General Chat

My employer has banned all vehicle drivers from using their phones whilst driving, using hands free kits.

My daughter just phoned me driving back to Northants from Durham. She was on hands free and I said I would rather wait till she got home safely. She told me that it was no different to listening to music.

What do you think?

Well our Ford Fiesta has hands free . You program the phone nos in and when someone rings you can answer just by replying,no need to click on any buttons .BUT if the phone did ring I would answer and let hubby still drive without the distraction.

Now he has stopped driving and i am in the driving seat it may be more of a distraction if OH cant sort it out.

Shirley, she usually phones me on those long journeys when she is a passenger in her husband's car. THis time she was driving and she was yacking away when zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Whne she phone back it had been a dip in the A1, but a bit worrying. My last 3 points was answering a colleague who phoned me whilst I was driving - just as a policeman was about to stop me in one of those infernal police money traps. :-( :-( :-(

If you are listening to the radio, you can ignore it.

If you are talking on the phone to someone, your concentration is split, whilst you are listening and replying to the person on the other end.

In an ideal world, the use by the driver of mobile phones should be banned, but that's not going to happen. Too many people need to use them in the course of their jobs while they are on the move. Its not always possible to pull over to return a call.

DET just explained it better than I was going to.

Wrt your 3 points, John, you don't have to answer a phone just because it rings.

DET My company has stopped it. And senior mamagement have been to some pretty hard-hitting presentations and all seem to agree that the main board decision is correct.

I have always lived on the phone when I was driving. Am not sure how I would have coped without a sandwich in left hand, mobile in right and knees steering at 90mph on motorway to get to an important meeting with 10 minutes to gain on the sat nav.

I doubt my company has gone alone. Other major employers like retailers will follow, if not precede.

LOL

when I was a lot younger a Army driving instructor said

" if you MUST smoke, keep it in your right hand, because its dodgy using the left hand, because thats used for the gearstick"


how many people remember having to wind down the window, wave your arm/hand around, do the manouvre, rewind the window.
that be difficult juggling a sandwich as well wouldnt it?LOL

and most important Mirror, Signal, Manouvre........

todays drivers have it too easy.......dont have to take your hands off the wheel.......

Bob :-D :-D :-D

KIds in back unrestrained
Blessed cartridge players - never mastered those (mine was in glove compartment)
Cassete recorders with brown tap billowing round your face and crotch
Sweets and pipes
Ciggies burning on carpet
Big holes in the chassis to see the road surface whistling past :-D :-D :-D

Remember those liitle indicator arms that would jump up. If car behind saw you signalling, it was your lucky day :-D :-D

If anyone calls me while i am driving ,i can speak to them without taking a hand off the wheel ,long enough to tell them i will call them back when i can find a place to stop in safety ,
If my missus is in the car ,she can answer instead ,simple as ,Fred. ;-)

At work now, we cannot even answer calls on hands free. You could be disciplined for answering a call whilst driving, Badger. The caller has to leave message and call is returned when driver stops - which could be up to 2 hours later.

Can imagine all the arguments when the mangers attended this safety seminar. And be interesting to see if it affects the business - because even salesmen are included and contracts could be lost if on road. Even our "next of kin" number is included. And I don't think I could ignore a call from the big boss (ie my OH) :-D

Given your daughter's logic in the first posting and your logic about arriving at an important meeting I would say that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree.-jl

When driving I leave my mobile turned off!

Why do people have to have instant access?

My mobile phone is just a basic send/receive calls: no internet or any other bells and whistles.

My answer to this problem is not to have the phone switched on when I am driving - nothing is that important. At home if I have to make a call I use my landline. In fact this is the only number I will ever give out.

We survived for donkeys years without instant access to one and other, queueing up to use a public telepone if we did not have one at home. Or waiting by a public telephone for a call which had been arranged for a specific time.

