BRAKE call for hands free kits to be banned

[RichardA]

Do you agree?

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24982173
 

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[guest4324]

I personally don't use my phone when driving but I do use it as a satnav so I would guess this could also count as some sort of distraction. The main point here is where do you draw the line? Am I supposed to drive around with my small daughter in the car and remain silent when she asks things? Am I not allowed to speak to my wife on the way to holidays if driving for 3 hours? I can understand that with a phone conversation some people might get wound up if it's a stressy work related call or somebody arguing but sometimes it's useful to tell somebody that you'll be late due to traffic etc and it's not always possible to quickly pull over.
I fully agree that using a hand held phone is wrong but I think it's ok to use hands free, and let the police decide if they think you were driving without due care.

[culzean]

Absolutely - there is no need to use a phone when driving, and hands free is no better than a normal mobile because it is the distraction of the call that is the problem.  I know there are people out there who can drive, answer the phone, watch a video and bake a cake all at the same time - but if they have an accident they should lock them up and throw the key away.

many studies have shown that if you ask someone to watch a short film and then ask them questions about it they do pretty well when that is all they are doing,  but when they have to answer a phone while they are watching their score drops dramatically.  Human brain is not equipped to do this kind of thing,  and i have had many near misses with people who were obviously more engaged in the phone than in their driving. 

I used to work with a young bloke who's 2 mates were  killed in a high speed crash, unfortunately the car hit another car coming the other way and killed a mom and her son in that one as well. Unfortunately the young drivers mom heard the crash and everything after it as well because he was on his mobile to her at the time.

[chrisc]

A mobile phone is an unnecessary distraction, yet you (at least here) still see people driving with a phone clamped to their ear.  I had one such driver hit me at the traffic lights and she admitted to being on the phone and not concentrating on what she was doing.

But banning the use is one thing, how do you police it?  Most cars now have a bluetooth device linked to the radio and it answers the phone for you, and you can even make calls by speaking the caller's name

[RichardA]

I'm in favour of tougher penalties for using hand held phones, so often I see the law ignored.

I don't agree with banning hands free kits, might as well ban talking. And how to enforce it?

Brake clearly have a political agenda, that's why I won't refer to them as a "ch****y".

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[culzean]

just because it's hard to enforce doesn't mean it's OK and that you shouldn't have a law against it.  I'm sure they could have roadside phone signal detectors that can pick up the number of a phone that is transmitting and photograph the car - if there is only one person in there - got ya !  maybe if they had an aerial each side of the road they could even tell which side of car the phone is on. These would replace speed cameras, as IMHO using the phone is more dangerous than being 10mph over the speed limit.

there are far too many distractions in a car these days,  but I don't consider a satnav to be one of them as it is a positive aid to safer driving and it sure beats balancing a map on the steering wheel  (or on the passenger seat).   But they could go one step further and make the road surface the same colour as the ones on the satnav screen,