Is the law on using mobiles phone while driving making any difference?

When the UK government announced that it would make the use of hand held mobile phone while driving illegal there were several things that went through my mind. Specifically, what is so special about hand held mobiles that they need to be singles out by a specific law? And why can’t bad or dangerous driving as a result of using a hand held mobile phone be covered by existing road laws?

Currently I drive a about 40 miles a day on the motorway and every day I am guaranteed to see at least one person using a hand held mobile phone while driving. These fall into 3 categories;

The Conscientious

Mostly men, these drivers are acutely aware that they are breaking the law and try not to make it obvious, they do their best to not get in the way of other traffic and as a result are usually found in the first lane, keeping speed with the other traffic in the same lane. They keep switching concentration between the phone call and the road and are likely to keep a large gap in front of them.

The Distracted

Equally men and women, these drivers are probably aware that they are breaking the law but choose to forget for the duration of the phone call. They are insulated in their own world and are oblivious to the fact that their driving has slowed down and they are now causing an obstruction to other traffic. They are almost always found in the center lane and have no idea at all of the conditions around them. They are likely to spot changing road conditions too late and over-react when they eventually do.

The Couldn’t Care Less

Mostly young women, these drivers are aware that they are breaking the law and frankly don’t care. Will likely get aggressive if you try to challenge them on it. They believe that their driving is unaffected and their phone calls are usually very animated, resulting on no hands on the wheel while their other hand gesticulates as if their conversation  partner is sat next to them. They make no attempt to remove themselves from danger and will match the speed of the traffic of whatever lane they are in, and will even change lane to keep up that speed if traffic conditions change. Observers will note that they tend to ‘wander’ quite a lot within the lane and even over the edges. Causing nervousness to all around them, not that they notice, of course.

While I certainly agree that using a hand held mobile phone is detrimental to overall driving quality, so are a lot of other things, like:

- having children in the car

- changing radio station / cd / tape / ipod track

- singing along

- laughing

- smoking

- talking to a passenger

- getting bored

- eating / drinking

I am sure given 10 minutes anyone could come up with a list of things that could impair the quality of your driving.

The fact is, there is not one single driver who can give 100% concentration to the task in hand 100% of the time. Part of being human is that we are distractable and that very distractableness will sometimes result in accidents and worse.

That’s not to say that we should not have laws of the road to govern safe driving, we most definitely should, but why should we have specific laws that outlaw a specific action, when the consequences of that action are covered by existing traffic offenses. If someone is stuck in traffic and wants to make a quick call home to say so whats the problem? If someone is yabbering on to a friend and as a result is weaving about like a drunkard, well there are traffic laws that cover that.

Active policing of poor quality driving is whats required here, not black and white legislation to blanket cover topics which really should not be dealt with as black and white.

So, back to the original question; has the law banning the use of hand held mobile phones while driving made any difference? Well I don’t think it has made as much of a difference as the law makers thought it would. Given the shortness of my motorway commute and the number of drivers I see using a hand held phone, its clear many people don’t see it as the potential danger it is.

In 2007, not even four years after the law came into effect, New Labour increased further the penalty for being caught. This must be a clear indication that the law is not effective. Increasing the punishment is not the way to make a law more acceptable.

Diego Safari Rescue

Having bought a Nintendo Wii a few months ago, it was inevitable that sooner or later I would be buying games for my 4 year old daughter. I have no idea why it was this Diego game that my wife chose, but the fact that the Diego and Dora TV series is very popular with our young offspring, was probably a significant factor. The price was about £20 would have put me off, as I like to buy games after their initial popularity was waned somewhat and so tend to be a bit cheaper.

That said, we have certainly had our moneys worth from the purchase. We have both spent some time ‘playing’ the game with our daughter and she has spent time on her own, simply enjoying playing the game. Such is the simplicity of the game that a 4 year old can very quickly get the hang of it. Yet it is not so monotonous that she is bored of it. She will simply loves playing it and will repeat sections of the game just for the shear pleasure of playing the game.

Its a sad indictment of my ‘grown up’ attitude to games that I detest replaying games that I own and once completed, or more accurately, one they get too hard, they tend to be discarded to the dusty back shelf while another new and exiting game takes my fancy.

Diego will be familiar with many parents of young children and is a safe programme for all kids to watch and includes some educational aspects as well. Safari Rescue builds on that and has very simple game play and gradually eases in more complicated moves as the game progresses. There are also sections that make use of the WiiRemotes motion sensors, such as pumping up a balloon or doing a swimming action. Even a four year old can work out that you can still do these actions from the comfort of the sofa, but at least the game play is not restricted to pushing buttons.

Movement of Diego on the screen is done by tilting the WiiRemote, the only button pushing required is to do an action, such as jump. The menus are navigated in the same way. This is a good implementation, as it makes the whole experience much easier for a young child.

So pleased am I with this Diego game, that I am certain that I’ll be purchasing more Diego titles and will very likely purchase Dora ones as well.

It looks like Steve Fossett has at last been found

While it is indeed a sad story and no doubt the last 12 months and more have been a terrible time to the Fossett family, its great news that at last the mystery can start to be solved.

In the last year I have read musings that his death was faked and even that he found his way into another dimension. I am glad that both theories will now be seen to be false, but the fact that people had the poor sense and bad taste to make the statements I found disturbing at the time and it only goes to further deepen my contempt of all things conspiracy. It would be great if those responsible for the comments would retract them, but somehow I doubt that will happen.

In fact I expect someone to come up with further reasons why there is a conspiracy, someone if bound to mention the small amount of tissue found so far, of the fact the found items are conveniently his IDs and were a distance from the plane. Of course I hope I am wrong, but experience of the low intelligence that occupies parts of the web expects the worst.

That doom and gloom aside, I hope the end of this missery for the Fossett family is soon over and they can soon live without the glare of media interest.