A sensible change int he law for once.

[The PIT]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3015610.stm

Can't see it being enforced very often though.

[Gurm]

Usually, at least over here, when you have a driving-while-talking ban, it is only enforced when the driver has cause to be pulled over anyway, like driving erratically, or speeding.

- Gurm

[Ribbit]

About bleedin' time. The number of times I've been cut up or almost hit by drivers with their mobile occupying one hand is.... too many.

[The PIT]

On the six O'clock news hand free phones aren't included which is sensible for once.

[Topha]

Germany was rather quick about passing a law like that

"More than 90% of those questioned said phone driving caused other motorists to drive badly, but only 43% thought they were unsafe when they did the same."

Hehe, human nature

[The PIT]

They ought to have something the car that detects the phone in use and blocks the signal.
I've only had one incidence of nearly being hit due to someone using the phone. For once they didn't go into road rage on hearing my horn at close quaters.

[High_Jumbllama]

What about hands free phones or is this just the handheld kind?

[The PIT]

Hands free are okay.

[mutz]

For driving safety, I don't think hands free is any better. The driver's attention is more on the phone than present in his traffic surroundings. You see it all the time, a guy alone in the car yapping away, occassionally looking at where the speaker is and behaving absent minded and erratic in traffic.

Couple of days ago I watched such a yapper make an illegal turn the wrong way into a one way street and run head on into a taxi.

Driving while talking on the mobile clapped on your ear is illegal in Switzerland, though most people ignore the fact. Hands free is still legal. I haven't seen any difference in the behavior of a driver talking hands free or mobile on the ear.

Actually hands free might be more dangerous, in the sense that the driver doesn't limit himself 'cause it's legal.

[Paddy]

With a mobile on your ear you physically cannot react as fast without dropping the phone... Handsfree is a distraction yes, perhaps more so than a passenger, but you should still be able to maintain control of the vehicle as you have both hands on the wheel...

[The PIT]

Well some people have a natural filter. Hands free is like someone talking to you. If someones yabbering away at me when I need to be concentrating I just filter them out.

[mutz]

True, you need both hands for normal driving functions, but what I notice is the drivers are so engrossed in their business or social gabbing they fail to register the things that they should be reacting to and react very late, and too often too late.

If I find that conversation with a passenger is distracting me, I say "Excuse me, I've got to concentrate on driving." That is generally respected immediately. On the phone, since the other party isn't present, and not himself perhaps endangered, the reaction is neither so instant, nor relative. I've sometimes just hung up! When I first got my present car I wondered why the buttons for the telephone on the steering wheel. Now I know.

[The PIT]

I normally resort to grunts I.E Shut up I'm not listening.