Using mobile while driving = gaol time

[imoXu]

just like most things it isnt the phone that is the problem

some people can use them quite safely in lots of circumstances.

then there's everyone in Perth

[thro]

Some people think *they* can use them safely.

The reality is that they're deluded.

[Suzukiphile]

Anyone that supports jail time for using a phone while driving is completely out of touch with reality! Do you think that sitting in jail is the ONLY thing that results from going to jail?!!? HARDLY!! if you go in for long enough you:

1. lose your job
2. dont see your family except for little visits

then when you get out you have a criminal record which means not only are you unemployed but now you are UNEMPLOYABLE because you have a record.

makes sense doesnt it?!?! stop and think for a second first.

not too mention the tax dollars that we spend on keeping people in jail and then supporting them on centrelink when they get out (and their family while they are in!).

all for using a phone while driving...

unbelievable.

[Ryven]

Originally Posted by thro

Some people think *they* can use them safely.

The reality is that they're deluded.

Do your hands ever leave the steering wheel for anything? Hell, you're probably endangering all of our lives every time you reach for your gear stick/indicator.

[thro]

Originally Posted by Ryven

Do your hands ever leave the steering wheel for anything? Hell, you're probably endangering all of our lives every time you reach for your gear stick/indicator.

Did you read anything I posted about the difference between mobile phone usage and other shit? Or do you just not comprehend?

[jules_1972]

I dont use my mobile when driving (yeah right!!) but plenty safe to
pick that Whopper up and have juice dribbling everywhere whilst
attempting to consume it all before the next set of lights!!

Dont use phone, dont eat, dont drink, dont fart, dont use make up, dont touch the CD deck and dont scratch yourself......

[thro]

News in Science - Mobile phone link to accidents - 29/05/2001

cliffnotes:

Their previous study in 1997 published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that drivers using mobile phones faced a four-fold increase in their chances of having a collision, and handsfree kits offered no safety advantage.

In the new report, Redelmeier and Tibshirani said "Making calls on a cellular phone is distinctly more risky than listening to the radio, talking to passengers and other activities commonly occurring in vehicles."

edit:

The Pedestrian Council : Even drunk drivers are not as dangerous as our ... Mobile phone pests

DRUNK drivers can stop faster in an emergency than sober drivers who are using their mobile phones, new British research has shown.

A study by the Transport Research Laboratory found drivers travelling at 113km/h took an average of 31m to stop.

But drivers using hand-held mobile phones took 45m and even those talking on a hands-free phone took an average of 39m.

Cell Phones and Mobile Phones -- The Danger for Drivers

A study commissioned by a leading UK insurance company, Direct Line (2003), revealed that talking on any cell phone while driving is so mentally distracting that it is as dangerous as driving when slightly over the legal blood-alcohol limit. (In Britain, the BAC limit is 0.08%, the same as in the U.S.A.)

I see people here condoning mobile phone use whilst driving, yet are all quick to point out the dangers of drink driving. The facts do not support the notion that mobile phone use is all OK in comparison... Over here the BAC limit is 0.05. 'Slightly over' 0.08 is almost double that...


And from personal experience....

I used to occasionally use my phone in the car, about 6 years ago.

One day, I got off the phone, and realised i'd ended up 5km down the road, and had no fucking clue as to what had transpired on the way there. I quit doing it after that....



If you're one of those people who do use the phone in your car - next time you finish a call, see how much shit from the journey you can remember from whilst you were on the phone. I think you'll find you'll probably be quite scared at just how little you can remember...

[mekon]

<<snip>>

One day, I got off the phone, and realised i'd ended up 5km down the road, and had no fucking clue as to what had transpired on the way there. I quit doing it after that....



If you're one of those people who do use the phone in your car - next time you finish a call, see how much shit from the journey you can remember from whilst you were on the phone. I think you'll find you'll probably be quite scared at just how little you can remember...[/quote]

I couldn't agree more, the first time I used a mobile in the car I did the same thing. It scared the fuck out of, I'd been oblivious to my surroundings and was beweildered that I'd travelled so far without seeing!

