Driving and Using a Mobile Phone

R

roker

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I was watching Police Stop on TV the other night, and there was a horrendous accident because a women turned right in to a filling station across the path of another car, resulting in the passenger of the other car, a 20 year girl having head and brain injuries, and a broken back.
The women that caused the accident had been on her mobile, and was OK.
I see people all of the time driving while on their mobiles, even professional truck drivers. I cannot understand how they are getting away with it. If the Garda stood on the corner in our town he would catch someone about every 15 minutes. It has been proved as dangerous as drinking and driving, plus they are driving with one hand.
 
I think that the penalty needs to be much higher.

Picking up a phone to make or to receive a call is a deliberate, conscious action. If the penalty was increased to confiscation of the car or at least a 6 month ban, the problem would be greatly reduced.

Brendan
 
The problem is detection, or lack of. I see so many people on mobile phones while driving and have only ever seen one person stopped or pulled over. When somebody on a phone spots a Garda car, the phone drops down, until the pass by and then the phone goes back up again. I agree, if the penalty was higher, it would put some people off, but some would continue as they are, due to lack of detection.

I cannot understand why truck and taxi drivers, considered professional drivers, use their phones while driving. What is their problem? Why dont they invest in a hands free kit, they dont cost the world. They should be a requirement in all taxi's, vans and trucks with the possibility of making them compulsory for all drivers under legislation.
 
Is it any worse than parents talking to their children in the back seats through the mirror?

I admit to having been shocked by lorry drivers/other drivers on their phone but on occasion I have also been known to answer my phone while driving.

I think it always seems worse when somebody else does it.

Marion
 
Few things bug me (or sometimes scare me) more than this. It's bad enough talkin on the phone, but people texting is even worse. I regularly see HGV drivers on mobiles around Dublin docks and connecting roads. It's so bad that someone not on the phone is the exception. It would pay the Gardai to send someone down there and dish out fines. Someone send a note to Mr Chopra, he'll do it !
 
I saw that episode too...scary.

Dublin Bus drivers are dreadful for it too...I have reported a few. Smoking on the buses as well.
 
I believe the maximum a mobile will ring is 30 seconds, if you do want to answer, this does not give much time to pull in. From a safety point of view, mobile companies should increase the ringing time
 
roker said:
I believe the maximum a mobile will ring is 30 seconds, if you do want to answer, this does not give much time to pull in. From a safety point of view, mobile companies should increase the ringing time
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Call them back
 
I use a bluetooth handsfree kit in my car. The increase in the number of people using the phone whilst driving has been huge. You see them everywhere, so surely many should be getting fines from the Gardai.

And not trying to defend using a mobile, but whats the difference between picking up a ringing mobile to your ear, and for example, eating a banana whilst driving? Thats not illegal. Is chatting on a phone any more distracting that holding a piece of fruit? (as long as you aren't texting).
 
I see drivers on their mobiles all the time, even negotiating busy roundabouts, coming out into junctions etc. regularly we'd be stuck behind a very slow vehicle and the reason would be driver yapping on phone, held up to ear. It should of course be stamped out but everytime I am out in car there are lots of traffic violations of all types. The amount of vehicles which break red lights is frightening and it is very prevalent at pedestrian crossings, I know some pedestrians run across traffic but a vehicle blatantly going through a red light is very bad.
 
I agree that it is awful and dangerous to see drivers on the phone while driving.

I think the only way to get around this is for the gardai to stop cars and if a mobile phone is found in the car a fine should be issued.

The driver could carry the phone in the boot, so they could look at it later if needed.
 
Billo said:
I agree that it is awful and dangerous to see drivers on the phone while driving.

I think the only way to get around this is for the gardai to stop cars and if a mobile phone is found in the car a fine should be issued.

The driver could carry the phone in the boot, so they could look at it later if needed.
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This idea is totally unworkable and can be dangerous too. The law at present allows a driver to use their mobile phone while driving in emergencies only. A mobile phone is a distraction while driving, and can be dangerous if it is used while driving, but it can also help with the safety of a driver and those around them too.

People applying makeup while driving, eating while driving, smoking while driving are all nearly or probably more dangerous than using a mobile phone.

Mandatory hands free kits are the way forward in my opinion, making car manufacturers fit them as standard and when a driver gets into the car, the phone is recognised and connects automatically, meaning that they dont have to pick up the phone to accept or make calls.
 
When cycling, I frequently find that the drivers who are drifting out of their lane towards my space are frequently those phoning or texting. I've come across drivers taking conference calls with the relevant paperwork spread around the car like a mobile office, who are greatly surprised when I interrupt the call to ask them to stay in lane. One time, I apologised to the folk on the call for the interruption.
 
I find the whole "phones are dangerous" argument quite specious.
They are dangerous, but the argument misses the point.
People are dangerous.
Period.

There is no difference to me whether the hazard is someone making or receiving a call or one of the following -

- an incompetent driver
- a young reckless driver
- an older aggressive driver
- a driver with a car full of screaming kids
- an older driver with poor eyesight
- a couple arguing while driving
- a smoker with hot ash in their hand/crotch/face
- a drunk driver
- a hung-over driver
- a sick driver, especially one that's sneezing (!)
- a driver that is falling asleep at the wheel
- an inexperienced foreign driver
- an unaccompanied learner driver
- an habitually speeding driver
- a driver with a damaged car

All are potentially lethal, alone or in combination.

And that's just the range of ordinary car drivers before we even get on to truckers and bus drivers (!) with mobile phones, uninsured drivers, police drivers in unmarked cars.
While the rigid enforcement of speed limits a few years back earned some brownie points for traffic police it did little or nothing to reduce road accident statistics.
Mandatory driver re-testing every five years would be a start - you could include a multiple choice section about phones if it makes you feel better.

ONQ.
 
Complainer said:
When cycling, I frequently find that the drivers who are drifting out of their lane towards my space are frequently those phoning or texting. I've come across drivers taking conference calls with the relevant paperwork spread around the car like a mobile office, who are greatly surprised when I interrupt the call to ask them to stay in lane. One time, I apologised to the folk on the call for the interruption.
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Lol, what did they say?:D
 
RMCF: I use a bluetooth handsfree kit in my car

Hands free are still dangerous because you are still concentrating on other thing and not your driving
 
I'm not sure how bad the posters here are at driving.

Many people are terrible at driving because they are technically poor drivers and have no concentration.

Others are technically brilliant, see like sparrowhawks, and have 1/3 sec reflex, but they're even more dangerous because they are reckless.

That having been said, if you cannot either -
(i) use a bluetooth earpiece without thinking about it or
(ii) turn the mobile to "mute" and stick the mobile in the glove box
​
- you shouldn't be driving any vehicle.

ONQ.
 
RMCF said:
And not trying to defend using a mobile, but whats the difference between picking up a ringing mobile to your ear, and for example, eating a banana whilst driving? Thats not illegal. Is chatting on a phone any more distracting that holding a piece of fruit? (as long as you aren't texting).
Click to expand...

none!
 
You don't talk to a banana, the act of conversation takes your concentration from your driving.
 
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