A34 speed limit petition Options

[Andy Capp]

I think it is taboo, but using a mobile is so important that it is hard to avoid using it when driving.

[On the edge]

I think it is taboo, but using a mobile is so important that it is hard to avoid doing so.

I hope you don't mind me saying so, but this seemed total boll***s at first, but with further thought, it's spot on. Sure, we can blame the driver for using mobile phones but today's society does indeed mean being in constant communication is so important. So, ok, leaving aside the leasure and domestic reasons, our business environment is exactly the same. How many business processes rely on almost immediate communication with people in the field? It's almost implicit to design processes where the operator is expected to use 'technology' to find delivery instructions or even answer job related queries whilst on the move....and yet base the operative (drivers) performance on number of visits made, or exact times met. If we are going to make it taboo, which necessarily means winning hearts and minds, we've a lot of rethinking to do.

Great post AC!

[Andy Capp]

Rightly or wrongly, I doubt there are many people who have not conducted or attempted to use a mobile while driving. Even if there is, there will also be people whose driving has been adversely affected by a phone call or message while driving.

[On the edge]

Rightly or wrongly, I doubt there are many people who have not conducted or attempted to use a mobile while driving. Even if there is, there will also be people whose driving has been adversely affected by a phone call or message while driving.

Yes, and given the ability of a Smart Phone to do so much more, its all so very easy.

[JeffG]

There's a world of difference between holding a phone to your ear while driving, and a system that is fully integrated into the car via bluetooth. Of course, holding any conversation while driving can be distracting, as can listening to the radio.

[On the edge]

There's a world of difference between holding a phone to your ear while driving, and a system that is fully integrated into the car via bluetooth. Of course, holding any conversation while driving can be distracting, as can listeningh to the radio.

I think that's right, to a point and as you so rightly suggest it depends then on the conversation. How do you then isolate a 'tele conference', a difficult query with an aggressive customer, receiving detailed job instructions from simple day to day chatter with friends etc? I've witnessed examples of all the above in the last three weeks simply by accepting lifts from people who had hands free kit. At the time, it seemed OK, we were either in moving traffic on a long rural road, or between long gapped motorway junctions. Yes, listening to the radio, in my case Radio 4 talk programmes can be just as bad; in my case twice having to sharply re-focus so to speak, after being well wound up by something said.

[Claude]

There's a world of difference between holding a phone to your ear while driving, and a system that is fully integrated into the car via bluetooth.

Physically, of course, it's impossible to disagree.

I wonder if there have been any studies to compare the levels of distraction using either method - after all, isn't that the main problem with using devices while driving - being distracted from the road rather than only having one hand to operate the vehicle with?

And can't you still be prosecuted for using a fully integrated handsfree device to make/receive phone calls while driving?

[Turin Machine]

Yes you can, if it can be shown to be a causal effect in driving without due care. But I wonder what the figures are for accidents caused by mummy turning around in the driving seat to shout at her little darlings?

[JeffG]

Yes you can, if it can be shown to be a causal effect in driving without due care. But I wonder what the figures are for accidents caused by mummy turning around in the driving seat to shout at her little darlings?

Ha! That reminds me of the one time I drove on the périphérique in Paris, and the one time I demanded complete silence from my family with me so I could really concentrate! A woman a few cars ahead in one of the middle lanes slammed on her brakes and turned round to remonstrate with her yapping dog in the rear seat.

[Biker1]

Two incorrect statements on Newbury Today today.

1. The A34 is a "dangerous road"
2. The pedestrian crossing in Hungerford High Street is a "lethal" one!
Both, as we know, should refer to the "dangerous drivers" who use / abuse them.

The A34 is just a strip of tarmac.
The Hungerford crossing is just some lights and some black & white paint.
How can a static, inanimate object be dangerous.
By creating these misnomers on a regular basis the real causes of the problem are missed or diverted in this "someone / something else to blame" society that we now seem to have.

[JeffG]

So, you wouldn't class this as a "dangerous road"?

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hVOW2U7K4-M/SoS-rDml...xuU/s640/r2.jpg

Or this?

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/themostdang...g?cb=1422729269

(You don't need much Spanish to understand the caption!)

Just strips opf tarmac

[Biker1]

So, you wouldn't class this as a "dangerous road"?

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_hVOW2U7K4-M/SoS-rDml...xuU/s640/r2.jpg

Or this?

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/themostdang...g?cb=1422729269

(You don't need much Spanish to understand the caption!)

Just strips opf tarmac

Point taken, if rather to the extreme.
But yes, they are just strips of tarmac. They are not dangerous until someone uses them.
The point I am trying to make is that you can improve slip roads,yes. Move phone boxes, yes. But until the real problem of the appalling driving standards of many drivers / bikers / cyclists (and yes, the foolishness of some pedestrians) on the roads today the injury / deaths will continue.
Not easy to achieve I agree but surely attempts should be made to do so.
Maybe today's increase in the penalties for using a mobile while driving is a small, but probably inadequate, step in the right direction??

[On the edge]

Point taken, if rather to the extreme.
But yes, they are just strips of tarmac. They are not dangerous until someone uses them.
The point I am trying to make is that you can improve slip roads,yes. Move phone boxes, yes. But until the real problem of the appalling driving standards of many drivers / bikers / cyclists (and yes, the foolishness of some pedestrians) on the roads today the injury / deaths will continue.
Not easy to achieve I agree but surely attempts should be made to do so.
Maybe today's increase in the penalties for using a mobile while driving is a small, but probably inadequate, step in the right direction??

I think you are right Biker. It's the 'wetware', in other words us. I suppose that's why rail is so safe, humans are almost eliminated in the control and usually, accidents only happen when they are.

[Biker1]

So not speed then!

[newres]

So not speed then!

Well done. You were right.

[Turin Machine]

The answer is simple if unpalatable and due to cost constraints almost certainly impossible to enforce, and that is a total and complete ban on the use of mobile devices in vehicles. Some of the people I see shouldn't be let out in control of a piece of damp string! A 1.5 ton vehicle and a mobile is begging for trouble.

[blackdog]

The answer is simple if unpalatable and due to cost constraints almost certainly impossible to enforce, and that is a total and complete ban on the use of mobile devices in vehicles. Some of the people I see shouldn't be let out in control of a piece of damp string! A 1.5 ton vehicle and a mobile is begging for trouble.

The real solution - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37618574

[On the edge]

The real solution - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37618574

Can't come soon enough; its going to be a real paradigm change in all sorts of ways.

[Biker1]

The real solution - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37618574

Trouble is to alleviate this situation you would need a driverless lorry!

[On the edge]

Trouble is to alleviate this situation you would need a driverless lorry!

Don't want to worry you but they are already being trialled, on public roads and so far successfully.