I don't answer the phone in the car anymore, it can wait. I just hate being on the bike and I see it almost everyday. Some turd talking away not aware I'm in his peripheral vision.... not aware when I'm right next to him.

Couple that with DUI and you have a very good chance of an accident.

[Graelin]

I wont use the phone in the car anymore I realised like others that it redused my perception. Before mobile phones we survived with out being contactable while driving and the caller can wait til I finish my journey or I can pull over somehwere safe. No call is that important that I have an accident.

When I was in traffic officer training 30 yrs ago we were told then that anyone eating or drinking did not have 'proper control' of the car and could be charged with careless driving.

A lot of laws are media driven by whipping up public hysteria and getting news hungry polies to jump on the band wagon. We all should be very careful as these laws can be used against us in ways we didnt imagine like the example with the cops and just check time at the lights.

Now I have seen the effect of this. My daughter was in a head on crash. She lost her partner. Spend 5 weeks on life support. Around five months in hospital with critical brain damage, fractured spine, neck and pelvis. As well as punctued lungs and spleen damage.

It took 8 months before she realised her partner had gone and wasnt coming in for Christmas. She became suicidal over that and we thought we were going to lose her again. She had no recollection of the crash but was under the impression that if charged she was going to jail. She said she would commit suicide if this happened and I know she meant that. At this stage couldnt remeber last two years of her life.

It took us more that a year to find someone had dumped ten meters of oil on the road on the first winter rain, her car hit this and spun into oncoming vehicles.

She was classed by the hospital as will spend the rest of her life in an institution.

She defied this and has just finished 3rd year at uni and is working with people with disabilities part time.

Prison would have robbed us of a daughter and not allowed her to be productive in society.

I see calls like this as being very similar to throwing someone to the lions, great fun us long as it does'nt affect us.

What about higher demerits, higher fines or even some form of community service for the hospitals where accident victims end up?

NO this will not get that prosecutor the headlines that will gain him notoriety and help him leap frog other prosecutors at the annual promotions fest.

Graelin

[Rich]

Originally Posted by barfridge

Why are you allowed to talk on a 2-way radio while driving, but not a mobile?

The law is full of inconsistencies like this. What is you equiped your phone with a UHF radio type microphone?

I have always wondered that too...

[Ryven]

Originally Posted by thro

Did you read anything I posted about the difference between mobile phone usage and other shit? Or do you just not comprehend?

I still can't agree with this. If I'm using my handsfree, I'm not looking at the handsfree. It has less of an impact than if I have someone else in the car with me.

All your quotes prove is that the kind of people who get into accidents while using mobile phones are the kind of people who shouldn't be driving while using mobile phones.

If I'm driving one of our other cars and someone calls (That don't have bluetooth hands free), if there's no passenger and nowhere to pull over, the call doesn't get answered. However, when I'm taking measures specifically to reduce the amount of my concentration being used when maintaining a conversation, I feel that more driver education is more suitable than telling me I can't do it because other people get distracted easily.

I know people who seem to have a hard enough time just staying in their lane without any additional distractions, and I'm sure everyone has met others on the road. Maybe we should ban all cars because of them rather than either training them properly or telling them to take the bus...

[thro]

Originally Posted by Ryven

All your quotes prove is that the kind of people who get into accidents while using mobile phones are the kind of people who shouldn't be driving while using mobile phones.

Actually no, there's been proper studies done on the effects of mobile phone use, they haven't just been looking at accident stats after the event.

You can stick your head in the sand if you like, doesn't make it any less true.

For a dumbed down version, mythbusters even got in on the act using the same people attempting to complete a driving course whilst pissed, sober and on the phone.

It's nothing to do with the physical operation of the phone, its the mental facilities that are impaired, from you visualising concepts and the person on the other end that you're talking to, matching their tone of voice to emotions, etc.... this is why hands-free makes minimal difference... the button pressing/holding onto the phone, etc is NOT the problem.

