Use of mobile phones whilst driving

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I've been taking more notice over the past few months of drivers using mobile phones, for making / receiving calls and a lot of people sending / reading text messages whilst behind the wheel....all illegal and dangerous at times of course.

I've sat having coffee outside various places and observed them passing by oblivious to what they were doing and not a care in the world, it is something of a game I play when I'm sharing a coffee with a colleague / friend / client, a real ice breaker ;-).

I'm just back from a few days in London....I did not see one person holding a mobile phone whilst driving, I mean not one and I was looking everywhere, it stood out.

Do we not have an epidemic in our country, I think it is ridiculous, especially when I've seen many HGV and van drivers so called professional drivers using phones whilst cornering without indicators in many cases, I know the Garda are stretched but we do need a solution.

The link to use if mobile phones whilst driving has been proved as dangerous with one case known to me as reported in the papers with proof the driver (who survived by the way ) was on his phone at the time his jeep crossed and hit an oncoming motorists car, the other motorist was killed, the information came out at the inquest and he was naturally prosecuted.

Is it just me noticing now or have we got far worse ?
 
I think the problem is that its so hard to police, plenty of people use a mobile while driving, to be honest ive done it myself. but nobody dose it if they see gaurds close by so its hard to detect.
 
I think it has gotten worse, largely because of phone technology and lack of enforcement. A smart phone now includes social media, phone, music and texts, so much more contact to be had. Mind you I am surprised at how many people you see actually takling on the phone especially when, though not perfect, handsfree technology is so readily available and in a lot of cases integrated into the phone and car.

I still see truck drivers negotiating roundabouts while talking on a phone and usually when someone has done something stupid and nearly killed me it's a good bet they're on the phone.

Though it's also annoying when someone stops the car in the middle of the road to take a call rather than finding somewhere safe to park.

When in the car I use my phone for podcasts/music and I did wonder whether selecting a track/programme was considered "use of". I suspect it is. Anyway, being able to select using voice control has got rid of that problem.

I agree with the OP, I think it has gotten worse and not just because the number of phones in use has grown. It is more concerning that those considered "professional drivers" still use their phones seemingly frequently.

You can get a device that will block calls on the phone while in motion, I know a few companies have installed them in vehicles, additionally advances in the accuracy of GPS in phones means it can tell if you are in a car or walking etc (though obvious not if you're a passenger or driver).

It is easily spotted, but the only enforcement I've seem is a stern look off a Garda and sign language to hang up the phone.
 
I frequently use my phone the whole way through journeys.
Mind you it’s in a bracket on the windscreen and the SatNav function is on.

I do take and make phone calls as well but I use the headphone (in one ear) with speaker.
 
Increase penalty points to say 6 (two hits and you are out) and conduct regular unmarked patrols.

From my observations of drivers in Dublin, men are the main culprits when it comes to talking on the phone while driving, but women are by far the worst culprits for using facebook/messaging while driving.
 
RonanC said:
Increase penalty points to say 6 (two hits and you are out) and conduct regular unmarked patrols.
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An utterly disproportionate penalty for what is in most cases a minor and largely inconsequential offence - compared, for example, to 2 penalty points for dangerous overtaking.
 
T McGibney said:
An utterly disproportionate penalty for what is in most cases a minor and largely inconsequential offence - compared, for example, to 2 penalty points for dangerous overtaking.
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Smoking while driving (banned in some countries) is probably as dangerous as being on the phone. So is eating or drinking while driving. Talking to other people in the car is probably as dangerous. Driving while tired is more dangerous than using your phone.
Speeding and aggressive driving, along with drink driving, are the major factors in RTA's.
 
T McGibney said:
An utterly disproportionate penalty for what is in most cases a minor and largely inconsequential offence - compared, for example, to 2 penalty points for dangerous overtaking.
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How is the use of a mobile phone a minor offence? It is a very serious and dangerous offence - far worse than speeding* (in my opinion). If you are caught without an NCT certificate and are brought to court and convicted, it is an automatic 5 points, no matter what condition your vehicle is in.

