Mobile use while driving

[FarAwayHills]

I am so cross and fed up of seeing people using their phones while driving I counted 5 today on a pretty short journey. Having read the news today regarding the tragic death of a mum and her 3 children due the a lorry driver using his phone, I am insensed that people continue to do this. What the hell can be that important.

I am not a technical person but could there be some way that devices could be automatically disabled while a vehicle is being driven. It seems like the only way because people just can't help themselves and fines and penalties are clearly not working.

AIBU to think more needs to be done about this?

I remember when my dad was dying and I was driving home from the hospice (10 mins). My phone rang and it didn't even occur to me to pick it up, even though could easily have been a call to turn straight round. I found a car park, parked and checked from there.

Because - no. You shouldn't.

People if you see a hazard on the road please stop somewhere safe to report it. Otherwise you are more of a hazard yourself. Helpful to note the location/ marker post number though.

A man was jailed for 10yrs today for using his phone/changing music at 50mph he killed a family of four.

Yanbu op hopefully this send's a good message to drivers me included

Why shouldn't I be able to answer my phone in my car when I have built in Bluetooth?
because the person you are talking to isn't in the car with you. If you are having a conversation with a passenger they are aware of what is going on around you and will understand why you hold off as you manage a situation. An invisible 3rd party won't know this, and will prompt you into paying attention to them, not the road about you.

ifailed are you saying it shouldn't be legal people to use hands free kits while driving?

You can often tell the people that are on their phones before you can even see they're on their phones if you know what I mean.

When I see someone ahead driving too slowly often and just slightly erratically, I often think "I bet they're on their mobile" and I'm rarely wrong. Often they are even texting

Just no excuse.

Fine everyone 100 quid when caught and give half of it to the person who shopped you in. You'll fix the problem overnight

It took 45 seconds for that lorry driver to kill 4 people just 45 seconds not looking at the road.
Six oclock news now

I had a Bluetooth handsfree fitted and I was shocked at how distracted I became by the conversation. Its nothing like a passenger. I've stopped using it now unless I'm stationary. Such as a traffic jam. I won't even use it at lights now because of how quickly you end up moving.

YANBU

PurpleDaisies
I think it needs looking at. It's not the same as chatting to someone with you, or listening to the radio. A driver could well be involved in a very demanding conversation with a 3rd party which could easily distract them. None of the emergency services allow the driver to use a radio, that is all done by someone else in the vehicle.

I saw someone doing it recently and wrote down her registration number and a full description. I was a passenger in a taxi, I hasten to add. I reported it to the police who called me back to tell me they wouldn't follow it up as the car was registered to a different area of the country!

Only 10 years for 4 lives.
Should've got life

this has just been on the bbc news, 10 years for killing 4 people is juts not enough, there has to be a way to fix this

I agree with the comments about hands free for all the reasons made. A previous job I had actively encouraged us to make good use of the time spent driving by making sales calls during them . In what world would that be safe, speeding along the M1 trying to do a pitch, what about the notes needing to be taken?
I flat out refused to do any telephone work from my car, and it was always a point of contention.

I think they should run a campaign of sorts encouraging people to turn phones off and pop them in the boot before driving a car. Make it part of the driving routine, unlock car, scrape Windows, phone in boot, radio on, belt on and drive away...

Because you couldn't pull over to make that call?

I tried handsfree once in a car - I ended the call after a minute, it was incredibly distracting. Never again.

adults in the car with you take cues about what is going on and won't shout 'hello? hello?' if you go quiet. That's why talking to passengers (facing front of course) is nowhere near as dangerous.

phone OFF while driving. No distraction that way. It isn't hard really.

A friend & I saw someone driving along with his arm & phone out of the window, filming while driving on Saturday. We were walking & tried to take photos of him but didn't manage to get the registration plate in the picture. We shouted at him to get off the phone instead, he had diplomatic plates & did up his window .

I see so many drivers on their phones around here, particularly young tractor drivers it has to be said.. I witnessed a tractor take a blind bend on 2 wheels in front of me (i was on foot) because he was on his phone, scares me as my son walks this stretch twice a day.
No chance they'll get ever caught, until something bad happens, as police presence is none existent. Makes me livid!!

YANBU A good friend of mine's lovely son who drove a bus for his living was killed by someone who was texting just before he was crashed into and killed.The first thing the police do now is check the phone records after an accident .The driver is now in prison but that doesn't bring him back xx

I am not a technical person but could there be some way that devices could be automatically disabled while a vehicle is being driven.

Why should passengers not use the phone?

BIL works for a major-household-name company and spends a lot of time on the road. The company now forbids them using their hands-free on company business.

I walk to school, its 0.3 miles. I cross three roads, i see more people on their phones then not. As I'm walking and its a junction i can see what they are upto, watching youtube, checking Facebook, sending texts. It makes my blood boil. They don't notice me or my son, Ive been tempted to just step out in front of them to see if they notice then!
There is no excuse, use a hands free kit. If you've not got one pull over.
Police suggest putting your phone in your boot so your not tempted, that makes sense to me.

Its like its automatic for some people now, a buzz from your phone and you look. a car in front of you at a roundabout i'll check my phone whilst they go.

Whenever i see a driver of a stickered up vehicle i always take the reg and ring /email to complain, some companies are brilliant. Some not so good.

I agree with everything that's been said about using your phone whilst driving, but what concerns me even more than taking a telephone call, is seeing drivers texting as they go along which takes dangerous driving to a whole new level in my opinion

sooty what did you expect them to do realistically? They'd just deny it and it would have been a case of your word against yours.