get off your phone!!

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
Dav9694
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get off your phone!!

Post by Dav9694 »

Well, we've all seen it, Mondeo Man, white van man, etc negotiating junctions and roundabouts, right hand cocked to the ear, phone in hand...

This practice needs to become as anti-social and frowned on as drink-driving - doesn't it? A wholesale change in social attitudes made the difference there. Plus, some people will mis-behave if they don't think they'll get picked-up on it, either because no-one knows, or because no-one (apparently) cares.

I've seen the debates a few times on here - to try to intervene, or not to go along peacefully. One morning last year I approached a traffic queue from the right-hand side and yelled what's the title. I got called a ******* and there was some excuse about who he was phoning, "no excuses!" was my parting-shot. But head mitred it and did indeed get off his 'phone.

I'd prefer to formulate something a bit more nuanced like "you need to be off your phone if you're driving", but the practicalities...

I think what also irritates me on this is that these hand-cockers are cheap-skates - I'm not saying this is ideal but a hands-free is inexcusably cheap to have installed.

I'm not sure I did the right thing that time - what have others done or seen?
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by [XAP]Bob »

it's cheaper than that, can't recall the last phone I hadbthat didn't come with a handsfree set.

I must have at least a half dozen in various places, yet today I used the speakerphone (as did the person I was towing)
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Postboxer
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by Postboxer »

The penalty should be higher, it should include instant confiscation of the phone, with no chance to back anything up.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Postboxer wrote:The penalty should be higher, it should include instant confiscation of the phone, with no chance to back anything up.

And the car. Backups are mostly cloud based now anyway, so there would be fairly little loss there.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
reohn2
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by reohn2 »

£200+points for first offence,which would be policed by plain clothed officers and placed randomly in certain areas and patrolling in unmarked cars on motorways an major trunkroads/dual carriageways,where they can pick up other goonie antics at the same time.
FWIW IMO speeding would also start at £200+points too .
Well publicised before the crackdown the goons then have no excuses,90+% of motorised crime could be stopped within weeks.
Of course first you need the politrickal will and more police to carry out the job in hand.
Fat chance,but I man has his dreams...............
As for shouting at offenders,I'd be hoarse within an hour :?
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Audax67
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by Audax67 »

The hands-off kit doesn't improve things. It's the diversion of attention that distracts, not holding the phone, which is no worse than eating a banana.

Unless, of course, you're holding a conversation with your banana, in which case there are maybe other reasons you shouldn't be on the road.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
Michael R
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by Michael R »

It should be automatic loss of licence
MikeF
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by MikeF »

In Sussex you can report this through "Operation Crackdown" as well as any other instances of bad driving. I haven't used this, so I cannot comment on feedback, but it would save driver confrontation.
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
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mrjemm
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Joined: 20 Nov 2011, 4:33pm

Re: get off your phone!!

Post by mrjemm »

Audax67 wrote:The hands-off kit doesn't improve things. It's the diversion of attention that distracts, not holding the phone, which is no worse than eating a banana.

Unless, of course, you're holding a conversation with your banana, in which case there are maybe other reasons you shouldn't be on the road.


This argument always bothers me. You could say the same regarding passengers, with whom, you are also tempted to look towards; at least with a hands-free that shouldn't tempt (never used one, so wouldn't know really). Passengers are perhaps the worst distraction going. Of course taxi drivers would not like to hear this... Or driving instructors.

Likewise film crews/cameramen in cars for telly- watching 'Big Ballet' (forgive me, please) the other night and the camera was in the car to introduce the radio station manager man in his Merc coupe, driving along, constantly looking at the camera, and lifting both hands off the wheel to gesture as he spoke, while driving through a town.

And stereos. When 18 (IIRC) I had a crash into the back of another car due to my being tired and deciding to change the tape whilst in a queue of traffic.
Kenn
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by Kenn »

I used to work for a mobile phone handset manufacturer and received research reports etc. on mobile phone hazards. TRRL research did demonstrate that drivers performed badly using either a hand held phone or a hands free kit. (worse than being over the alcohol limit apparently). As Audax67 mentioned, the distraction factor is the key. Maybe distracting passengers are also a problem - perhaps we should stay away from tandems :-)
mig
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by mig »

i see this most, if not all, mornings. the worst example being a uniformed police officer in a police car at whom i gave a 'what are you doing?' type gesture which was met with a stern, but red faced, defiant return stare.

driving is now seen as a 'right' rather than something earned and maintained.
LollyKat
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by LollyKat »

Kenn wrote:TRRL research did demonstrate that drivers performed badly using either a hand held phone or a hands free kit. (worse than being over the alcohol limit apparently). As Audax67 mentioned, the distraction factor is the key.

I read somewhere (sorry, I don't have time to find a link) that the mobile phone signal is compressed so that the data can be transmitted at high speed. The compression is lossy, like JPEG. Although we don't notice this in use, our brains require more processing power to understand the speech, and therefore the distraction is greater than with a normal conversation.

Personally I don't like talking to passengers when the traffic or road layout gets complicated - but then it is easy for them to understand that I am not being rude if I ask them to be quiet for a bit!
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mjr
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by mjr »

LollyKat wrote:I read somewhere (sorry, I don't have time to find a link) that the mobile phone signal is compressed so that the data can be transmitted at high speed. The compression is lossy, like JPEG. Although we don't notice this in use, our brains require more processing power to understand the speech, and therefore the distraction is greater than with a normal conversation.

Indeed it is compressed and lossy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_full_rate

I agree that the biggest difference is that passengers do have the good sense to shut up when you're at risk of crashing - phone callers can't tell until the line goes dead.

I'd prefer unmarked bike patrols as spotters backed up with catcher cars, rather than just unmarked car patrols.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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Tom Richardson
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Re: get off your phone!!

Post by Tom Richardson »

An advantage of drivers using hand held mobiles is that it makes it much easier to sue them in a collision and more likely to see them prosecuted. Phone records give evidence and more difficult for them to wriggle out of with a counter claim.

Same with blacked out windows - they're volunteering their own 'strict liability'.
iviehoff
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Joined: 20 Jan 2009, 4:38pm

Re: get off your phone!!

Post by iviehoff »

Dav9694 wrote:Well, we've all seen it, Mondeo Man, white van man, etc negotiating junctions and roundabouts, right hand cocked to the ear, phone in hand...

I suppose it isn't something we've all seen, but I've seen Boris Johnson cycling along the Strand with one hand on the handlebars, mobile phone to his ear with the other hand. At the time he was filtering between the standing traffic, which seeing as how narrow the Strand is for 2 lanes of traffic, and how many buses use it, is a rather delicate job.

Just to make the point that cyclists indulge in similar follies, though one would say that BoJo was more a risk to himself than to other road users by doing that, though he might have been a risk to a ped crossing the road between the standing traffic.
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