On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:29:21 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote:

Martin J wrote:
Just out of interest has anyone ever seen a driver talking on a non
hands free mobile get pulled over the police?

Not directly relevant to the new law, but I seem to be in a nostalgic
mood here tonight, so here goes ...

I was pulled over years ago before the new law came into effect. I was
on the M25, and tried to take a call on my hands-free, but had to use
the handset because of poor quality sound. (The call was from a
particularly demanding director, so I didn't want to miss it.) When the
call ended, I was signalled on to the hard shoulder by the police patrol
who had been shadowing me during the call, and advised that I wasn't in
full control of the car, having only one hand on the wheel.

I pointed out to him, that as the holder of a Private Pilot's Licence,
when landing my plane I controlled it with my left hand on the control
column, because my right hand had to be on the throttle, so I didn't
really think that steering with one hand for a short distance in the
slow lane was that risky (or words to that effect). Half way through
this, I wondered if I should have kept quiet, but he mumbled general
cautionary phrases and went off. Phew!

The real risk was that I was so engrossed in the call that I didn't
notice the police car on my right! I support the new law.

Precisely - if mobile phones were just blocks of plastic there
wouldn't be much of a problem with people holding them to their heads
while driving. It's the amount of attention you have to give the
bloody things that makes them so dangerous, why is why I think
hands-free phones are almost as bad...

Charlie

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