Banning of Mobile Phone Use in Cars

[green van man]

All this new technology is on new cars, mine are 10 and 26 years old with proper knows.

As I've said it don't affect me and the works van that has hands free my phone will not pair with, at least that's what I told the boss, truthfully don't want it to as if it did would spend all day answering the phone instead of getting on with the job.

Paul.

[andy_d]

IF they bothered to Enforce the Current law it isnt needed.
you see some Tw*t with the phone in there hand driving Every day, DARE to peep the horn at them and get given abuse.
time for plod to do its job Rather than wheel out new BS laws
this nanny carp has to stop ,, oh wait the "ohnoesyoucantdothat" took over years ago.

[Ukwide]

Originally Posted by Bendolfc

Or they could just use voice control and do it without looking down.

The idea that a touchscreen is automatically bad is wrong, Volvo for years have had excessive button soup that requires a look down to find most buttons.

Haha, voice control. My next door neighbour wrecked his new Nissan, hitting a wall because quote - I was talking to the car and didn’t see the wall....... lol

[WUMPSTER]

so hands free is a distraction yet the multi display touch screen tablet displays in cars you have to mess and scroll through to get to stuff is not what a joke just take car back to how they were basic without all the dum electronic gadgets that cause distractions playing with them

[phil1968]

I wonder if it's anything to do with the fact that the authorities find it nigh-on impossible to catch offenders with phones in their hands / to their ears due to lack of police on the roads anymore, so they've just decided on a blanket ban on phones in vehicles?

[DaveNP]

There's a few comments here about the number of gadgets other than phones in modern cars, and having just swapped to a more modern truck at work with more gadgets than ever before, and I can sympathise with that view. But the phone is a much more invasive and pervasive thing, on the one hand have you ever been in a meeting with someone in an office when the phone on their desk rings? You may have had to make an appointment to see them and it's limited to a 30 minute slot but if the phone rings they will answer it, even spending most of your 30 minute appointment on the phone! Not only that but when we talk on the phone, mentally we remove ourselves to where the person is calling from and concentrate on the issues being discussed rather than what is happening around us, have you tried talking to someone when they're on the phone? it usually takes a lot more than the simple 'excuse me' that you would need to interject into a personal conversation. Both of those factors mean that even 'handsfree' poses a threat to attentiveness to driving.

[Spike56]

I cannot copy the link but if you Google Kerrin Wilson you will find an assistant chief constable who 'dodged' prosecution after crashing into another vehicle, whilst on her phone, because......it was a new car, to her, and she wasn't used to the controls!!! She blamed the hands free controls for her 'straddling' the middle of the road.

Should she not have stopped the car then??

[Rustyfrog]

Maybe our illustrious leaders should also consider also banning talking to passengers, or the carrying of children and babies, unwrapping sweets, certainly smoking, sneezing, all of which could be considered distracting.

[Dastardly Diesel]

Originally Posted by Triple-S

The problem must lie with the manufacturers, or at least progress. I seem to recall first eating then drinking was banned whilst on the move - yet car makers built-in cup holders! I realise nibbling at a chockie bar isn't particularly dangerous but tossing ones head back to get the last dregs from your tin of fizz could well be. Nobody mentions that though.

Eating and drinking while driving has not been banned. There is no such offence, and never has been.

Being not in proper control of a motor vehicle in a public place is the offence. It just so happens that fannying about while eating and drinking is the most common cause of such behaviour. I've similarly reported smokers for summons, weaving all over the shop trying to get a light.

[canis]

I still believe the real enemy isn't being addressed. It's not the fault of the phone, the driver, or anything else.

Let me paint you a picture...

It starts to rain. You want to put on the wipers. The switch for them is beind a flap, in a cupboard, and the cupboard has a combination lock. This would be stupid, no?

So you get an electronic interface - of any nature - with what is called a "modal interface". This means that some controls are available to you while others are not, depending on the current mode. The controls are often in menu systems, usually within other submenus. This is called "nesting".

THESE are the real dangers. It doens't matter whether it's a mobile phone or the utterly bizarre touchscreen controls in modern cars, the INTERFACE is impossible to operate without a two-way communication between driver and device. You want to alter something, first you gotta get in the right mode. That means you need to know which mode you're already in. Then you've got to get your way out of it, back the the top of the mode "tree" (home?), then you've got to make your way to the relevant submenu, and not make any mistakes along the way. This means checking your input hasbeen recieved and acted upon.

Apply this again to the wipers analagy; It's raining, you throw the stalk to wipe the windscreen. The wipers don't seem to be operating, you look down to see why - blow me, the bloody headlamps are on now instead. You switch the headlamps off - except it's not that easy, another modal system, you have to scroll through several different lighting types until you finally reach 'off'. Mind the bike! Oh now look, you've gone right through 'off', now you've got to go around again. Finally you get the headlamps off - and you still haven't got the wipers on yet.

This is EXACTLY the type of thought processes needed to operate a modal interface in such systems as satnavs, telephones, etc. And this is why they're so dangerous as compared to a CB radio which is simply press to talk for the most part.

The legislation should be attacking the interface design. There's nothing essentially wrong with a modal system of interface, nor menu driven options, except there is too much mental overhead whilst driving.

I would profer the legislation should be insisting that driver interfaces be not modal, and not menu driven. Everything on the front page - or forget it. Full-stop.