Do you switch off your mobile in petrol stations?

[Pinotage]

There are signs on petrolpumps instructing you to turn off your mobile phone while on the forecourt.

 

How many of you do so? I never do. I read that it it is possible for the mobile phone signals to affect the pump machinery, cause a spark and fire, but I have never heard of this happening. All the same, I don't make phone calls whil filling my car, like I've seen some people do.

 

Do you turn your phone off?

[Oneeyedvic]

I never do as there is NO scientific proof that mobile phone signals can cause a spark. Braniacs on Sky One demonstrated this by dousing a caravan in petrol and putting in several mobile phones and ringing them. Nothing happened. They then set the caravan alite by having a person in a shell suit cause a spark by static electricity.

 

That said, one of my mates was stopped by a policeman in a petrol station from answering his mobile and it is illegal (under a petroleum act of some sort).

 

So no I do not turn it off but I am aware that I am breaking the law!

[stoo_pid]

One of Brainiacs finer experiments!  The lesson being clearly don't dance in your shellsuit at petrol stations.

More info on the myth here:
http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

 

[CHOPS'R'US]

I saw exactly the same thing oneeyedvic on top gear or something it may have even been that brainiacs thing but i'm pretty sure it wasn't, was a few months ago anyway and i always thought it was a load of rubbish and never turn mine off. Was quite funny one day, was filling my car up and my ex was in the passenger seat on his mobile i went in to pay and the lady behind the counter went very funny with me and said something like 'does your friend know about the risks of using a mobile in a petrol station and was really snotty' I politely paid and said to tell him and not me.....

[rcawthr]

I heard that using a mobile could affect the measuring ability of the pump! You could therefore get more or less than you actually pay for.

[Famous5]

Seems a bit unnecessary given that many petrol stations have mobile phone masts in their grounds. Couldn't a spark from a mobile in a car just driving past a petrol station do as much damage? 

[5029]

I haven't actually seen any of those signs in petrol stations, and we have been actively looking!

 

But no i don't turn it off

[smudge]

I never give it a second thought - but one day.......you never know!

[Bangkok]

I think it is a like the airplane myth - 2 crashes in Taiwan that could not be explain (other than potentially bad safety systems), coupled with lots of mobiles moving from one cell to another too quickly, and phones get banned on planes.  Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted to turn mine off on the plane!

[iwantthatone]

I've literally just got home from filling my car up with petrol at a garage - I often see the signs telling me I have to turn my phone off, but never have.  I always keep my phone well in my pocket though as I don't want to get told off!! But then again, im a bit of a wimp! hehe =)

[sammy snake]

Ha ha - picture of bloke in a shellsuit dancing round a petrol station and bursting into flames is very funny......Wish I had watched the program!

[tomd]

I heard mobile phones can effect the security cameras, like when the picture goes whobbly when you leave it on top of the tv. I think that was on some film, so I wouldn't rely on it being truthful, but it's an idea.

[senga-marie]

My friend runs a petrol station and says the ban is nothing to do with interference, it is simply because if a 'live ' phone were dropped in the vicinity of petrol vapour, the battery (of older phones particularly) could come away, which might cause a spark.

[Pinotage]

senga-marie - thanks for asking your friend in the petrol station. Thing I didn't understand is why it makes a difference if the phone is on or off if the battery comes away - taking the battery switches off the phone, I've found.

 

Also, its more likely people would drop their phones if they had to find them in their bag/pocket etc and pull them out on the forecourt in order to switch them off. 

[senga-marie]

apparently this does make a significant difference as, if the phone is drawing a certain amount of current from the battery when separated the chance of a spark is higher than if the draw of current had ceased due to being turned of. Personally I never give it a second thought, but I work in a hospital where crucial monitoring equipment CAN react to signals emitted from phones, and therefore mobiles MUST be switched off in hospitals

[pamnez]

I think the real answer here is just do not use your phone on a forcourt. Leave it in your car.

[White Wolf]

Just to go one step futher, and in case anyone out there is interested, mobile phones work in the 2.4GHz frequency band which is the same band used by medical equipment. This is why they must never be used in a hospital.

[twiglet4frog]

my friend is a surgeon and he says that there is only one piece of equipment capable of being affected by a mobile phone and it is both an irrelevant piece that wont cause any dire effects if affected and also not all hospitals have one apparently, the signs in wards are for the benefit of the poor nurses that have become irritated by mobiles going off all the time

[Oneeyedvic]

Must say it is strange - if a mobile phone can effect either a plane or 'life saving equipment' in a hospital:

 

a) why not change the equipment so that it is not effected

 

b) Why do terrorists bother carrying bombs

 

c) If your partner who you really hate was about to have an operation could you conceal a mobile phone in the vicinity and kill them off?

 

And before anyone says anything, I do always turn off my phone ina hospital and on a flight! - just not sure it makes sense