Should a hand held mobile phone be confiscated if you use it while driving?

[GXL078]

I am just interested in gauging the level of support for this idea. It may sound a bit Scrubyish but I reckon it would be a damn effective deterrent. It sickens me everytime I drive near a tool who is weaving and darting all over the road because thir phone is more important than the other task at hand. If they are going to have zero points for P platers then won't they lose their license for this? Well it hasn't slowed them down, they are all still on the phone. They just don't care, maybe I should mind my own business. It ain't going to happen because the Government is not going to be interested in such a radical idea or any that might actually work. Cameron Murphy would have something to say about it too.

[MITCHAY]

I don't think anyone should have to use their phone while driving. Pull the **** over if you need to talk. Can't count how many have nearly wiped me out.

Those who want to keep talking on their phone, be prepared for a big bill from Subaru if you wipe me out. Believe me when I say they are rip off merchants!

I hate talking on the phone and driving is a good excuse not to answer it! :

[flappist]

Ja mein Führer, ve haff vays off making the schweinhunds OBEY.

Talking on a phone is distracting and therefore dangerous, ban it.
Talking to passengers is distracting and therefore dangerous, ban it.
Children are very distracting and therefore dangerous, ban them.
Stereos are distracting and therefore dangerous, ban them.
Manual transmissions are distracting and therefore dangerous, ban them.

Stupid people who cannot do more than one thing at a time are dangerous and should not be allowed anywhere near the controls of anything, BAN THEM.

I think you should be able to lose points/get fined but to take your phone? That's a bit far - i know i need my phone.

[GCFordChic]

This idea might get people to stop doing it... so i would support it. People would be more afraid about using their phone if they might lose it, but yet again 'it will never happen to me syndrome' kicks in and it will be as much of a deterrent as the current couple of hundred dollar fine.

I am on the road for work and even if it is the boss calling, if i cant pull over i let message bank take it and then ring them back at the next stop. (I cannot be bothered using handsfree, but i can ignore my phone) If you are a professional driver it is no excuse, invest in a handsfree kit and you have your soloution.

I am pessimistic about its potential effectiveness, but i say it is worth a shot.

[MITCHAY]

flappist, maybe when someone wipes out you and your F6 because they were concentrating on socializing rather than driving you might not think too lightly of the subject.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

flappist, maybe when someone wipes out you and your F6 because they were concentrating on socializing rather than driving you might not think too lightly of the subject.

When someone wipes me out because they were concentrating on their doof doof or the kids in the back seat were fighting or they dropped their cigarette or any of the zillion other things that happen in life will I be happy because it was not a phone that caused the problem?

Back in the '70s a phrase was coined "Ban low performance drivers not high performance cars".

What has changed in the last 30 years? Oh yes, the average level of driving skill has gone through the floor.
How many do you know have an "auto licence" because steering and changing gears is too hard?

Where is the responsability of a licence? If you cannot drive and talk at the same time then don't do it but if you can why should you be penalised?

It has to be the same for all maybe? We are not all the same you know.

Well there are people with licences who are unsafe over 50km/h anywhere so if the limit was dropped to that we would all be safe wouldn't we.

WE ARE OUR OWN WORST ENEMIES. They love control and the more we give them the more they want.

[Boza]

Some of us actually have to use a phone for work but i tend to use a carkit and if i need to dial a number i pull over so therefore should i loose my bussiness even if i do the right thing

[AUIII XR8 MAN]

Wouldn't work. Mobile phone are cheap to buy now. It would be just getting fine.

[Den.]

Here they don't even have a law against using them. A lady last year drove on black ice while yapping on her phone and drowned her 1 year old and her self after spinning into a creek. The family's reaction? They wanted the ROAD closed!! they called it a "known dangerous section of road" Yet she drove down it on black ice in freezing rain with all season tires while on her phone!! You'd think is it was a "known" bad section they'd hang up their phones and SLOW DOWN!! Idiots!! :

We live in a society where people take NO responsibility and blame anyone/anything but themselves for their own stupidity!

So obviously I agree. I say have the cop run it over on the spot and give the driver a good beating.

