The punishment is based on being caught 'using' a non hands free phone. I have an iPhone which I used with CarPlay. If I press the button the front to enable CarPlay, I am making myself liable to prosecution even though the danger is utterly negligible because a) I'm not reading the screen and b) I'm not even looking at the phone. So in reality it is less dangerous than using the in car LED screen.
We are quite tough on drink driving. A one year ban is a severe penalty. A lifetime ban could make someone unemployable. Maybe we should execute anyone who drops litter?
The significant grey area as reagrds usage of inbuilt car touch screens (for anything, never mind on sat nav functions), dedicated sat navs or mobile phones with satnav apps (even when the phone is on divert) is one that the government should really look into closing.
I personally think that such general usage should be covered under 'driving without due care and attention' or dangerous/reckless driving, rather than specific offenses for use of mobile phones etc, because the technology is different (and can be far easier to use) from one device to another, is always being updated (and thus laws would have to be updated constantly, or very draconian to say no use of any touchscreens of any kind, which still doesn't include traditional 'button/dial' tech on cars, e.g. volume controls, general switches [e.g. lights]).
IMHO it would be far better to say that any usage which mean that the driver was not in full control of their vehicle would be precluded whilst driving along, which would be dependent on the weather, type of road being driven on, traffic levels and location/time of day.
When stopped in a traffic jam or at the lights when you knew you had a reasonable time to wait, I wouldn't have a problem in a driver operating a touchscreen, but not so for the most part when actually driving, even on a clear day on an empty motorway. With satnavs, phones and touchscreens generally, even the actual buttons are not so easy to use as the (often ergnomically designed and located) buttons used to activate or change other car functions, such as the lights or volume control, which are normally both conveniently located, easy to operate (often bigger to help) and have only one function (on/off or up/down something).
With the satnav tech, you often have to reach up and well away from the steering wheel and look across to see which button or part of the screen you need to use - far more than a volume control knob or button, which you can tell instantly if you've pressed the right one or not, often without looking. I wouldn't be confident about using the more tricky multi-function tech, and I don't even on the more standard laid-out older car I currently own, including changing the CD or tape over.
People should realise that it should be a (good) judgement call, but that they should err on the side of caution, especially when they have not used the facilities much (and thus don't know intuitively where everything is and how to use it) and/or in anything other than the most benign of road conditions.
My advice is to learn your car's (and satnav's [including the phone's]) systems as much as possible if you want to use them safely, even those currently allowable to be used on the move, plus to use them as far as possible when stationary/handbrake on/before you set off so any changes are kept to a minimum.
I personally think that usage of a phone by the driver (even a hands-free one) in a car SHOULD be illegal whilst the car in is motion (with the notable exception for the emergency services and Armed forces radios under tightly controlled circumstances), as I cannot believe ther would be many circumstances where being able to be contactable whilst driving would be so important that it was allowable.
Taking a call whilst driving for the rest of us can't be that important that it's worth risking not just our lives, but those of passengers, pedestrians and other road users, never mind the huge financial losses and disruption caused by accidents due to inattentive driving.
Many of these issue are, IMHO, no different to people stupidly watching TV, surfing the web, doing their hair, eating, drinking (especially food and hot drinks for obvious reasons) and, yes, smoking (HJ's analogy of lighting something on fire in a car is quite apt) and dangerously taking their eyes off the road under 99% of driving circumstances.
Better to be safe than sorry, but I think better training and leaving it to our judgement to when certain (limited) actions can be undertaken is preferably to blanket bans under all circumstances or continually updated laws which people won't realise will have changed (or will cost the government [us taxpayers] loads of money to keep us up-to-date with via cosntant publicity campaigns).
I think that the vehicle manufacturers, sat nav and mobile phone firms also have a duty of care to ensure their equipment is designed to be as ergonomic as possible in use/interracting, perhaps with internationally agreed (minimum?) standards rather like NCAP test reports and ratings to help inprove safety generally and to allow customers to make informed choises.
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