Hands free phone's illegal!!

[prydey]

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...006301,00.html

what next? no more manual cars as that involves taking a hand off the wheel.

ridiculous!! this will promt a rule change me thinks.

[ThoR_]

They never said it was illegal they said its just as dangerous and could become illegal. Ive used a hands free while driving it is as dangerous your mind goes to the convo and not the road.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by ThoR_

They never said it was illegal they said its just as dangerous and could become illegal. Ive used a hands free while driving it is as dangerous your mind goes to the convo and not the road.

so, if it wasn't deemed illegal, how did the guy wind up in court??

[Eb Barbie]

Originally Posted by ThoR_

They never said it was illegal they said its just as dangerous and could become illegal. Ive used a hands free while driving it is as dangerous your mind goes to the convo and not the road.

*agrees* They do take your mind off the road. But weren't they invented to be a safer option then holding your phone to your ear? So why are they now possibly becoming illegal? They shoulda thought of this in the first place. It's like giving candy to a baby then taking it from them :P

[Green X]

What a complete joke,

[The Monty]

Well soon theyll ban me eating my HJ meals while driving. And pies. Damn this cruel world.

Originally Posted by The Monty

Well soon theyll ban me eating my HJ meals while driving. And pies. Damn this cruel world.

I'm pretty sure it already is.

[Falcon_Phill]

Whats the difference between holding a coke and talking to a passenger and holding a phone and talking?

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by Falcon_Phill

Whats the difference between holding a coke and talking to a passenger and holding a phone and talking?

I think it's already illegal to do that? (the holding a drink bit while driving)

Depending on the state you're in of course

[MeestaNob!]

I agree COMPLETELY with this law. Talking to someone over the phone is entirely different to talking to someone next to you in the car. It's a differnt type of consentration involved.

Good law.

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by MeestaNob!

I agree COMPLETELY with this law. Talking to someone over the phone is entirely different to talking to someone next to you in the car. It's a differnt type of consentration involved.

Good law.

It doesn't work for couriers or other people who are constantly in the car, and need the phone for work though. I have done some delivery work, and got phone calls from work asking me to do a pick-up from some various factory. Sometimes these calls would occur on freeways so it wasn't safe to pull over, but I had to take the call anyway. This law will make people in those position's jobs a hell of a lot harder

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by ea_silver_ghia

It doesn't work for couriers or other people who are constantly in the car, and need the phone for work though. I have done some delivery work, and got phone calls from work asking me to do a pick-up from some various factory. Sometimes these calls would occur on freeways so it wasn't safe to pull over, but I had to take the call anyway. This law will make people in those position's jobs a hell of a lot harder

It may be worth while mentioning it is already illeagle to talk on a two way or cb radio whilst driving, however taxi drivers have done it illeagally for years.

[SDKC]

Originally Posted by ea_silver_ghia

It doesn't work for couriers or other people who are constantly in the car, and need the phone for work though. I have done some delivery work, and got phone calls from work asking me to do a pick-up from some various factory. Sometimes these calls would occur on freeways so it wasn't safe to pull over, but I had to take the call anyway. This law will make people in those position's jobs a hell of a lot harder

What did couriers ever do before mobile phones??? What did any of us do before mobile phones???? There is no law against using CB radios, hence why most courier companies use them.

Now can anyone give me a definitive definition of "use"? This is what is to be determined. RR300 is Use handheld mobile phone whilst driving. Is pushing a button on your handsfree kit to activate the mobile phone using it? This Magistrate obviously thought so. Others may not.

Holding a coke, beer, burger, make-up etc.... whilst driving is not an offence, unless it is causing you to not have proper control of your vehicle. There are no specific rules against these and other things. There is a specific rule against mobile phones. (RR300)

[flappist]

Originally Posted by MeestaNob!

I agree COMPLETELY with this law. Talking to someone over the phone is entirely different to talking to someone next to you in the car. It's a differnt type of consentration involved.

Good law.

Nob wisdom......

Yes when you are talking to someone in the car the natural human reaction is to look at them for body language which is a major component of communication so you take your eyes off the road whereas on the phone it is just like listening to the radio as in detached.....

In the 21st century with the levels of communication that are taking place at all times if it were made illegal to operate a hands free mobile phone while moving then the road toll will skyrocket from accidents involving people trying to pull over from the middle lane to take an important call.

The dropkick reply is that "No one needs to take a call and if it is important then they will call back" which is about as stupid as "If the speed limit was 20km/h the road toll would plummet and no one needs to go faster than that or own a vehicle capable of going faster than that because if you have to be somewhere just leave earlier".

Bottom line: If you cannot operate a hands free device while driving a motor vehicle then you do not have the required skill level to hold a driver's licence and should surrender it immediately for the safety of all road users.

[Nashy86]

Originally Posted by flappist

Bottom line: If you cannot operate a hands free device while driving a motor vehicle then you do not have the required skill level to hold a driver's licence and should surrender it immediately for the safety of all road users.

According to the experiments I read for the assignment mentioned earlier in this thread, under certain circumstances basically no one has this capability.

On the freeway the results were pretty consistent between talking in the car vs. talking on the phone, but on suburban roads where there is a lot more random events happening that are not predicted by the drivers mental model (such as cars pulling in/out of parking spaces or pedestrians stepping onto the road) not only did the behavior of every driver change (for the worse) when talking on the phone vs talking to the in-car passenger, but the driver was also asking the person on the phone many more questions, suggesting that they were often not even listening to or comprehending what was being said, because they were too focused on the road.
There were fewer questions directed to the in-car passenger because they gave the information and the right times when the driver wasn't too busy, instead of constantly giving information all of the time.

