To phone or not to phone

[Wolfie]

Even with voice operated hands-free in my car, I still avoid making or taking calls if at all possible, so I'm quite pleased to see it's not just me.

Other than letting you have the use of both hands, I really don't understand what the benefit of hands free is?. Accidents are usually caused by lack of attention / concentration and that's surely just as bad if you're not holding the phone. It's about having to mentally multi-task.

Anyway, this from the beeb:

Hands-free phone use by drivers are equally distracting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36475180

Drivers using a hands-free phone get just as distracted as those holding it in their hand, researchers have found.

Scientists at the University of Sussex found conversations can cause the driver to visually imagine what they are talking about.

This uses a part of the brain normally used to watch the road, the University of Sussex study said.

The findings made the case for all phones to be banned from cars, according to the lead researcher.

It is illegal in the UK to ride a motorcycle or drive using hand-held phones or similar devices.

Drivers can get an automatic fixed penalty notice if caught using one. They will get three penalty points on their licence and a fine of £100.

The law currently says drivers can use hands-free phones, sat navs and two-way radios, but if the police think the driver is distracted and not in control of the vehicle, they could get penalised.

Checking for hazards

The study involved 20 male and 40 female volunteers who took part in video tests while sitting in a car seat behind a steering wheel.

One group of volunteers were allowed to "drive" undistracted while another two heard a male voice from a loudspeaker 3ft (0.9m) away.

Those who were distracted by the voice engaging them in conversation took just under a second longer to respond to events, such as a pedestrian stepping off the pavement, an oncoming car on the wrong side of the road or an unexpected vehicle parked at a junction.

The study showed that asking a simple question - such as, "where did you leave the blue file?"- during phone conversations could mean a driver concentrates on an area four times smaller than normal, because their brain is imagining the room where they left the file, instead of checking for hazards in front of them.

 

Alice Husband's seven-year-old son Seth died in December 2014, two weeks after he was hit by a car driven by a woman who was talking to a friend on her mobile phone using the loudspeaker function.

Mrs Husband told BBC Radio 5 live she agreed with the coroner, who said at her son's inquest that the use of the mobile phone would have had an impact.

"If my son perhaps wasn't so excited and didn't run, if he walked across the road - he's a child - if the driver hadn't been speaking on her mobile phone, all of these things could have made a difference to him, but at the end of the day it was a terrible accident and nothing is going to bring Seth back," she said.

"I think even just using a CD player; obviously we all know it is distracting because you are looking away from the road and I think we need to be more aware of how any distraction influences our driving and how important it is not to be distracted by such things if you get a phone call."

Dr Graham Hole, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Sussex, said the research laid bare the "popular misconception that using a mobile phone while driving is safe as long as the driver uses a hands-free phone".

"The problem is enforceability - it's very difficult for the police to tell if someone's using a hands-free phone," he said.

"But on balance, I think the law should be changed to get the right message across and make it absolutely clear that any use of a mobile phone while driving is hazardous."

 

Other studies have suggested that phone conversations in a car are more off-putting than listening to the radio or talking to a passenger, Dr Hole added.

A passenger chatting in a car is less distracting, the researchers argue, because both stop talking when the driver needs to concentrate.

Alice Bailey, from road safety charity Brake, said: "These are life and death decisions, these extra three car lengths is the difference between a child dying and a child living and we just think the law needs to change.

"We need one clear law. All phones, hand-held and hands-free, need to be banned in cars - the only safe phone is one that is switched off.

"How important is any phone conversation that lives are lost?"

[Animal is a Ram]

I try and avoid using a phone while I'm driving, even with it connected to Bluetooth. I'll answer, but my answer will usually start with 'sorry, but I'm driving' and this usually triggers people to say don't worry I'll call back. I won't make calls though.

It depends on the situation though - if on the motorway, there's less to concentrate, no pedestrians/traffic lights/etc. If I'm somewhere I know, it won't bother me.

If it is banned, though, people won't listen. I still see at least 5 people a day holding their phone in a 20-mile round trip to and from work. Some of those are people that should know better, like lorry drivers.

[Cisse]

It is interesting that the world managed to work pretty well for so long without people having a phone with them all the time.

Of course the kids these days couldn't cope with just an answering machines. After all you can't take a selfie while driving with it.

[ossieram]

I use the hands free in my car and don't find it anymore distracting than talking to passengers in the car. In fact because I don't ever have the urge to turn and look at who is talking when using the hands free, it's probably less distracting than passengers.

[Boycie]

Ban radios, and passengers chatting to you.

oh, and children on the back seat fighting.

just ban driving, it's far too dangerous.

[needles]

I think it would be interesting to map ability to concentrate for extended periods vs accident rate. I get the feeling that if we did we might find that 10-20% of the population are just intrinsically incapable of driving safely and should be off the road. Add in a phone call, or a sandwich, or a noisy brat in the back, and they're a disaster waiting happen. 

Eugenics. It's the future of safe driving. That, or self-driving cars. Probably self driving cars. 

[EssendonRam]

I generally use my either of my hands free devices (headphone and Bluetooth) in the car but, being the outrageously rebellious colonial wild man that I am, I have been known to use...gasp...my hand to make or receive a brief call (only joking if there are any wild colonial police reading this).

More often than not, I drive with only one hand on the wheel...well, occasionally anyway.

I am not sure I am "different" to most people but I have always been able to focus on multiple 'tasks' simultaneously and listening and responding is, I must confess, far from the most taxing or distracting 'tasks' I undertake.

Indeed, I rarely drive anywhere without either the radio* blaring (I am partially deaf), or talking on my phone.

* The asterisk signifies that the radio will be tuned to a talkback or news or sport station.

The only occasions I can recall ever finding any activity distracting whilst driving, it would be becoming overly absorbed in my music (ie that channeled from my iPod or iPad through the car speakers) and, even then, only on a very long monotonous drive (of the sort that you can't do in England due to space restrictions).

If I am having a conversation with a passenger, it can be distracting if they're speaking away from me (as I am partially deaf) but I would rarely permit myself to be distratected by that.

There was one occasion when a then mate of mine and the tart he eventually married were conducting themselves 'inappropriately' in the back seat...which I was so appalled by that I made a point of pulling alongside every truck driver on the trip home to discourage it.

[King Kevin]

It's not just phones ,everyone drives round doing everything but what they should ,eating their breakfast ,shaving ,reading and drinking and them that aren't are away with the fairies.