The collective name for these muppets...
"Twittards"
Almost one in ten UK drivers admit using mobile data services while driving. Although almost all UK drivers know it is illegal to use their phone while driving some 45 per cent admit to taking calls or texting while behind the wheel. One in nine admit to updating Facebook, twittering or using other mobile web services when …
Makes me laugh when you are about to cross the road.
The road is clear you are halfway across then a "Chav" on his mobile comes zooming down the road beeping his horn at you and on his sodding mobile..
Now if memory serves me correct if a Pedistrian is crossing the road already cars have to give way to them as they ahve right of way...
Oh and for got to mention have been in a RTA where the other driver was sodding sending a text and changed lines straight into us.
Hurt for about a week, Back aches etc etc
In the UK, the law says it is illegal to operate a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving.
If it's in a cradle, there's no problem. By the same token it would probably be worth arguing in the case of phone on lap, using speaker. I don't have a problem with conversations, as long as the driver is paying attention and their driving is not impaired. Sadly, each day I observe many people whose driving is obviously degraded by something else they are trying to do. Hmm.. but that is why we already had a 'driving without due care and attention' offence in law.
So the survey might have revealed that 25-29% of drivers admit to taking phone calls behind the wheel, but we don't know how many of these do so perfectly legally as they have a handsfree/headset. I wonder if the survey asked how many people use such a solution? Personally, I think there is no excuse for not using one. All phones are supplied with a headset, and cradles can be picked up for peanuts!
Whatever the law says, and whether one is technically breaking it or not, to do something obviously distracting such as tweeting or browsing the web whilst driving definitely nominates the perpetrator for a Darwin award! It's unfortrunate though, that in many cases one person's stupidity when driving results in pain for others.
"Although almost all UK drivers know it is illegal to use their phone while driving... "
Rubbish. What is illegal is to use your mobile without the hands free kit otherwise it is perfectly ok. However this does not mean that you won't get charged with "driving without due care and attention" if your driving is errant or should you get involved in an accident whilst using your mobile legitimately.
" Makes me laugh when you are about to cross the road.
The road is clear you are halfway across then a "Chav" on his mobile comes zooming down the road beeping his horn at you and on his sodding mobile."
If it was just 'chavs' (whatever they are) it wouldn't be so commonplace. Just look carefully at all the vehicles around you and you'll see that it's not just the tiny section you have singled out for convenience. It's people like you as well.
One reason I hang onto my trusty old 6230i is the pop port cradle that charges the handset while I drive, the fact that the handset auto picks up on the second ring is a bonus.... now that really is hands free.
I think conversations on the phone are less distracting than arguing with the spouse/half turning to shriek at the kids or - like the guy who nudged my car in traffic recently - ogling a female pedestrian in the mirror.
...we need a "Moron Lane" on every major road. The main problem with texting drivers, drunk drivers and the rest of them is not their propensity to hurt themselves (they'll always find a way to do that), but to hurt innocent people who are driving sensibly. So we need a separate lane for them to drive in where they can only threaten each other, thus restoring the natural Darwinistic order of things.
In many places such lanes have already been built - they're called bus lanes. Bus lanes aren't there to allow buses to travel more quickly, as the urban myth claims - what the hell would be the point of digging up the road to make a journey 5 minutes shorter for a service which always starts between 15 minutes and 2 hours late anyway? No, bus lanes are there so cars don't have to share the road with a horde of wobbly trucks which change lanes at random without warning and treat the markings down the middle of the road as a racing line rather than a boundary.
Change the law to allow cars to use bus lanes, so long as the driver is a) alone and b) using a mobile phone, doing their makeup, changing the voice setting on their sat nav, etc, and most of these idiots would think they were being given a treat. Meanwhile the rest of us could breathe a little easier during rush hour.
AC: "Rubbish. What is illegal is to use your mobile without the hands free kit otherwise it is perfectly ok."
Nope. Just because it's not a specific offence doesn't mean you can't be done for driving without due care and attention etc - it's far from "perfectly OK".
Thankfully the "why is it any worse than listening to the radio or talking to a passenger?" argument is not wheeled out as much as it used to be, because it's only the most thick nowadays who don't understand the difference.
The problem is the UK law says it's illegal to use a phone whilst driving, and driving is defined as operating a motor vehicle... So far so good, but operating a motor vehicle also includes when you are sitting stationary.
I never text whilst I'm moving, but I will freely admit to sending texts when I'm stationary in traffic... They're usually something like "Stuck on the f****** again M25 again, I'll be a bit late". I'll also check my texts when sitting at red lights. I'm stationary, the hand brake is on. Sometimes on the M25 the engine is OFF! Where is the danger in that?
It's certainly safer than some of the cars I see driving on the road with kids playing up in the back and the parent who should be driving are spending more time looking over their shoulder than at the road ahead!
[4 Thomas 18] Yes they are, and including them in center console GUI-driven fittings (along with the stereo) has resulted in a Mercedes Osamamobile ending up in the middle of my front lawn having plowed through the phone pole and 40 feet of chainlink while Mr IQ was adjusting his driving quality experience parameters instead of, you know, driving.
I think when you buy electronic stuff like phones, GPS sets or portable video players (and yes, I've had to move sharply to get out of the way of one idiot watching a sunvisor-mounted video while behind the wheel of a speeding car) you should have to prove conclusively that your IQ is higher than that of the thing you are trying to buy before you can walk out of the shop with it.
In South Australia, where I live, on-road mobile phone use IS now treated in the same class as DUI: if you are caught using a non-hands-free mobile phone while driving, it's not just a fine; you automatically lose your licence and your car is impounded. For 3-6 months. This new law was accompanied by an intensive TV education campaign, similar in form (though not as long) as this video. I don't see too many people using mobiles behind the wheel around here any more. UK police, take note.