So based on that, there would be very few cars on the road

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

I think it's already illegal to do that? (the holding a drink bit while driving)

The day I either hear that happens, or I get done for it, I will flip out. Like we don't already have enough stupid driving laws we have to obey.

[Falcon_Phill]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

I think it's already illegal to do that? (the holding a drink bit while driving)

Depending on the state you're in of course

Im pretty sure its not illegal in NSW, i do it all the time and the police dont do anything, ive never heard of it being illegal.

[BA_Turbs]

The world has gone bananas! This is stupid. Ban passengers in cars, or at least ban talking to them!

[VeloXR6]

oh yeah ... fancy being forced to pay attention and save a little kids life....

The nerve of them.

[Nashy86]

I just finished a report on this topic for uni, basically what happens is the passenger in the car suppresses the conversation when the driver gets into a tricky situation (such as turning at a set of lights in the city for example) where they need to concentrate more on the road. On the other hand, when you're on the phone the guy you're talking to can't do that becasue he cannot see your situation, therefore the conversation keeps going at the same pace and you (as the driver) only have a limited amount of attention to direct, and must choose between paying attention to the driving or the phone, however most people cant designate, and end up paying partial attention to both, therefore their driving behavior deteriorates and they don't remember the conversation either!
(think of your brain as a computer with 1gb of ram, driving through the intersection safely requires 700mb of your ram, and the phone conversation requires 500mb, that adds up to 1200, which is more ram than you have)

This is actually a big problem or drivers, although an outright ban is not a good answer, for practical application and enforcement.

[GTWHOA]

Originally Posted by RustyEB1

(think of your brain as a computer with 1gb of ram, driving through the intersection safely requires 700mb of your ram, and the phone conversation requires 500mb, that adds up to 1200, which is more ram than you have)

Then theres the people on the freeway/motorway who cant maintain a certain speed. They must only have 256mb of ram. :

[vik351]

There wouldn't be a fine by any Chance would there???

vik...It's for our safety,not revenue...

[myxr6]

They will be banning stereos next ,cant have you listening that distraction while driving.

[BAWagonWheels]

back then when the use of mobile phones in cars became an issue the government release press ads, radio and tv commercials stating using mobile phones where illegal however they did state and encourage the use of hands-free mobile devices.

its the justice system that is not in line with the government policies. if they knew well then we should have already got a new advertisement campaign stating illegal use of hands-free mobile devices as well.

crazy.... might as well ban drivers from pushing any kind buttons or dials in the car.

oh no!!! damn FPV starter buttons... looks like I'm walking today.

[aussiblue]

The last four accident I was involved in involved idiots on mobile phones running into the back of after I stopped at redlights (2), a give way sign and an traffic light controlled intersection (to giveway as required for the crossing pedestrians). One didn't even slow down and hit me at 60 km/hr while I was stopped at a red light so you know how I feel about this. And I simply refuse to ever use my mobile while driving.

[blur1]

get this... i was the 3rd car in line at a red light in my car (auto: in drive: foot on brake) and after about 15 seconds of sitting there i feel a THUMP in the back of my car and look up, and the female behind me (now the 4th car of about 12), has run into the back of me. i put the car in park, hop out go to her window (she is still on the phone) and she says i reversed into her!! :evil3: :evil3: , needless to say ph no's were exchanged and later that night after speaking to the husband (calling his wife an idiot) handed over $400. to me. :

[Mongoose]

I dont see how a hands free st can be more ditracting than a passenger, i have to agree with flappist, because im on my L's i cant use anything (witch makes no sense) But my mum and aunt quite frequently want me to take them places, but them bieng totally different love having a huge argument over stupid little things, and i can honestly say 2 women going psycho at each other is far more distracting than talking calmly to someone on the phone.

[Green X]

I have had more close calls looking at the Hot chick in the car next to me than when talking on the phone.LOL

I love theses studies they do into driving and how doing X and Y in dangerous and increases the chances of a crash buy X amount, Like what is it a state the obvious study. just in general not singling out Rusty EB1 hear.

And why dose somebody always bring in a save the kid’s reference, what are we in a Simpson’s episode “Won’t somebody please think of the children” surprisingly enough kids aren’t just standing on the side of the road waiting to be hit buy a car.

All these little pointless laws we seem to have because we “need” then to save “lives” could all be ****ed off if people learnt to use a bit of common sense when driving and it would seem some police officers could use some as well when jumping on the traffic infringement band wagon at every chance they can.

[Nashy86]

Originally Posted by Green X

I love theses studies they do into driving and how doing X and Y in dangerous and increases the chances of a crash buy X amount,

I agree many of these studies are pointless (one that springs to mind recently concluded that pedestrians talking on a mobile phone were x% more likely to be hit by a car), but many of them have un-deniable results.

I'm not saying that banning their use is the solution, but people need to be made aware of the fact that they can't always do the 2 things at once, there are a lot of factors involved.
Even just the difference between driving at night vs. driving in daylight on the same piece of road can have a big impact on the drivers ability to multi-task whilst driving

[Nashy86]

I'm not saying that the studies were right/wrong/anything, but I just want to note that they were carried out by global experts in their fields (ergonomics etc.) rather than academics from my uni, I came across them in my research of journals etc. so they have been assessed as having realistic & plausible results before they were published.

Lets keep this thread on the topic guys, I'm interested to hear other peoples opinions on this because as has been said the studies are not always correct, and one of the biggest hurdles of implementing solutions (other than outright banning) is public opinion and public adoption of the solution.