I am at a loss as to what people are constantly talking about. And at 4am in the morning on their way either to and from work - who on earth are they chatting to at that time???

I have lost count of the number of pedestrians who have just walked out in front of me when I am driving because they are too interested in what they are texting etc.

Oh and forgot - employer banning people from using phones is right as it is illegal to use a phone when driving - even if the police rarely do anything about it unless an accident occurs..

I get really angry watching people driving with the phone in one hand....

to quote John "I have always lived on the phone when I was driving. Am not sure how I would have coped without a sandwich in left hand, mobile in right and knees steering at 90mph on motorway to get to an important meeting with 10 minutes to gain on the sat nav."

I would ban you from driving for life. i have a brother and a cusion who work for the 999 sevices. go to you local police station and sk to photos of RTA involving people who use moble phones while there were driving. or go with a policeman when he has to go and tell someone that a loveone is dead

there are other words i would like to call you john , but causing offence to you dosent bother me, but offending other dose, but weeing and fire comes to mind

Sorry John i didnt come back!!

Shame you got caught .

Well since OH has stopped driving and my phone has clicked into the Fiestas link the phone has rung a couple of times. Told hubby to ignore and the rung back later when my phone was out the car.

it does seem silly to me tho for the car to have connection and not to be able to respond safely.

What I find annoying tho is when I see people STILL talking on their mobiles with it up to their ears and one hand on the steering wheel NOW that to me is dangerous driving

I always leave my phone switched off when driving-- I always have it with me as I have limited walking ability (arthritis) and feel safer knowing I can communicate easily if I have a problem- but there can be no need to receive live messages or chat when on the move. Anything significant can be left with a text message or voicemail - which you can check for when off the road in say a layby.

Robert - I think John was deliberately hyping up all possible distractions - i.e.. joking - I hope!

Robert When I first had a mobile back in about 1982, we all drove very differently. I was not joking at all. Probably over-egging a little bit. But I was young(ish) and had driven a lot of miles over about 15 years without major incident and that is the sort of thing I did.

I was certainly not alone. Many young men in those days used to drive like lunatics, and some still do. Particularly white van man and Cortina reps. 120mph on motorway, racing to be first to a venue, was quite commonplace. And if police stopped you, you apologised and usually got away with it.

Long time ago, and I doubt anybody that drove erratically in 1983 could be prosecuted now - or banned. And I feel exactly same as you. I have a company car limited to 70mph during the week and a Smart car for weekends that is just limited - period.

One thing I would say is that we were taught courtesy and defensive driving. I see youngsters (usually) today with no courtesy, smoking, eating, drinking whilst they drive along. And their driving can very very selfish and aggressive.

Not sure some have understood my question. Perhaps I made it badly.

Many years ago, a lot of us rushed round in cars as fast as they could doing all sorts of daft things. Ash trays were full, ciggies were thrown out of windows, speed limits were routinely broken, accidents per mile were very high.

Now roads are safer than they have ever been, according to Dept for Transport.

Now most people who were young then are much more careful. My only indiscretions this last year have been to occasionally forget to fasten my seat belt and a couple of times I have answered my hands free. And I eat sweets and take a sip of water now and again. Not a very good driver, but reasonably safe and pass all the car tests at work (assessed annually - practical and theory) and have driven probably about 1.2m miles over 49 years without major incident.

Most people probably have the same opinion as my daughter that you can speak on your mobile on hands free and it is safe. Managers at my company have been to some hard hitting seminars and have decided that nobody will answer a mobile unless stationery and safely parked up. Not doing that is now a disciplinary offence and will lead to dismissal.

Was asking whether company is right or my daughter is right. I think I agree with company's stance, but have not seen the presentation yet.

John, by your admission, what is the difference between the lunatics of 1983 and the lunatics of 2012. If a mobile phone was used in 1982 how would one drive holding a 'brick'. I'm pleased that no-one on here is trying to out do your apparent lack of driving skills. -jl