Ditch in-car mobiles, employers urged

Posted by AccountingWEB PM | on Tue, 27/02/2007 - 12:21 2975 2 comments

Bosses should completely ban staff from using mobile phones in cars, experts have advised as new tighter road safety laws come into force.

The warning from fleet management company Arval that even hands free cellphone use should be banned while driving was in response to the introduction on Tuesday of regulations which impose on drivers an increased on the spot fine of £60 and mandatory three points on their license if caught using a hand held mobile phone.

Mike Waters, head of market analysis at Arval, said: "For businesses, best practice would be to implement a complete ban for their fl

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What Rubbish

PAULGACC | Wed, 28/02/2007 - 14:20 | Permalink

Whilst driving a car, the driver is entirely responsible for his or her own actions. They should decide whether or not it is safe at that time to answer or make a phone call using a hands free device. If in any doubt they should either pull over or not use it. To suggest the company is at fault is ridiculous. As mentioned below there are many other distractions, if the company provide company cars with radios in, are they to blame if the driver is distracted by listening to it? Should companies therefore remove all radios from vehicles? or maybe we should just take the whole car away in case the driver has an accident with it.
With this sort of over reaction, political correctness and over the top health and safety rules, the worlds going mad. Where will it all end?

Other driving distractions

David160 | Tue, 27/02/2007 - 17:41 | Permalink

Using hand held mobiles whilst driving does cause more distractions, from driving, than hands free mobiles, which still cause a distraction. There are, however, a lot of other things which can cause a distraction whilst driving; eg.-

radios, road signs, pedestrians, sexually attractive people, bright lights, other road vehicles, shop signs, smells, loud noise, eating/drinking, alcohol, other people talking, the emergency services, speed bumps/unrepaired roads, passengers, children, and wives/husbands.

To name a few. Should they all be banned as well! Should employers be responsible if the driver is distracted by the above.

Driving is inherently dangerous, but neccessary, and so a balance has to be struck between other activities, which could make driving more dangerous, and driving more safely. Just where to strike the balance is the stuff of many debates.