Spoke to a plumbing colleague other day and he told me he had been on a speed awareness course. Saves you getting points after being nabbed speeding i believe. Any how he told me theres a new bill going through parliament regarding using mobile phones whilst driving, it should be in by christmas.

What he was told anyone getting caught using a mobile phone will get a 6 week ban for the 1st offence, a years ban if you get caught a second time and either a 3 or 5 year ban for the 3rd time. He also said they would be using cameras to catch people. Just warning people in advance.

cant see this happening to be honest, how the hell driving while smoking is still legal is beyond me

If it was the one on Monday at the Belle vue sports hall i was on the same course

Not a bad cash cow 21 of us on it at £80 a pop

I dont no kint, lads from durham and he got caught at sunderland. Im just repeating what i was told.

I never got offered this course instead of points and a fine :(

I got offered the course, I missed it because I was in hospital, when I called to explain they said the course was cancelled and the case was dropped. I think the variable speed camera was fooked

To be honest...that is just about the most stupid thing I have ever read here on the Bunker...which you must admit takes some doing as there is a load of shite written in here at times!!!

Why?

Whats more dangerous holding something to your ear or constantly moving something thats alight to and from your mouth?

Depends on what is being smoked I suppose.

I think you've just awarded yourself the stupidest post award by a mile... crash, petrol leak, human crackling ... work it out, I can't be arsed.

On that theory then is it safer to drive a diesel car whilst smoking than use a phone. ?????

As you probably no make that almost certainly wont get human crackling. If you want I'll explain the Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) and Upper Explosive Limit (UEL), Vapour Density, TNT Equivalent and the Flash Point but like you I can't be arsed.

**shakes head**

So we ban using mobile phones in cars, hmmmm people still seem to be crashing, right lets ban smoking in cars...nope people are still crashing, it must be because they are listening to music while driving so we'll ban car stereos, that'll work...still cars crashing....ok lets ban eating and drinking in cars....still crashing...hmmmm how about we ban talking in cars, see if that works...still crashing...ok maybe drivers are being distracted by passengers so no more than one person per car....the only way we are going to stop people crashing cars is to ban people from driving or get rid of cars...anything else is pointless.
And I can't believe right thinking people would advocate the banning of anything...we have precious few rights left without taking more away from us. When will people learn that accidents/shit happen and to just deal with it instead of banning every little thing that may be considered slightly risky

You seem to be missing the point that using a phone or smoking occupys one of your hands when you should have both hands free to drive and control the car. If you cant hold a phone stationary to your ear then why should putting a lit object to and from your mouth a dozen times be allowed?

who the hell drives with both hands on the wheel at all times?? Seriously I drive a taxi for 12 hours a day and I hardly ever use two hands on the wheel, I usually have one arm out the window. I can't believe that ya'll drive around with two hands on the wheels at all times, thats just.....

Do you approve of smoking while drivng Bob ...? I don't. Any situaution were petrol and flames, even incandescent ones were involved, are always a cause of concern...as for the diesel remark, I can assure you it burns very nicely from personal experience.
I also don't approve of people using phones either.... on Saturday on the M5 we were alongside a bloke who was texting for the four minutes we were moving along beside him... we later narrowly saw a kid nearly knocked down by some bint in a open top car in Cheshire who drove through a red light on a pedestrian crossing , narrowly missing a woman and her son whilst enagaged in some banal phone conversation totally oblivious to everything around her.

We got the same reaction a few years ago to drink driving legislation.

I understand why drink driving is bad as alcohol impairs your judgement...as far as I know smoking tobacco doesn't impair your judgement at all, I also don't think that talking on a phone is that bad either...I can talk and watch where I'm going, texting while driving should be banned, thats common sense.

"As far as I know"..... so you've researched the subject .....? Well the comforting thing is ..... you're driving in Australia and I don't live there.

Get an automatic, problem solved!

Although using a phone should be banned, it is distracting as you look at number who is calling or search for number, not sure smoking a cigarette is as distracting, once lit it`s pretty straight forward, I could explain it, alas I can`t be arsed

I'll be driving in the UK this October...I'll keep an eye out for ya!!

Ahhhh...maybe that's where I get my difference of opinion from, both my personal car and the taxi I drive are both automatic, hence why I drive with my arm out the window all day. And just for the record I choose not to use my phone while driving...also I don't smoke so it makes no odds to me if it is banned...I just hate governments trying to tell us how to run our lives...stick to running the country I'll look after myself thank you very much!!

