Time To Make Phone Usage The Equivalent Of Drink/Drug Driving?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-62235941
I've been saying it's actually more dangerous than DD, especially non talking activities, this guy was using a dating app FGS! 12 month instant ban + fine, it's inevitable. 3 innocents dead and the Perp lives. Disgusting.

[youngmafbog]

Lets hope he ends up having to extract his prison phone from where the sun dont shine.

These scum wont learn I am afraid. All we can do is lock them up properly. Kill someone then its life (or swing).

[rockyracoon]

I agree. I watched a programme a few years ago where they measured drink driving responses against using the phone whilst driving. The drinkers had much quicker responses.
They should be treated as the same offence and have the same punishment.

[sandyRoe]

The culprit was pulled from the wreckage of his burning vehicle by a good Samaritan.
It's a pity he bothered.

[Rosetta]

Yes I agree.
As an aside, I watched an ad for a coach company where the driver was giving a running commentary to the passengers, he was holding a microphone in one hand whilst driving. Surely this is also unsafe, his full attention can't be on the road

[bhg481]

How different is it from a TV reporter doing a piece-to-camera whilst driving? I make home videos and often talk to the camera to add some information to the clip; it's not easy to remember all you have to say. Admittedly I'm not a professional but it makes me aware that it takes a lot of concentration.

[ToraToraTora]

very different BHG, with a piece to camera you flick between looking ahead and the camera, very short time looking away. This guy was responding to a dating site, reading and replying no doubt. Texting is the same the eyes and concentration are gone from the road ahead for long periods. Just talking and looking ahead is still bad but no where near what it is for texting or playing with apps on the phone.

[bhg481]

I was making the comparison with a phone-call. I agree that texting etc is FAR more distracting than simply talking on the phone.

[Gromit]

When mobile phones arrived in 1992 the Government did not make it illegal to use your phone while driving. So for 11 years it was permitted.
Perhaps that is why some people still do it.

[ToraToraTora]

Well Gromit it was not specifically illegal as a named activity but there was and still is a cover all law that says that the driver must be in control of the vehicle at all times and drive with care and attention. People have been prosecuted for transgressions of this even before mobile phones. I take your point though people were rarely prosecuted in the early days of mobile phonery so yes, those that need the state to tell them what is monumentally stupid would have been doing it. I got my first mobile in 1999 and pretty quickly realised how dangerous it was so I trained myself not to use it whilst driving.

[Zacs-Master]

It is now specifically illegal. Following changes on 25 March 2022, motorists are breaking the law if they use a handheld mobile phone behind the wheel for any use.

[Gromit]

// In the UK using a mobile phone while driving has been illegal since 2003, unless it is in a handsfree kit. The penalty originally started with a £30 ($40) fine which later became a fine of £60 ($80) plus 3 penalty points in 2006, then £100 ($134) and 3 points in 2013. The 2013 fine increase proved ineffective at stopping motorists from using their phones while driving. The percentage of drivers admitting to using their phones while on the road increased from 8% in 2014 to 31% in 2016, an increase of 23% in two years. In the same year statistics revealed that only 30,000 drivers were given a Fixed penalty notice (FPN) for the offence, compared to 123,000 in 2011. The increased percentage of people using their phones can be attributed in part to the growing affordability of smartphones. Increased smartphone sales and lack of enforcement created a situation where it began to be considered acceptable to use a phone while driving, even though it had been illegal for over 13 years. //

[youngmafbog]

//When mobile phones arrived in 1992 //

Ah, another lie. You slate Johnson for 'em but you do it continually.

I had a mobile (all beit a brick - Roamer 2000) in Mar 1990.

And I dont use handhelds in the car.

[Peter Pedant]

// Ah, another lie. You slate Johnson for 'em but you do it continually.//
yes !
you lie! you cur!
and if not a brick - - 1992 or whevevva
then a radio-telephone !
Ha ! Yes ! - obviously mobile when the car goes places. ha!
gotcha
( please imagine - it is not hard even for the average ABer - PP with wild staring eyes - swivel eyes being dragged away)

[anneasquith]

There must be something available where a mobile phone is deemed unusable in a vehicle ( except in an emergency) ?. Telling someone you will be home in 10 minutes is surely not essential to our lives ?

[Zacs-Master]

Anne, what do you mean by 'something available'?

[anneasquith]

Could we not have vehicles where one must do a breath test for drugs/alcohol before the vehicle will start . ?

[Zacs-Master]

It's entirely possible but it would be a brave manufacturer who would introduce such a model, unfortunately.
https://www.breathalyzer.co.uk/interlocks/

[bhg481]

anne - are you suggesting that every vehicle currently on the road would have to be modified? Otherwise anyone wishing to drink/drugs drive would just keep an older car.

[anneasquith]

Zac, that’s exactly what I’m thinking about, surely something could be adapted for use with phones .

[anneasquith]

All new cars then.