Phones

[mike]

i thought touching the phone was allowed, holding
isn't

mike

 --- Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net> wrote: > At 2:57
PM +0000 12/6/03, Jim Haseltine wrote:
> >December 1 2003 - new British law comes into force
> making it illegal to use
> >a handheld phone while driving.
> >
> >Sounds sensible enough doesn't it? If you want to
> use your phone you either
> >get a hand-free kit or you pull over and stop.
> 
> Actually- no.  You have to pull over to answer,
> period, unless you've 
> got voice recognition or something.  You can talk
> all you want while 
> driving, but you can't touch the phone- the second
> you do, you 
> violate the law.
> 
> The Register noted with considerable consternation
> that wireless 
> companies have been using the publicity over the law
> to sell 
> handsfree kits which they imply are enough(or all
> you need to do) to 
> comply with the law.  It's simply not true; hit the
> "answer" button 
> on the phone while the car is in motion, and
> congratulations- you've 
> just done something illegal.
> 
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/64/34001.html
> 
> (skip down to "So what does it all mean")
> 
> Frankly, all legislation everywhere thus far misses
> the point 
> entirely- the danger is the actual conversation,
> because people 
> develop tunnel vision of a sort when talking on the
> phone.  It's not 
> the same as talking to someone in the car-
> university studies have 
> shown that passengers are usually very aware of how
> the driver is 
> acting and how busy they are...and the situation
> outside. Coming up 
> on a rotary?  Conversation stops until you're back
> on open road, 
> whereas the person on the other end of the phone
> will just keep 
> yakking away.
> 
> By being all friendly and pushing hands-free kits on
> everyone, the 
> mobile phone providers and companies have made it
> nearly impossible 
> to get a total ban; the argument will now be "what
> we've done is good 
> enough; we already have something, we don't need to
> do more".
> 
> Brett
> (Not in the UK, but The Register is one of my
> favorite IT news sites- 
> especially the BOFH series)
> -- 
> ----
> "They that give up essential liberty to obtain
> temporary
> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben
> Franklin
> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/
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