Posted By Bill Elliott That is true - the point is it may still be possible to be dragged up before the beak if the constabulary consider that meant you were not in control of your vehicle at the time of an accident.

Posted By Dave Daniel At this moment in time, despite promises, the Govt has not published its specific proposals or the actual Regulations. The published comments are available on the Government Website (try searching the Dept of Transport section for "Mobile Phone"). I have doubts that they will actually meet their promise to publish by Christmas. Perhaps this will be pushed past the Hon. Members on the sweet trolley with the Christmas Pud! The assertion given appears to allow the use of earpieces to be continued, as long as the phone is in a holder on the dash. As ever, the discourse about the proposal is not too clear, but I would point out that all police motorcyclists have earpiece headsets, as I belive to panda car drivers.... what more can I say? Regards - Dave Daniel - H&S Consultant Coventry

Posted By Nigel Wilkinson Lorraine, I Chair the Telecoms Specialist Group and also work for a mobile phone company. The advice that T-Mobile is providing to our staff is that they must have either a fully fitted hands-free kit or a blue tooth enabled ear piece. The use of a wire earpiece is likely to involve holding the handset at some stage if an outgoing call is made. This act is prohibited under the amended Regs. We are advising staff and customers to avoid using their phones and to make use of voice-mail while driving. If you want to discuss further, I can be contacted via Petrina Beck at IOSH on Tel 0116 257 3100. Regards, Nigel Wilkinson

Posted By Steven Mills I heard an interesting feature on the radio this morning: The Japenese have developed a device that turns your hand into a phone. Sounds strange but it's something to do with vibrating the bones in your hand and you can have a conversation by sticking your finger in your ear!!! You could explain to the police officer who pulls you over that you didn't realise it was against the law to stick your finger in your ear whilst driving!

Posted By Lorraine Dyer Thank you for all your responses. I read through the Department of Transports Decision letter on www.roads.dft.gov.uk which was very helpful. Although there are a few ambiguous statements it says that "there are numerous types of hands-free phones and kits to convert handheld phones to provide some level of hands free use. We now consider that a more practical approach would be to prohibit the type of activity rather than to try and define different devices". It then goes on to say that "the department does not consider that hands-free phones should be prohibited unless they are being held during use". This suggests that the key point is whether the device requires you to hold it at some point regardless of what type of device it is. Many thanks

Posted By Jonathan Breeze What Martin said basically. It's all very well following the letter of the law but you should really be following the spirit of the law. In this case the new law is based on the premise that distractions while driving can cause accidents and accidents can kill. Any policy created which ignores this premise without good reason, is immediately suspect and would probably be viewed very dimly in a court of law. The safety profession should not be about legalism it is about making people safer and avoiding forseeable accidents. Just my thoughts.

Posted By Dave Wilson Obviously the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary are all geared up for this!!! NOT!!! Sitting at a Red light yesterday at a very busy Roundabout (Marsh Mills) in Plymouth and Big D&C Police Volvo Estate lights flashin Horns going weaving in and out of traffic at speed going around the roundabout- 1 PC in vehicle stearing with (R) hand, Mobile between (R) shoulder and Ear, doing something with (L) hand on passenger seat! One rule springs to mind, now dont give me the malarky that police are trained etc this was downright dangerous and if they can get trained to do this, can we the General Public get this training?

Posted By Martin Gray Dave, I cannot comment on the actions of officers from other forces, but, we have issued clear guidelines to all our officers and that they are not to use hand held mobiles whilst driving. If they have been issued a job phones handsfree installations are fitted in police authority owned vehicles. There was another exemption that the government introduced into the legislation and that was that the law does not cover 2 way radios. Therefore the truck driver, (yes) and police officers are legally permitted to use a radio whilst driving, again we have fitted all police cars with handsfree radio equipment and with the new technology of tetra radios coming on line we will be able to have the same radio in the car as that carried by the officer, before it was VHF in the car and UHF worn by the officer. We will have to watch and wait for the prosecutions around the country, many of the offenders will I suspect in the 1st instance be given a warning then the police are likely to start clamping down. The police are their to try and save life not to be the big bad ogre that many of the correspondence to this forum see them as. On the H&S line the police do in many cases look at the mobile phone use prior to a fatal or serious RTC. They can also apply to the DPP for powers to investigate any breaches of the HSWA that may have contributed to the RTC, therefore make sure your company policy on the use of mobile phones whilst driving and also management of road risk are in place.