A legal riddle.. :)
Discussion
I say "riddle", because this is more of a pedantic question than anything, but I'm sure it must be a common occurrence.
It concerns my latest setup as regards to music in the car. It's an iphone connected to the stereo (via FM transmitter gadget), and the iphone sits snuggly in my ashtray, which I don't use. I treat it as I would the stereo or a satnav unit - not tinkering with it while driving, etc, but there have been times where I've pressed buttons "whilst the engine is running", which I think would constitute an offence with a phone, but not a stereo/sat-nav/ipod. The phone has a specific ipod mode, which makes things more complicated. Would that fall under using a phone whilst in charge of a car?
Oh, and any time I did press buttons with the engine running were on private land, of course
It concerns my latest setup as regards to music in the car. It's an iphone connected to the stereo (via FM transmitter gadget), and the iphone sits snuggly in my ashtray, which I don't use. I treat it as I would the stereo or a satnav unit - not tinkering with it while driving, etc, but there have been times where I've pressed buttons "whilst the engine is running", which I think would constitute an offence with a phone, but not a stereo/sat-nav/ipod. The phone has a specific ipod mode, which makes things more complicated. Would that fall under using a phone whilst in charge of a car?
Oh, and any time I did press buttons with the engine running were on private land, of course
Edited by erdnase on Tuesday 27th November 21:59
If its capable of phone communications (ie on the phone frequencies) then it's a phone. So your iphone is a phone, no matter what else it does.
If your phone is held or has to be held in the course of making a call, then it's an offence to use it whilst on a journey.
"Use" is not defined, but checking the time on it's clock counts if that gives you a clue.
Your get-out might be that it can be pressed but not held.
If your phone is held or has to be held in the course of making a call, then it's an offence to use it whilst on a journey.
"Use" is not defined, but checking the time on it's clock counts if that gives you a clue.
Your get-out might be that it can be pressed but not held.
If you're not holding the phone to your ear and not looking down at it in your lap then someone would have a hard time noticing that you're touching your 'phone' while driving.
However, the risk of getting nabbed for this is exactly the reason why I'm going to get me one of these:
http://www.blueunplugged.com/p.aspx?p=120757&#...
Works with Bluetooth to control my phone (HTC Touch) both as a handsfree phone and as an MP3 player. All the controls are manual push-buttons on the dashboard mounted Parrot unit so I never need to touch my phone for anything.
However, the risk of getting nabbed for this is exactly the reason why I'm going to get me one of these:
http://www.blueunplugged.com/p.aspx?p=120757&#...
Works with Bluetooth to control my phone (HTC Touch) both as a handsfree phone and as an MP3 player. All the controls are manual push-buttons on the dashboard mounted Parrot unit so I never need to touch my phone for anything.
Hmm, thanks 7db. The fact that it's classed as a phone, and that changing a song / pushing buttons is pretty simlar to "checking the time", it sounds a bit less legal than I thought!
No biggie, I can just stick a playlist on at the start of a trip and not touch it again. I don't want to have to rely on "get outs" if caught pressing buttons at lights or traffic jams.
7db said:
If your phone is held or has to be held in the course of making a call, then it's an offence to use it whilst on a journey.
"Use" is not defined, but checking the time on it's clock counts if that gives you a clue.
Im sure there was a bloke on here who got done for picking up his phone to check the time and he took it to court and was found not guilty of any offence as he did not make a call."Use" is not defined, but checking the time on it's clock counts if that gives you a clue.
Happy to be corrected. Its my understanding that "use" can be broadly interpreted - the regs aren't clear - but it might be restricted to "interactive communication" use.
Whether it's in the public interest is a different matter, with the number of truckers making calls on my local high street at 40mph.
Whether it's in the public interest is a different matter, with the number of truckers making calls on my local high street at 40mph.
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