[Ryven]

Originally Posted by thro

It's nothing to do with the physical operation of the phone, its the mental facilities that are impaired, from you visualising concepts and the person on the other end that you're talking to, matching their tone of voice to emotions, etc.... this is why hands-free makes minimal difference... the button pressing/holding onto the phone, etc is NOT the problem.

First and foremost I find it rather ironic that it one thread you'd advocate doing 100 over, and in another talk about how badly mental facilities are impaired by operating a mobile phone. If you're driving conservatively in the car to begin with say the speed limit and allowing 2-3 seconds gap between yourself and the car in front of you even if your mental facilities are impaired you have a reasonable amount of time to react. The problem is, as I've seen on many occasions the people who kind of stare off vacantly while operating the mobile phone.

This tells me they haven't had proper defensive driving training telling them to be constantly aware of other road users around them including the speed they are doing, the speed other vehicles around them are doing, the position of other vehicles on the road, potential hazards and the likes.

Again, this is something that can be taught, and not just so people can use their mobile without driving up the arse end of another car/off the road...

[Para045]

Originally Posted by Ryven

Again, this is something that can be taught, and not just so people can use their mobile without driving up the arse end of another car/off the road...

I would have to agree, when I used to use my mobile years ago I had no problems concentrating on the road because that to me was the primary objective, if I missed something in the conversation I would just get them to repeat it and nothing has changed now that I have a Bluetooth phone. It comes down to what you put your priorities to and for me it is driving .
Unfortunately some people have enough trouble controlling a motor vehicle without MP's or passengers, stereo's etc , Shit some have trouble just operating a gearshift and clutch
I can't see a total ban on the use of phones until they also ban stereos, Ipods, GPS's and every other non essential piece of equipment in a car ( and that includes radars in Police vehicles )
I am happy though with the ban on the use of a mobile while in the hand as while not only distracting it takes one hand off the wheel

[Ryven]

Originally Posted by Para045

while not only distracting it takes one hand off the wheel

Yeah. I too hate having to put my kebab down just to use my mobile phone. That said, chopsticks can also be quite a bother.

You're spot on, though. If I can't talk on my mobile phone, I probably shouldn't be able to listen to audio books or spoken word. Or for that matter any form of music. My poor brain, having to calculate the tones and emotions in their voices whilst still being expected to not drive into a lamp post.

[thro]

Originally Posted by Ryven

First and foremost I find it rather ironic that it one thread you'd advocate doing 100 over, and in another talk about how badly mental facilities are impaired by operating a mobile phone.

I do not *advocate* 100 over on the road.


You fail comprehension my friend.


It has been scientifically proven, by numerous studies, that driving while jabbering on the phone is *worse than driving pissed*. Also, stop comparing it to listening to the radio, because they compared it to that as well, it's worse.


So by your standards, if i've had 6 beers i should be right to drive home, just so long as I drive conservatively? Get your hand off it mate.



edit:
And before you go sticking words in my mouth about supporting jail time for this shit, I don't.

I just refuse to accept dickheads driving around on their phone, when we penalise DUI with instant loss of license, which has been scientifically proven to be not as detrimental to your driving ability.

[Ryven]

thro-As I've already stated: Insufficient driver training.

Even road safety campaigns say that if you drive drunk you'll probably be alright, but if you find yourself in an emergency situation you're more likely to be up shit creek. As such they find it's a risk they are not willing to take.

Why would I stick words in your mouth about jail time? As I recall, you were doing that to me in a previous discussion. As for the meaning of the word advocate: "a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc." And, to quote you: "Also, in a modern car late at night, 200km/h on tonkin *is* safe." I said you advocated it, not that you actively encouraged it on all occasions.

You seem to have assumed what I was saying was the equivalent of you agreeing that it was right for someone to kill in self defense where there was no real other option (aside from allowing your attacker to kill you, perhaps), and me making out as though you were endorsing going on a killing spree...