Mobile phone use

[Taylor James]

Would it be legal if my passenger held a phone (theirs fwiw) on speaker so that I could join the conversation? At no point would I touch the phone and it wouldn't be in my line of sight, just held up between us.

[LosingGrip]

No offence of using a mobile phone, however if your driving is affected you could commit other offences.

[Taylor James]

LosingGrip said:

No offence of using a mobile phone, however if your driving is affected you could commit other offences.

I wondered if that would be it. I guess in those circumstances the phone wouldn't be part of the offence, it would be that you were distracted but the actual offence would be careless driving or in that area of sub-standard driving.

[grumpy52]

No different to having a full hands free kit , if your driving failed to be up to the expected standard you could still be committing offences .

[QBee]

That's the problem - the bloody things are almost as big a distraction as kids fighting in the back seat.
I was watching a Yoof Tube video earlier taken on a dashcam.
Driver in that car was on a hands free phone, engrossed in conversation, and I watched in horror as he drove straight through a red light without slowing, and crashed into a car crossing his path on green.

[Jimmy Recard]

QBee said:

That's the problem - the bloody things are almost as big a distraction as kids fighting in the back seat.
I was watching a Yoof Tube video earlier taken on a dashcam.
Driver in that car was on a hands free phone, engrossed in conversation, and I watched in horror as he drove straight through a red light without slowing, and crashed into a car crossing his path on green.

Not that it's relevant to the legality, but I've never been keen on talking on the phone while driving, whether handsfree or not. I don't normally bother connecting to Bluetooth in any cars I drive - I just call people back when I stop

[Taylor James]

Jimmy Recard said:

QBee said:

That's the problem - the bloody things are almost as big a distraction as kids fighting in the back seat.
I was watching a Yoof Tube video earlier taken on a dashcam.
Driver in that car was on a hands free phone, engrossed in conversation, and I watched in horror as he drove straight through a red light without slowing, and crashed into a car crossing his path on green.

Not that it's relevant to the legality, but I've never been keen on talking on the phone while driving, whether handsfree or not. I don't normally bother connecting to Bluetooth in any cars I drive - I just call people back when I stop

I'm with you on that and with my own phone it goes in the glovebox if I'm in one of my old cars, none of which has handsfree. I'm strongly of the opinion that any call can wait until I get to my destination and pick up a voicemail.

My situation was that a mate was talking about something that concerned me and just put the phone on speaker so I could hear what he was saying. It wasn't about some complex equation. We passed a Police car who had a good look but nothing more and that started a discussion on the legality.