Sometimes I wonder about our laws on mobile phone use in a vehicle. I'm not talking about texting, using face book or browsing the web etc. I'm talking about using your phone as a hands free unit. With an iPhone you push the big button and by voice you request ring Joe Bloggs, you than converse hands free on the speaker phone application. You can be fined for doing this. If I have a CB radio I can legally drive with one hand as I'm holding the mic, I can continually take my eyes off the road to change the channels or to adjust the squelch switch. This seems to me that the use of a CB radio is far more dangerous than using a mobile phone hands free particularly when you consider many large trucks have CB radios. Once again not using texting, browsing, Facebook etc. I'm interested in people opinions on this.
Mobile phone use in a car
Comments
In Victoria, you can touch your phone for the purposes of making a call or using the device as a navigational aid, but it is only legal to do so if the phone is securely positioned in a phone holder.
I believe the rules are the same in South Australia. Thankfully there's a Driving Mode for Google Maps (Android, unsure about iOS) which comes in handy.
CB radios are a bit different. There is something about having a two way conversation on a phone that takes up a lot more brain power than a conversation on a CB which can be only one way at a time. you listen or you talk, not both.
In my experience hands free or holding the phone makes little difference to the ability to pilot a vehicle, both are almost equally distracting, and much more so than CB use. I haven't used a held phone since not long after the laws changed in case you are wondering, and I don't do it anymore. I will use hands free when required, but avoid it when possible.
I haven't heard a conversation between two OzB Truckers via CB Radio, but I'm sure they would be looking for a deal on Eneloops…
There also isn't a screen on a CB. I ride a motorbike and most people I see on their phones are texting or FBing.
My wife almost killed herself while walking and playing with her smart phone. She would have killed someone else had she been driving and playing with her smart phone. So the rule is correct it's there to save lives. We just have to learn to keep our hands and mind off smart phones for a while.
I think the difference is that a radio/CD player/CB radio is a device with a set of fixed operating controls that can be reliably operated without specific concentration. Think about changing the radio volume etc. It is easy to do without breaking your driving concentration because the button is always in the same place, and always behaves the same way.
So it becomes no more distracting than the windscreen wiper lever, or the headlight switch.A smartphone, however, has a flat glass panel that behaves differently depending on what you are doing, and usually requires visual concentration to understand what state it is in, which controls are displayed, and where they are located on the screen. This is a significantly trickier device to use than single function hardware.
It comes as no surprise to me that the real push to ban phones when driving only came after phones started doing extra duty as texting, music players etc.For similar reasons, I think in dash touch displays should be discouraged, if we are serious about what is safe and what isn't.
Become a p-plater in VIC.
No mobile phone use whatsoever. Nada, zilch.Learner, P1 and P2 drivers must not use a mobile phone (hand-held or hands-free) for any function while driving (including while stationary but not parked).
https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/safety-and-road-rules/driver…Can use mp3 player plugged into stereo for music.
Cant plug phone into stereo for musicCan use gps device
Cant use google maps in a phone cradleCan use a cb
Cant link phone up to car system for calls.
Very simple
Phone user can also do things illegally on the phone whereas an MP3 player cant be used like that.
So legislators decide, to ban the phone for playing music, as the smarties, use this as a loophole to get out of a fine. (even dummies would be wise to use the same loophole if it was allowed)
Like some smarties had two phones, so they drop the first then they can show the other wasnt on a call. Hence even touching the phone while you drive is now illegal.
NSW regs now say
Holding your phone in any way (in hand, on lap, between shoulder and ear). Drivers are only allowed to hold a phone to pass it to a passenger.
and so on for the other situations you mention.
Cant plug phone into stereo for music
Didn't even know this rule was there, pretty dumb imo. knew we couldn't call or touch the phone but I always connect my phone up for music/ nav to the head unit and chuck it in the glove box
Yep, 'any function'
My heart truly goes out to all the VIPs who can't just wait 10 minutes to use their phones. It must be purgatory knowing that someone may have posted a dank meme on Facebook while they're stuck behind the wheel.
Bring on self-driving cars, I say.
Thanks some very good answers. My view is that a driver particularly in a large truck should have both hands on the steering wheel unless changing gears etc. I think holding a mic in one hand whilst driving can be very dangerous. It's a good point that the controls are always in the same position on a fixed CB but many CB radios are not fixed making them just as awkward as a phone to use. I have also been with a driver who continually fiddle with the squelch switch as we went in and out of radio range. This caused him to wonder all over the road scaring the crap out of me. Lol. This experience has led me to believe that both CB radios and phones are equally dangerous.
Great post. I think the govt kinda just 'got on the bandwagon' with technology. There is many ways of collecting Revenue from good old John Citizen and this is one of many schemes. I know the lawyers out there know that Technology is way ahead of the Govt - that's why they can't even get the NBN done right! Laughable if you ask me. It's all about Revenue Raising peoples! from Redlight speedcameras that trap you as you approach a yellow light about to turn red - are you going to floor it or are you going to hit the brakes and risk someone behind you ramming your backboot? That's a trap that raises revenue but they'll argue till the cows come home that 'its for Safety reasons.'
I do agree that CB radios can be dangerous if the driver is not focussed fully on driving. I wondered if they have not been banned, as yet, because there are a great deal less of them (numbers-wise) than mobile phones, usually only professional truckdrivers possess one, and no (to my knowledge) fatal road accidents have been reported due to their use.
My android hooks up my my holdens my link and i can use the car system to do everything and not touch my phone.
Also in my jeeps uconnect i can do the same.
I have seen a stupid young lady with facebook open in one hand and doing 110 down the m4…. i think anything that distracts you is dangerous regardless of what it is.