?

Can't understand the objections to hands free phone use, no difference whatsoever to listening to the radio or chatting with a passenger.

Now the cyclists I have seen riding no hands while texting do worry me....

I saw a cyclist doing a no hands wheelie this morning, but alas, he wasn't on the phone so I wasn't that impressed.

 

[road2ruin]

What I don't understand is whilst using a mobile phone in a car has been up for discussion for years why car manufacturers are coming out with more and more advanced media units designed to take concentration away from the road. You can now get systems that can download apps such as Twitter, Facebook, BBC News to the screen. That's not going to end well and I don't see the point given every single mobile phone nowadays has the capability to do this anyway!

 

[Tashyboy]

Coming back from Manchester yesterday, it was scary seeing the amount of folk on there phones, both talking and texting.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Should we remove speedometers, fuel and temp gages etc as well?

Can't understand the objections to hands free phone use, no difference whatsoever to listening to the radio or chatting with a passenger.

Now the cyclists I have seen riding no hands while texting do worry me....

I heard that argument used once on a radio debate.

The anti guy gave the situation of getting a call from work saying..... they could not find a file and you were the last person to sign it out.

They said that at that moment the drivers mind would be scouring their office/desk trying to remember where they left it. Not focusing on the road.

Quite convinced me.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

What I don't understand is whilst using a mobile phone in a car has been up for discussion for years why car manufacturers are coming out with more and more advanced media units designed to take concentration away from the road. You can now get systems that can download apps such as Twitter, Facebook, BBC News to the screen. That's not going to end well and I don't see the point given every single mobile phone nowadays has the capability to do this anyway!

Because the views of the marketing folk are deemed more important than those of the safety guys.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Because the views of the marketing folk are deemed more important than those of the safety guys.

Is sadly pretty much bang on. A car with no entertainment systems and only the necessary basic instrumentation might actually force you, or at least leave you free, to concentrate on actually driving the car, which is never going to sell anything.