A consultation on banning drivers from using hand-held mobile phones has been announced by the UK's Road Safety Minister David Jamieson. The consultation will seek the public's views on the possible introduction of a ban on hand-held phones and asks for opinions on issues such as what, if any, exemptions might be needed.
David Jamieson said "We know that driving a vehicle whilst using a hand-held mobile phone is dangerous. Our recent advertising campaign has increased awareness of the dangers of this and the police already prosecute those irresponsible drivers who insist on using their mobiles. But there is still a core of motorists who are ignoring these warnings."
At present the police may prosecute drivers for failing to have proper control of their vehicle. In some circumstances a prosecution for careless or dangerous driving may be justified. There is however no specific law governing the usage of a cell phone while driving.
The new proposed legislation will ban the use of a cell phone, except when used with a hands-free kit when a car is in use. This ban would also apply even if a vehicle was paused at traffic lights or stopped in a temporary traffic jam or in very slow moving traffic. Only a motor car with the engine switched off would be exempt from the ban.
Significantly, the proposed legislation will ban the use of so called ear-bud types of hands-free kits which require a small earpiece to be worn. The ban also takes into account Bluetooth based wireless earpieces, banning those as well. Hence, the only type of hands-free kit that would be permitted are those that use a loudspeaker, and not a personal earpiece. Also interesting in the proposals is the requirement that any speaker based hands-free kit has to be permanently wired into the car, or if just plugged in, must somehow connect to the cars' own speaker system. A hands-free cradle that plugs into a car cigarette socket and has its own in-built speaker would be illegal under these new proposals. It may be worth noting that this type of hands-free unit, that simply plug into a car cigar lighter socket are currently the most popular sold in UK shops due to their low price when compared to hard wired hands-free kits and the lack of installation needed.
The new proposals would apply to the driver of any motor vehicle who used a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving on a road. It would also apply to anyone who "caused or permitted" someone to drive whilst using a mobile phone, such as an employer who had not provided the employee with a hands-free car kit.
The government says that it expects that about 100,000 fixed penalty notices could be issued each year and about 5,000 prosecutions in court as a result of the creation of a new offence. Interested parties have until 25 November 2002 to respond to the proposals.'"
Posted to the site on 19th August 2002
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/7406.php