[merlin]

It is a good idea which could be somewhat effective when you think about it - a lot of people really can't live without their phone and whilst some phones may be cheap the trendy/cool ones that they won't want to lose are still around the $500 mark and thats just off ebay. To further support it handsfree kits are readily available and I recieved handsfree earphones AND a bluetooth handsfree kit free with my phone, not to mention message bank so there really is no excuse to be on a handheld when driving. Not to mention I have lost count of the amount of times I have witnessed someone on a mobile driving erratically.

That being said however I am sitting on the fence a little as I also agree slightly with the other side of fence in that it is a dangerous road once you agree to the government confiscating your personal property to keep you from harming yourself or others. However if there is a clear and sensible law defined and in place (in which no talking on a handheld mobile does seem somewhat sensible) then maybe you should lose your property. Perhaps a compromise - instead of a permanent confiscation, it could be a 2 week confiscation, scaling higher and higher for further offences?

Meh I guess I am 60% for it and 40% against it ;-)

[Dazza XLT]

It's called a carkit.
Our company policy states that all cars must have a car kit installed.

[BJ]

Yes they should. I am sick and tired of people swerving all over the road. No phone call is that important. Bj

[merlin]

Originally Posted by Darran

It's called a carkit.
Our company policy states that all cars must have a car kit installed.

Yeah, I should probably add that where I work, if you are caught talking on a handheld whilst driving it is automatic dismissal. I believe we have lost a few employees this way...

[pb02]

YES!! I was out late the other night with my wife. Had to cross Nepean Highway outside Southland shopping centre. Waited for the green man to let us cross, and also checked to see traffic stop for us. We got half way across and had to wait as a P plate driver on his mobile didn't even see the red light let alone us!!! everyone else had stopped but he was completely oblivious to anything around him.

[all4ford]

Originally Posted by flappist

Stupid people who cannot do more than one thing at a time are dangerous and should not be allowed anywhere near the controls of anything, BAN THEM.

THANK YOU! Someone finally said it. Talking on the phone is not the issue, its the idiots who can't look and concentrate on the road whilst talking on the phone that is the issue.

I know people who drive manual and talk on the phone without taking their eyes off the road for a second, and then I see young girls (sorry for generalisation here girls : ) who cannot even drive auto properly on the phone because they are looking all over the place, swinging hands and just paying no attention whatsoever.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by all4ford

THANK YOU! Someone finally said it. Talking on the phone is not the issue, its the idiots who can't look and concentrate on the road whilst talking on the phone that is the issue.

I know people who drive manual and talk on the phone without taking their eyes off the road for a second, and then I see young girls (sorry for generalisation here girls : ) who cannot even drive auto properly on the phone because they are looking all over the place, swinging hands and just paying no attention whatsoever.

I agree aswell, im more than capable to drive a manual and talk on my phone, I very rarely do it, and its not like Im going to do it in the CBD.

The problem is that the public as a whole cannot do it, so you have to make the laws up for the lowest common denominator.

[4.9 EF Futura]

The message is obviously not getting through... thinking outside the sqaure... i like it.

[Den.]

The only thing is that mobile phone users are bad drivers IN GENERAL. The few that can do both are few and far between.

As for the precedent of confiscation, they confiscate guns, don't they? But yeah, I too have a problem with losing more freedom, especially when it affects the majority because of a stupid minority.

While out for lunch today there wewre four cops at the next table. I asked one of the officers directly if he thought cellphone users were dangerous. He answered "While driving?"

I said ."Yes" (forgot to clarify when I asked, oops!)

He answered right away. "Definitely."

[protd]

in qld it's 3 points and $240 for talking on the phone.. maybe after the 3rd offence they should just seize the car...

what a crock of shiit it's stupid and a wast of time.. more problems are caused from playing with the stereo and fixing make-up and screwing around with mates in the car than a mobile phone..

[nobbystang]

Originally Posted by MattyJ

I think you should be able to lose points/get fined but to take your phone? That's a bit far - i know i need my phone.

How did people ever get buy without mobile phones????

In NZ, Drink driving and street racing are automatic 28 day impound of car, doesn't matter whos car it is!! One guy got done for third time and had his car confiscated for good!! Funny part was, it wasn't his car, it was his dads. Hopefully the old man give him a hiding to wake him up. Maybe we should trial it, start hitting people where it hurts!!

