Mobile Phone Moving Vehicle Policy

[SmokeDarKnight]

Today my company has just rolled out a new policy on Company Vehicles and Mobile Phones

Basically if your car is moving you are not allowed to use a mobile phone even if you have a hands free kit installed. This goes for personal calls and business calls.

This is the most strict I've ever heard off and i'm not saying that i agree with it or not.

I generally find that using hands free works fine as long as you have a great signal and clear audio.

I tend to find myself that i start concentrating on the phone more when my signal starts to breakup or if i have to struggle to talk to the person.

Just wanted to know what everyone else experience and feeling on this are and if anyone elses company has restrictions on mobile phone use.

 

[keynes]

what sort of job do you do?

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Estimating Engineer for an electrical company, a bit of driving to fields and substations.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

Using phone, ano no no. Hands free/built-in Bluetooth, ayes yes yes

Hands free kits are no more distracting than having a passenger talk to you. So until we get them solo pods to drive around in (see any sci-fi film ever), don't see the problem really.

Does always come across as pretty draconian when these kinds of policies are implemented, and always smacks to me of a personal opinion/preference of someone up top

 

[tom_gr7]

Personally, I think it should be no mobile phones at all whilst driving. Even answering/talking is going to distract the driver to some degree.

I'd also like to outlaw smoking whilst driving. I frequently see drivers lighting up (with two hands) whilst driving on the morning drive to work. Well i'd like to see smoking made illegal altogether, it smells and they get more breaks than me because they need a "fag" break.

bk on topic... lol

 

[steaky360]

Its your companies prerogative to implement whatever safety measures they see fit to. Personally I don't use my phone whilst driving (nor do I use a hands free kit) however I don't think they should be banned (hands free kits I mean, rather than phones).

I totally agree with tom regarding smoking, however the natural extension to that rule would be changing the radio etc. whilst driving. It could be difficult to enforce.

 

[tom_gr7]

It could be difficult to enforce.

yeah totally agree. No mobile phone use whilst driving is pretty much impossible to enforce. I see drivers (men and women) using their phones on a daily basis.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

100% on smoking tom. Wait, just in cars? Ah, yeh that too

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

The thing that bugs be most about people smoking in cars is when they flick it out the window and it hits the car behind, that really bugs me.

I think when driving a lot of people have different concentration levels so i think that some people may be fine with a hands free kit where as others may not.

Im not against it if it improves safety then i'm not fighting it or anything just wanted to know what other peoples experiences are.

I think it would cause a nightmare for delivery drivers though although some of the delivery drivers i've seen aren't even that bothered about the using phone without hands free.

 

[D1craig]

it makes sense, im not being funny but most of the time while driving i only have one hand on the wheel anyway so hands free means nothing to me. i dont text when driving but i do make calls. i have bluetooth built into my car which is great

but i understand anyone that thinks its stupid, i can get very concentrated on music given the right song so...

im a bus driver, if we handle our phones while the bus is switched on it is against the rules. we have to turn it off, take it out of gear and step out of the cab. not many people pay attention to that though lol. we cant even have music on our buses.

 

[Deklore]

Personally i think its worse when people try to eat/drink when theyre driving.

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Yeah there was that guy that killed a bystander when he reached over his dash for a sweety.

 

[Everon]

If you are a professional driver (someone who drives for a living or as part of your job) then anything that distracts you whilst driving is wrong. That includes mobile phones used with or without a car kit, passengers yapping distracting you, smoking, eating or anything that diverts your attention from what you should be doing and that is driving the vehicle with 100% concentration.

You can argue if it is legal or not till hell freezes over but if you crash and kill someone then the blame is squarely on you, there are no excuses and it is something that all of us would hate to live with. I agree with your companies policy and in fact your company should not have to make it policy as its common sense to a professional driver.

 

[SlimCini]

Illogical. Will rarely use any more of your cerebral capacity than listening and singing along to the radio.

EDIT. I should point out that it being illogical doesn't mean I agree it isn't necessarily dangerous to do so. Just that singing along to the radio could be equally as distracting. But if that's 'fine' then so is handsfree surely?

 

[Cricky]

Singing doesn't require any interaction though, but talking to someone (whether in the car or on a phone) requires you to pay attention to what they are saying, process the information, then forumulate a reply which I guess would take some of the focus off driving. I'm sure singing might have an effect too but to a lesser extent. That's in my opinion anyway, I've not carried out any research into the subject.

We have a campaign at work brought over from our US office which we take to local schools called X the Text. Texting while driving is even more dangerous. Understandably so as you need to glance at the screen of your phone and also use one hand to type the text.

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Personally, when im talking on my mobile phone i do feel a little concentration taken away from me. Not enough that i would consider my driving a risk but if taking into account that everyone has difference concentration levels and priorities i think that a phone call could distract people more than others.

for example, myself, i am a confident driver and comfortable with the vehicle i drive. My step mother on the other hand is a nervous driver and a technophobe she concentrates so hard when driving because my dads car is quite automated and she doesn't like that. I feel that if she answered the phone her risk level would increase.

Speaking to other staff members the majority accepted with the with open arms where as the small few have taken it as some sort of insult to their intelligence.

Sadly the company doesn't have any fact and figures to update you if we have personally had an improvement in say a year. I found out it was rolled out as a result of a crash where the driver stated he was on his hands free and ran into the back of a car.

 

[Cricky]

I guess you have to go with the lowest common denominator. If 90% of people were fine doing something but 10% weren't and had terrible accidents you'd need to stop it. There would be no way to know who the 10% are so you'd need something in place. And I reckon most of those in the 10% category would think they're fine.

 

[D1craig]

Why does it matter if I drive for a living I can kill just as any people driving at work as I could driving for leisure? I won't argue driving on the phone over Bluetooth ( even if the Bluetooth is fully voice activated ) or not is dangerous to everyone on the road and pedestrians.

The concentration levels is a similar thing to alcohol levels. Everyone's body responds differently too it so they can't say to you one pint what you can have and 3 pints is what he can have.

But my main gripe is. I haven't had anymore specialised safety driving lessons than someone who drives a car. I only got taught how to handle the bus and the passengers.