Guest Gorskar Posted June 24, 2003 Report Posted June 24, 2003 From December, British drivers face three points and a fine if caught using a mobile phone while at the wheel..... .....Hands-free kits are exempt from the fines, but even so Jamieson said the best advice was to find a safe place to pull off the road to either take or make a call. Under the law, which comes into force on 1 December, offenders will face an automatic fine of £30 and have three penalty points added to their licence. If the case goes to court, the fine rises to a maximum of £1,000 Full Story on Zdnet.co.uk.
Guest lisann Posted June 24, 2003 Report Posted June 24, 2003 Its about time too... Some stupid brainless T*** nearly went into me on a roundabout on Sunday because they were too pre-occupied on their mobile! :shock:
Guest TANKERx Posted June 24, 2003 Report Posted June 24, 2003 I don't like the idea that they're banning handsfree kits though (something which will be exempt to start with, but is in the scope for further legistlation). Just because these political I'm-alright-Jack-so-I-don't-give-a-stuff-about-anybody-else can afford to be driven around by their posh men in hats, they want to push the boat out and further widen the gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. They say that merely talking on the mobile is dangerous, whether with hands free or not. So where we going to draw the line? Not allowed to talk to passangers in the car? Not allowed to listen to the radio and sing along with it? Big brother is certainly looking to catch us in our thoughts! So what then, will we be allowed to pull up on the hard shoulder to take a call? No? So what about people who are on-call? Professionals who will not be able to go anywhere for fear of a call and once they get a call, no further details will be able to be sent because their phone will be turned off for their journey to the call. This government is thinking through it's a**e and its (unelected) advisors are really beginning to p**s me off!
Guest midnight Posted June 24, 2003 Report Posted June 24, 2003 i dunno, theres already enough hopeless drivers on the road without them needing to be distracted, many a time have i almost been knocked of my bike by hopeless drivers babbling away on their mobiles, including hands free, maybe if you had had a few close calls (some way too close for comfort) maybe you'd think differently.
Guest TANKERx Posted June 24, 2003 Report Posted June 24, 2003 Most of my close calls have come from people lighting fags (that's cigarettes ;-) ), eating burgers or trying to get their kids to sit down. Maybe we should legistlate against that also. :roll:
Guest madu Posted June 24, 2003 Report Posted June 24, 2003 The point is that there is no right or wrong here. Especially when you live/drive in such city as London and can spend up to 3 hours a day on the road - can you afford to be out of touch for so long?? What if it is a matter of big $$ or health of someone close?? And they would need to remove half of those double yellows and red coz it's hard enough to find a place to stop if you really hhave to, not talking about a 5 min stop to talk to your missus. Will they have special 'mobile call stop' areas on the motorways, in the city?? And the buggers that can hardly drive should stay off the roads in the first place. I think that handsfree must be allowed. If you do get a very important call - just pull over and sort it out. And that is in your own interest! So how do we go about putting makeup on at the wheel? Or drinking coffe with your breakfast? Shaving?? Erm.. Having said that I agree that some ppl are bad enough without mobiles and with mobiles are a clear danger on the road! But you can not draw a line here (as said above)! Loud music is just about the same distraction! And what about sexy babes driving their cabrios?? :D Shall they ban that too? I get V distracted! Oh and what about summer dress-downs, that blond you saw last week with a see-through mini skirt that almost caused the death of a beautiful blond at the crossing in front of you... (instead she just ended up on the bonnet half an hour later) :lol: Soz, got carried away :oops:
Guest Lojt Posted June 24, 2003 Report Posted June 24, 2003 Its been like this in denmark for a couple years.
Guest axe Posted June 25, 2003 Report Posted June 25, 2003 in holland we're also banned from using phones in the car .... a handsfree kit is still allowed though. or an spv with a headset, for that matter :lol:) Now what about all these ppl that paid LOADS of money to have a carkit / handsfree kit installed in their car ? Will they get a refund from the government ???
Guest midnight Posted June 25, 2003 Report Posted June 25, 2003 they havent banned handsfree/car kits.... yet, i doubt they ever will either to be honest
Guest Rob.P Posted June 26, 2003 Report Posted June 26, 2003 A quote from one of the news stories on this subject, I thought it was very apt; Perhaps the final word should go to Tony Pearce, who described himself as a 'Hands-free kit user': "If drivers want to take their phone into their cars they should be sensible enough to take a hands free kit with it. People drove cars on our roads for the best part of 100 years without needing to talk to someone who was not sat in the car with them."
Guest madu Posted June 26, 2003 Report Posted June 26, 2003 Eh?? So who's this Tony guy anyway?? I bet he's got an old N*kia BTW! :) Oh, and horses were just fine 100 years ago! Shame they had no stereos and subwoofers in the boot... And there were no traffic jams and trains were the best means of transport! So let Tony guy use the train next time and make sure he sits in a mobile-free coach! ;) PS: Nothing personal. No offense intended.
Guest Rob.P Posted June 26, 2003 Report Posted June 26, 2003 No worries bud, none taken, I is thick skinned (or is that just thick ;) depends on who you talk to :))
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