Driving while using a mobile versus drink driving

[Hammy02]

Is it just me or are other people disgusted when they see people using a mobile phone while driving? There still doesn't seem to be the same level of disgust levied at someone using a mobile while driving as there is at drink-drivers. Studies have shown that it can be as dangerous as drink-driving. I can never understand how a call can be so important that it can't wait???

Brecon, you are dangerous!

chickbean

there is a web-site to report drivers in our area. If you google 'report anti social driving' you should find something similar set up in your region.

Thanks jonesy!

i think i can smell a forum invasion
and its not pistonheads this time

Ronhaldinio

Two wrongs don't make a right, you know

If someone holds such an inappropriate opinion, then the name calling is perfectly justified.

Sorry that was Rannaldini

MrsArch, studies show that hands-free kits aren't much better (can't think why they're allowed, except that the economy apparently now relies on white-van-man taking calls while he's driving...) It's not just the fact you've got one hand on the wheel, it's that your attention is elsewhere.

Much like having kids fighting in the back I guess - but maybe worse in that the person on the other end of the phone is removed from the traffic situation, and of course you can't tell them to get out and walk .

rannald - I tend to agree with you about the tabloidesque hyperbole that surrounds certain misdemeanours. I think it's careless to drive with a faulty light, it's ill-advised to allow yourself to be distracted by a crying toddler. But there is a sort of self-centredness to insisting on using your mobile at all times even when it might constitute a hazard to yourself and others that I do find disgusting, yes.

i will conduct some experiments this week and get back to you with results over what is most distracting and therefore disgusting whilst driving

i sincerely hth

Why would you put other road users at risk?

Rannaldini Would you say drink driving is dangerous and disgusting?

Is it because it could cause potentially fatal accident?

If so, why the hell do other activities that could cause potentially fatal accidents not fit the same description?

A good friend was involved in and survived physically unscathed (by some miracle) a very near miss recently. The driver of the other car involved who was fiddling with her mobile and caused the crash, and in causing the crash ended up on the wrong side of the road, was not so lucky. And the lorry driver who ran into the mobile phone fiddler without any chance of stopping in time and killed her will also suffer for the rest of his life.

ah...but fiddling about with your mobile is legal

Oh well that makes it ok

So you only consider it dangerous and disgusting if it is also illegal?

Also, using your mobile while driving is illegal.

I'm always staggered by the number of people I see on mobiles while driving.

It's not rocket science - you have one hand totally off the wheel (and even if you're cradling it on your shoulder you are limiting your ability to observe all around you)

Utterly selfish and it will only get better when people hold mobile users in the same contempt they now hold drink/drug drivers.

Rannaldini - try asking a Traffic Cop who has had to deal with the aftermath and break bad news to some poor family because of someone using a phone whilst driving.

yes phoning someone on it is but fiddling about with it isn't
my point all along was that many many things are distracting
why single out mobiles above other things?

therefore i am no more disgusted by someone using their mobile as i am by someone changing a cd
it can go very wrong and is inadvisable but i am not disgusted by it
i don't think it is disgusting

I used to live in 1 of the towns in the so-called golden triangle in Cheshire. There was a roundabout in the centre. I used to see a woman frequently driving her £60k+ worth of Range Rover round the roundabout with her mobile clamped to her ear.

I used to think that if I could afford a halford's £100 one for my crappy Berlingo, surely she could afford one for her car. The cost would probably have been less than she spent on hair/nails a month. From the car plate, she was probably called xxxx, as her plate read XXX1E.

The law states that it is illegal to ride a motorbike or drive a car while you are using a hand held communication device. Not, while you are making a call, not while you are receiving a call, but while you are operating a hand held communication device.

So in even plainer english, it is illegal to drive while using (in any capacity) a hand held mobile phone.

"therefore i am no more disgusted by someone using their mobile as i am by someone changing a cd
it can go very wrong and is inadvisable but i am not disgusted by it
i don't think it is disgusting"

So you don't think it is disgusting to put other people's lives at risk in order to do something selfish and non essential?

On another subject, what's your location and numberplate?

whether it is illegal or not i don't think it's disgusting
many things are illegal which i hold no issue with

i think this is the same class as other distractions
it has been singled out but in my mind is no different than any distraction

distractions whilst driving are unavoidable
accidents will continue to happen and legislation will not prevent them
ideally you will have perfect concentration in perfect conditions in a perfect car etc etc but the truth is usually far from there

i am not disgusted by someone using a phone
nor am i disgusted by someone telling off their kids
checking a map
changing a cd

these things aren't ideal but i'm not disgusted

I'm happy to supply you with my name and numberplate
why would you need it?

"it has been singled out but in my mind is no different than any distraction"

Like being drunk maybe?

So that your local police could be aware of you driving without due care and attention. As far as I am aware doing things like changing a CD, turning round to talk to passengers, checking a map, if they cause you to not concentrate on the road (which they all do) are an offence, and can be fatal. And as they can all be dealt with by pulling the car over to the side of the road I find them all absolutely disgusting actions showing a total disregard for the safety and lives of other road users.