Hands-free
As reported in the national press, the penalties for using a mobile phone while driving have increased. There has been no change in the law, just that the penalties have doubled. Get caught with a phone in your hand while at the wheel and that’s an instant six points on your licence and a £200 fine, up from three points and £100. So, that’s halfway towards getting your licence taken away from you as 12 points equals a ban. However, if you’re caught using a mobile device as a new driver – ie, within two years of passing the driving test – your licence could be revoked.
It’s not illegal to use a mobile phone hands-free. But you’d need to set it up prior to driving either with an earpiece cord or via Bluetooth to an earpiece or through your vehicle’s speaker system. You are allowed to press a button to answer a call and end it, but that’s it – you can’t text or picture-message even when stationary at traffic lights.
Many cars today – even those with touch-screen sat-navs from a decade or more ago – have Bluetooth or Aux connectivity, giving scope to connect devices to the sound or infotainment system. If you don’t have any of those gizmos, then the best advice I can give is just to switch off your phone and enjoy the drive.
I’m also not that keen on those infotainment systems that are all the rage in modern cars. Many of them are touch-screen, which means taking your eyes off the road momentarily to operate them. If you’ve used one of these systems, you’ll know they aren’t as simple to operate as good old-fashioned ‘turn knob’ controls. At least if you had your hand on a rotating dial you kind of knew where it was in relation to fully on or fully off without looking. Now, though, you may have to navigate through various menus to even turn the cabin heat up or down. OK, a few models have a set of controls on the steering wheel, but most of them require you to look away from the road, albeit only for a second, which can have dangerous consequences.
Also, the brightness of these screens can be irritating. Some aren’t autodimmable at night and beam bright light direct into your eyes – not good when you’re trying to operate them, then looking back at a pitch black road – your eyes take a few seconds to adjust.