Hands-free phone ban for drivers 'should be considered'



I don’t like it but will accept it if it’s not an in appropriate level of hysteria.

I don’t like being searched at the airport but I recognise it makes me and others safer. My point is that I don’t think handsfree calling is as distracting as some other things - kids in the car for instance, so I find it a bit silly and pointless.

That was my point about banning cars. It would be much safer if we banned cars but that is not practical so we minimise the risks. Banning kids under 8 is not practical either. Not sure why they are so distracting. They can only whinge, be sick, hit each other. I assume you strap them in.

If studies came to the conclusion that Handsfree calls were distracting would you be in favour of the ban?
 
That was my point about banning cars. It would be much safer if we banned cars but that is not practical so we minimise the risks. Banning kids under 8 is not practical either. Not sure why they are so distracting. They can only whinge, be sick, hit each other. I assume you strap them in.

If studies came to the conclusion that Handsfree calls were distracting would you be in favour of the ban?

They already conclude that.

I'm sure someone has already done it but it'd be interesting to see collisions and pedestrian/cycle deaths before and after mobile phones because the norm, the last ten years say.
 
All use of phones in cars whilst driving should be banned.

If you use your phone whilst driving I hope you get life in prison.
 
How is it different if I have the same conversation with my husband while he is in the car I’m driving, versus he is taking to me on the handsfree while I’m driving.

Same conversation, same level of concentration required.

However much we wish or think it should be otherwise, the research seems to disagree with you, and there's an argument that talking to people who are present is processed differently in terms of cognitive function. Common sense tells us it should be the same, but then 'common sense is riddled with cognitive biases.

"Drivers are far more distracted by talking on a cellular phone than by conversing with a passenger in an automobile, according to a new study. The study, which used a sophisticated driving simulator, found that when drivers talk on a cell phone, they drift out of their lanes and missed exits more frequently than drivers conversing with a passenger." (University of Utah study)

"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." (University of Sussex research)

"Talking while driving safest with someone who can see what you see" (University of Illinois research)

"While adding any extra workload to a driver can be distracting, phone conversations are more distracting because the people talking don’t have a shared visual environment...One study neatly demonstrated this by comparing drivers’ conversations when talking to a passenger, someone on the phone, or a blind-folded passenger. The regular passengers stopped talking when driving became more challenging, but the blindfolded and phone conversation partners did not." (article from an OU psychology lecturer)
 
Last edited:
What's that got to do with anything? I don't have my own but my sister is 11 now so I know how distracting they are in the car when they're younger.

Oh aye, let's just dismiss the evidence-based research which proves that it is just as dangerous. You think it's nonsense.
kids don't subconsciously stop being kids when approaching a junction.

secondly there's a lot of jobs require you to be on the road. wagon drivers can't just pull over to take a call. the economic hit would be pretty big id imagine.

i also don't understand why phones should be banned but sat nav's shouldn't. when i used to drive to away games i used to look on the a-z, plan the route then hit the road. looking at a satnav is surely more distracting than talking on a handsfree?
 
If I’m particularly concentrating, I say “hang on” until I’m not concentrating.

This is what I do regardless of whether it’s talking to someone in the car with me or over the hands free, makes no difference which it is to me I have to concentrate an equal amount so unless conversation with passengers is banned as well it doesn’t make much sense to me.

It's not the same though really is it? I'm going to propose an isolation cockpit for all drivers.

:lol:
 
What's that got to do with anything? I don't have my own but my sister is 11 now so I know how distracting they are in the car when they're younger.

Oh aye, let's just dismiss the evidence-based research which proves that it is just as dangerous. You think it's nonsense.

Go on then, show me the evidence that shows it is equally unsafe to drive using a handheld vs handsfree.

It is the equally as unsafe having a conversation with one hand on the wheel vs. 2.
 
Fair enough. But other people don’t. I listen to podcasts but you have to pick a new one every half hour. I know we joke about it on here, but a couple of taps on a phone stuck on your windscreen right in front of your face is completely different to fiddling about with one on your knee.

It is, you’re right. It is still a bit dangerous.

I wanted to get CarPlay for said purpose but my car can’t have it 🙄
 
I’m being a bit arsey, tbh, but my bigger point is that it’s nowhere near as distracting as other stuff. Like toddlers screaming.
People have different tolerance levels too, if the bairns crying while drying I can zone it out to some degree, my lass can't in the slightest. And she literally will pull over to the side of the road.
 

Back
Top