[Den.]

I'm pretty sure they'll never do anything here. They can't really, no way to enforce it though the cops would love a charge to get them on. Then again if we DID get rid of them, I'd have no one to harrass!!!!! :the_finge

I also hang up if someone calls me on one while they're driving.(Funny how it always seems to be the very people who complain about OTHERS doing the same thing who call while driving and yapping on theirs!! HAHA) I just ask, "are you driving?" and if they say yes, *CLICK* :evil_laug

[bArNsY]

I don't care if they take my phone, its just the sim card and memery stick that I don't want them to take!
There should be a advanced driving course with the use of a mobile phone, you have to text 5 of your friends before you meet the next check point _

[sarrge2001]

I've been using car phones and mobiles since they came out - talking on a phone isn't the distracting part, it's actually dialling the number or typing an sms.

When the old carphones were all the rage, they had handsfree but you still have to look away from the road to dial the number.

Whatever happened to common sense????

[aussiblue]

Yes - confiscated and rammed down their throats or some other orifice. I have strong feelings about this as my last three accident were people on mobile phones running into the back of me while I was stopped at traffic lights and one was still do 60 kpm plus when they hit.

[Den.]

Originally Posted by sarrge2001

Whatever happened to common sense????

It went out of style along with responsiblity and courtesy.

On a related note: I don't know about there but here for some reason people "lie down" in their cars when yapping on the phone. And I MEAN lie down!! Across the centre of the car and the passenger seat. You come up behind them and it at first appears the car is driving itself until you see the head of the driver barely level with the dash on the PASSENGER side of the car!!

Or the guy who lies on the door sill with his hand over the rear view mirror (of course blocking it!) and lieing on his arm with the phone crooked in his shoulder! Every once in a while he does that "faghand" thing where he limps his wrist on the door sill.......

We have all kinds of these idiots up here!! :SaiyanSmi

[Grunter]

I said yes, not because I think it's a problem to be talking on the phone, but I can't understand anyone who thinks holding a phone to their ear whilst driving is anything but lessening their ability to control their car, no matter how good a driver they may think they are.

I can, and I'd hope that the majority can, talk to my passengers, the kids, listen to the stereo and/or change gears whilst keeping the hands on the wheel (on the whole).

But fumbling around looking for the phone when it's ringing, and then having a hand off the wheel for the length of a call, whilst trying to change gears, indicate and steer, deserves a big penalty.

Can't understand why not use an in car or hands free kit? Problem solved.

[snortycorty]

Bottom line is Dont Talk On Your Phone whilst driving!

Flappist, I completely disagree with you. I have been the one that has caused the accident beacuse of the phone. Luckily no one was hurt, and it was only my car that got damaged, but it served me right!

Good on you, you very smart and able bodied people who can talk on your phone, change gears and also give your undivided attention to the road. What an accomplishment to be proud of.
Personally i find it hard to do all those three things, (substitute the phone for a drink even) yes i can do it but I know my concentration lapses. Which is why I dont attempt to do it anymore! Oh well, gee, must be because i am a young female driver. 'women can do more than 2 things at one' - not true!

"what a crock of shiit it's stupid and a wast of time.. more problems are caused from playing with the stereo and fixing make-up and screwing around with mates in the car than a mobile phone.."
Well duh, no offence but wouldnt common sense tell you NOT to do these things? ^

So banning the mobile phone is a bit harsh maybe... but hey if 3 demerit points and a $200 fine isn't enough (as it should be) then I guess it may work. And yeah, maybe it is a good idea.

[james22]

bloody oath. I fully support the idea. The amount of times I have nearly been wiped out/collected by other drivers talking on mobiles is ridiculous.

Orange is roundabout capital, people can't even use them when they are paying attention, much less on the phone. I nearly get sideswiped at least once a day due to this.

[HOON69]

wont deter anyone from using it all it will do is make them buy cheap phones or hands free devises which btw also hinder your driving as your always concentrating on things other then the road etc

take my phone and i buy a new one
they ae as cheap as 30 bucks new so no skin off my back.