*Some of our roads are designed for much higher speeds, most motorways for example.
 
RonanC said:
It seems that data in relation to crashes has never been collected properly by Gardaí.

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-...ivers-use-of-phone-at-time-of-crash-1.1508131

The RSA estimate that 20-30% of all collisions are caused by distractions such as the use of mobile phones.
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What proportion of that 20-30% is made up by mobile phone use? The operative words in the quote are "such as". It might be 50% or it might be 0.5%. The quote is meaningless in the context of this discussion.
 
Purple said:
What proportion of that 20-30% is made up by mobile phone use? The operative words in the quote are "such as". It might be 50% or it might be 0.5%. The quote is meaningless in the context of this discussion.
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RSA provided the 20-30% estimate.. the rest is added by me. As I said no data is collected by the Gardaí so it is impossible to give a correct breakdown of this figure.
 
TarfHead said:
.. or using a front-facing camera to check their make-up :p ?
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They also talk a lot to me when I drive so i get distracted. And they are always late which means I am always in a hurry. They are always ringing me on my way home to get me to pick something up. Think we just discovered the real reason for road traffic accidents.....
 
So should we lobby to have use of a mobile phone whilst driving recatagorised and no longer an offence..well not in my book.

This does cause accidents both serious causing loss of life in that one case I'm familiar with and plenty of minor accidents and near misses including one idiot who cut me off in a small van on a roundabout, when I caught up and looked across at him ( 50 + by the way ) he was on his phone, notebook on the steering wheel and writing something down..lunacy.

People would want to drive in a bubble not to see other motorists in front of them speeding up then slowing down, speeding up, brakelights galore and often wandering in the road, be extra attentive to what you see yourselves over the coming days...drive defensely to protect your no claims bonus from these idiots.
 
T McGibney said:
An utterly disproportionate penalty for what is in most cases a minor and largely inconsequential offence - compared, for example, to 2 penalty points for dangerous overtaking.
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I have to disagree. I was rear-ended at the beginning of the year while at a complete stop, my car written off and my 6 week old baby had to be taken to hospital. Hearing my 6 week old baby roar like that still sends shivers down my spine. The boy (18) who hit into me admitted to the Garda at the scene that he had been on his mobile phone and hadn't seen traffic had come to a stop. He had ploughed into me at full force on the link.

I for one would like to see that penalty brought in.
 
The problem with traffic laws and Irish people is that Irish people think they are great drivers and they would never crash and are able to deal with any situation.
 
dmos87 said:
I have to disagree. I was rear-ended at the beginning of the year while at a complete stop, my car written off and my 6 week old baby had to be taken to hospital. Hearing my 6 week old baby roar like that still sends shivers down my spine. The boy (18) who hit into me admitted to the Garda at the scene that he had been on his mobile phone and hadn't seen traffic had come to a stop. He had ploughed into me at full force on the link.

I for one would like to see that penalty brought in.
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Cases like this illustrate why the law must prohibit & penalise mobile phone use while driving (I presume the driver in this case wasn't using a hands free device) but the above account fails to advance the argument that using a phone is a bigger hazard than dangerous overtaking and correspondingly should attract three times more penalty points.
 
I don't drive but when I am a passenger in my wife's car I see plenty of drivers holding their mobiles. Its endemic and is embedded in the Irish driving machismo culture. Last Sunday to give an example....we were leaving HX Hospice and a car was coming in the entrance/gate and it just stopped blocking incoming traffic. I could see an elderly lady was driving and I remarked to my wife that I would get out and give the car a push. Just then the lady started driving in and texting away without a care in the world!

I saw a bad case of the mobile phone driver when I was on a Bus Eireann bus a few months ago. The driver answered his mobile at a village and continued having a full blown chat for the next 8km, through 2 more villages, a bad stretch of road through bog, 2 crossroads. Phone held in left hand the whole time, right hand on steering wheel. He kept talking away when a passenger got on and was paying his fare. The fact that a fatal crash occurred a week previously on this 8km mattered nothing to him. The bouquet is still at the crossroads today. There have been a few episodes like this I have witnessed on the particular BE route.
 
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