Which side of the road will you be on while on the phone, smokin a tab and eating a chinese

I'm open to suggestions but I thought straight down the middle of the road...just gives me more options if I spill some sweet n sour sauce on me lap and I have to take evasive action.

..If it's 'straight forward' you wouldn't need to explain would you ...?

Driver next to me the other day was on the phone, smoking and having a slice of toast. We were in a traffic jam but still moving a bit. I couldn't manage to juggle the three in an armchair.

Few months back I also passed a woman who appeared to be steering with her knees while applying make up with the help of the rear view mirror- smoking a crack pipe would have been less dangerous.

I puff on a nicorette inhalator at the wheel,it's much safer..

I smoke in my car and to be honest no one can convince me that it is no more dangerous than changing gear, you have one hand on the wheel then.

I bet everyone who says against this has at least done one of the following; Eaten something while driving, had a drink or changed the CD / Radio station. All of them involve the same movements as to me with smoking i.e moving you hand / arm to one location off the wheel and then back again.

If there is traffic i just leave the cig in my mouth, whats the difference?

I fired a tab end out of the window once and it blew back in and went down the back of my shirt. When I pulled at my shirt it went down the back of my jeans. Not sure I was fully focussed on the road ahead after that...

Thats why you should have a bottle half filled with water in your car to put tab ends in.

did you pull at your jeans and it fell into your socks?

:

No I don't approve of using a phone whilst driving (and that's from a non driver). But smoking/drinking/changing cd etc as other's say where does it stop. I've been to the aftermath of a road traffic collision because of someone using a phone and had to cut the innocent people out.

Yes diesel will burn (and forgive me here I've been retired 2 years) but you need a Flash point of something in the region of 65C (145F) for that to happen. Then everything else has to be right(or wrong depending on how you look at it) for it to happen. If you want get a bucket of diesel throw a match in it, take my word it won't ignite, do it with petrol that's a different proposition.

If your a none smoker, instruction may be required

No, it nestled in my arse crack causing minor burns. Braking sensibly and pulling onto the hard shoulder took a degree of self discipline.

Good tip on the water bottle Compo- your car must smell nice.

It does actually as I put a lid on it, also have an air neutraliser in the car bought from home bargins

its illegal over here to smoke in a car with kids in was brought in few months back....

Oh man, you should live in my city!!

Drivers have a phone in their ear and a tab in the other hand all the time. Occasionally they'll get the hands mixed up or put the tab and the phone in the same hand and the chaos that ensues is hilarious.

I just dunno why everyone takes this shit so seriously. Maybe I'm out of touch. Does no-one enjoy the Darwin Awards any more??

I'm designing a computer game based on my travels around this city called Yellow Peril. Watch this space.

Had to take a fire class at the hospital i work in. The instructor poured a lot of petrol on the ground puffed on a cigarette and flicked it onto the petrol (as they so cooly do in the fillums to blow something up) and nothing happened at all. So that theory is a load of cods wallop. He never tried it in a bucket of petrol though.

On of the craziest things i have seen while driving was an oriental woman driver (this is not going to turn into a joke) with one palm on the steering wheel holding a chinese take away box of food and using chop sticks with the other hand to eat with driving down a busy street.

The craziest thing i ever saw, was a black woman driving a Mercedes Benz Convertable driving down the freeway throwing hand fulls of money out of the car whilst she was laughing her head off. One landed on my windscreen and it was a $50 bill. She did this for at least 3 miles before i had to turn off. Either a complete lunatic or she either won the lottery of just got a divorce settlement from a rich and famous ex husband.

Bob may well correct me here but thats because the petrol was over a large surface area and the fumes probably evaporated before he threw the fag down, different with a bucket of petrol as the fule underneath feeds the ignition flame at the top burning the vapour above it.

Its all about the fire triangle, fuel, oxygen and heat take one of these away and it goes out or wont light.

Bob being a ex-firemand should know anyway.

Gold ingots, lol. If i was skint and and had no value for life i may of pulled over to the side and walked down the side of the freeway. It is just far too risky for that. Plus the money was getting scattered all over the place, not woth dying for. Seen some bizzare stuff in this crazy life, that has got to be one of the craziest.

Because the Mixture of fuel/air/heat was wrong. If the fuel is to low(below Lower Explosive Limit) it wont burn, if it's above the Upper Explosive Limit once more it won't burn because it's to rich. And as has been pointed out it's spread over a large area.

Petrol(liquid/vapour) will only burn if it is between the LEL and UEL of 1.5% and 4%. Your instructor is doing a controlled experiment and he knows he has not put enough petrol on the floor to ignite.