...and about time, too!

I think the distraction from a phone call is greater than a conversation with a real person sitting next to you. Anyway it's proper medical research into accidents. There's a greater risk of an accident during or shortly after a phone call, regardless of whether the phone is hand held or not.

Personally I think that if you cannot safely handle a phone, a mars bar or tuning the radio while driving then you probably shouldn't be on the road.

Paul

 

Well, it may be a bit ott, but if the police did their job properly, it wouldn't happen, it only happens because people get away with what they are doing.

If the police put resources into busting crime that really mattered to people, instead of petty drugs busts, and petty shoplifting, it would improve matters.

I was in a shop not long ago, and someone was getting busted for changing a price label.

The police detained them 2 hours at the shop, I know because I went back, when they could have been doing real work, apprehending real criminals, not just very minor petty crime.

They pick on people who are easy to bust. It looks good on the figures, and also they are at businesses beck and call, the shops will let the police use 1000s of public money, just for tiny offences like that, whilst decent people are at the mercy of orgainised crime.

The balance is wrong, its politically and sociologically dictated, not by local decent people, who want a nice safe neighbourhood.

As an aside, I don't need evidence to tell me using a phone is unsafe, I have myself on the motorway, and texted, and will not again, it really is VERY dangerous, far more than talking, eating a mars bar, or even having a cigarette.

Vigilate's are only going to get worse for a couple of reasons:

media coverage pours petrol on the embers, and gives people ideas.
people's tolerance is becoming far less, and are getting very fed up
The police aren't doing their job, and the courts, so if the police won't, someone else will.

 

like batman?

 

The difference between having a passenger and hands-free is that a passenger can appreciate when the driver needs to concentrate and they can stop their conversation. This may be a lot more difficult with hands free where the person may feel oblidged to concentrate on the conversation more than the situation they find themselves in.

 

paul, how difficult is it to say - 'hang on a second i've got to scratch my balls, change down and overtake this ferarri up the inside of this roundabout.' ?

 

It isn't... but people don't. They prioritise the conversation over driving. Driving becomes normalised and people think that they don't have to pay full attention to it.

 

Absolutely agree- and you watch someones face when they're on the phone (whether they're driving or not) and you see them get that 'far away' look in their face. The difference between holding a conversation on the phone and with someone sat next to you is obvious. I'm not sure why it's like this, but it is, you become slightly detached from the here and now on the phone. Personally I think it's wise to pull over to make or receive a call regardless of whether you have a hands free kit or not, but I'm happy to accept the law as it stands.

Do you think shoplifters and drug dealers should be ignored then? Would it be better if these things were socially acceptable?
Shopkeepers have to call the fuzz if they catch someone nicking stuff, because if they chose instead to give the offender a thick ear and send them on their way they'd end up in court or get sued themselves. If they do nothing then they'll be sending an open invitation to all the light fingered Larrys for miles.

People like to see the police on the streets nicking petty criminals, it's called community policing, in the same way as we like to see numb-nuts using their hand-held mobiles whilst driving being pulled over. It's these 'minor' day to day offences that **** people off, they ruin your day, like stepping in some dog poo that some staffy owning chav has left on the pavement outside your house. .