Posts Tagged ‘Texting’

Driven to Distraction

Sunday, April 8th, 2012

Many drivers have either witnessed or heard of people reading a book, doing their makeup and worse still, eating their breakfast cereal out of a bowl balanced on a steering wheel while driving, these are obvious and dangerous activities but they’re many more subtle distractions that lots of drivers do not consider impedes their ability to drive in a safe and controlled manner.

Most drivers like to think that they can multi task whilst driving but any activity that’s dissipates a drivers concentration is a danger to themselves, their passengers and other road users. In the majority of incidents drivers only have a few seconds to react to avoid a collision,  taking your eyes of the road to adjust  the radio station or looking out of the vehicle’s side window at something that has caught your eye may only take a few seconds but those seconds are precious when confronted by a car that’s jumped the lights or a child who runs out from behind a parked car in front of your vehicle.  It is a terrible burden to live with the knowledge that you caused the death of a child because you gazed at a dress or suit in a shop window instead of fully concentrating on your driving.

How many times have you driven home from work or a well-travelled route and can’t remember anything about the journey?.  Was it because there was nothing memorable about your journey, or was it that you were whiling the time away by talking on the phone or mentally making a shopping list or thinking about your forthcoming holiday. Countless drivers have experienced the phenomenon of not remembering their journey and sadly for some they paid the ultimate price for this lack of concentration.

Lots of cyclists and motorcyclists have experienced or heard the well-used phrase, I didn’t see you coming, for many drivers this is because they failed to look and look again before proceeding possibly because they were distracted or they were just not paying sufficient attention which is necessary to drive safely.

Please look at the enclosed graphic kindly supplied to Roaddriver by Bolt insurance, it lists the main reasons and activities for driver distractions.




Why you should not text while driving

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Latest figures show only 27,000 drivers were prosecuted for using hand-held mobile phones while driving yet the government calculates that of the 10million drivers using UK roads daily; One percent are using mobile phones, in other words 100.000 drivers are breaking the law and putting their life and other road users at risk.

The vast majority of the motoring public complies with the law and is aware of the significant road safety risks of trying to drive and use a mobile phone at the same time. However, Police forces say that there are still a significant number of persistent offenders who use their mobile phones when behind the wheel despite the risk of causing a collision and the implications of getting points on their driving license.

It is illegal to hold a hand-held device to speak, send or receive electronic communication while driving; this includes text and picture messaging.  The law still applies when waiting at traffic lights or stuck in traffic jams.  In other words, if you are behind the wheel of a car with the engine on, in a public highway this legislation applies to you.

The following video illustrates what can happen if you text whilst driving.

The video clearly shows that drivers need to apply all their powers of concentration to the task of driving, RoadDriver would discourage the use of any communication while behind the wheel.

If you’re involved in an accident while on the phone (hands free or not) the police may consider charging you with driving without due care and attention, careless or dangerous driving. The penalties on conviction for such offences include heavy fines, endorsement, disqualification and in serious cases such as in this video, a lengthy prison sentence.