Stricter laws for in-car satnav usage?

[philpugh]

I was half-listening to the Radio4 news last night on way back from work and heard an item relating to forthcoming legislation that will 'complete' the recent round of traffic legislation. They were saying that it is planned to tighten up on use of mobiles phones AND satnav by the driver of the vehicle. This item was related to the current discussion about drivers using mobiles phones causing death thorough an accident. Did anyone else hear similar?
_________________
Phil

[Darren]

Nope and I've not heard of any new legislation in this area due to make it into law. The only thing I can think of is the Road Safety Bill, the last part of which is due to be enacted early in 2008. This is the bit that covers 'Active Detection' of safety cameras etc using Laser and Radar.

I'll make some enquiries.
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Darren Griffin

[PaulB2005]

Isn't it just this again?

Which, if i am correct (unlikely), just means if you kill someone whilst driving and they can show your fiddling with Sat Nav or Mobile Phone was a cause of the accident you can be charged with Death By Dangerous Driving and get upto 5 years in jail. Just the same as if you where fiddling with the stereo, looking for a sweet in the glove compartment, staring at woman / man at side of road, window shopping etc.

Same as it's always been?

[philpugh]

It looks as if it may be a 're-hash' of the original story. I suspect they were linking two things together to make it more interesting - as I said - I was only half listening as full listening is probably illegal whilst driving
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Phil

[pennyandchris]

Sounds like the 'politics of envy'. As soon as some are enjoying partaking in a particular activity, there's always someone (who can't afford, or won't devote the time / resources to get involved) willing to make a case against it. It can be moral, based on H&S or other excuse.

It's happened with:

Fox hunting - I'm (marginally) against it on humanity grounds, but the vast majority of those who campaigned for a ban see it as part of some class struggle.

Drinking - we're about the only country in Europe who still aren't totally trusted to drink alcohol when we like - due to legislation which went back to the Great War- the recent change to so-called 24-hour licensing has in reality been anything but.

Mobile phones - fiddling with a (handheld or not) phone can provide a distraction (like other things), but drivers should be allowed to prioritise where their attention is needed.

And now satnavs - whilst they were fairly exclusive, no-one really noticed them - but within the last year or two they've started to appear as standard equipment on quite lowly cars, and are (almost) as cheap as a car stereo as an aftermarket accessory.

As an H&S professional, I get really downheartened when others use H&S considerations to justify a prejudice against an activity

End of rant

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