Starting today, a new law has taken effect in England, Scotland, and Wales: New drivers with licenses obtained within the past two years will have their license revoked if caught using a mobile device while driving. The new law awards six points and a £200 fine on the first offense, with six points being all it takes for a driver to lose their license.
Mobile phones and driving have always had varying degrees of acceptance. The new law allows drivers to continue using phones hands-free – it just prohibits the driver from holding the phone in their hand, or even interacting with it physically, unless they are pulled over and the engine is turned off. Handheld use at red lights and other routine stops while the engine is running is also illegal. The only exception to the rule is if a driver needs to call emergency services and it is unsafe or impractical to stop.
More experienced drivers are affected by these laws as well, although not as harshly. Drivers who have had their license for longer than two years can have their license revoked if they rack up 12 points in three years.
An appropriate punishment or too severe?
An extensive effort has been made - especially in recent years with the evolution of smartphones – to create rules and regulations against mobile use while driving. Numerous studies, documentaries, commercials, and campaigns have been made in order to educate the public on just how dangerous our seemingly harmless mobile phones can be. Still, people choose to ignore these warnings for one reason or another.
It’s been my experience that bringing up the very real potential of causing an accident by “texting and driving” (which loosely translates to “using your smartphone and driving”) results in very little concern. Most people feel they are the exception to the rule. Typical responses I receive include that the person feels that they’re “good at texting and driving” or that “it will only take a moment”, or even flat out getting offended as if I were personally attacking their skills as a driver otherwise. Unfortunately, those arguments only work if you were the only one on the road, ever. Even then, you still risk your own safety because you have the unfortunate handicap of owning a human brain, which happens to think very highly of itself and often overestimates its ability to multitask effectively.
I’ve had a couple of experiences that I can recall where I’ve nearly been in an accident due to texting and driving. One occurred about a month ago. I was driving down a two-lane road, separated only by two solid, painted yellow lines. As my car was turning a corner, another car was also turning a corner in the opposite direction, but completely cut into my lane. Just before I swerved out of the way, I saw them toss their phone into the passenger seat as they scrambled to get back into their lane. As it turns out, double yellow lines don’t have a magic forcefield preventing cars from swerving into oncoming traffic; they only work when people pay attention.forcefield preventing cars from swerving into oncoming traffic; they only work when people pay attention.
Another instance occurred when I was younger, probably about 6 years ago. I was in the car with my best friend, who was driving, and we were at a stop light. She was texting. The light was still red, but she suddenly dropped her phone in her lap like a hot potato and began to drive, mistakenly thinking the light had turn green. She realized the light was still red in time to stop the car again, but her attempt at being acutely aware of what color the traffic light was while texting failed her. She almost drove into traffic that otherwise would have hit us head-on.
For whatever reason, death doesn’t always deter people from texting and driving. Whether it’s potentially causing harm or death to another person, or harm or death to oneself, a scary number of people seem to think they are the exception to the rule without realizing just how much can change in the “few moments” it takes to check the phone. Not only is your concentration focused elsewhere, but surprisingly enough the world is still carrying on outside of your speeding metal box on wheels.
The UK’s new law, in my opinion, is a good one in theory. It doesn’t completely prohibit mobile use, but instead almost forces one (who appreciates having the ability to drive, that is) to use their phone more responsibly while driving. Maybe it will work; I think people could realistically imagine losing their licenses before realistically considering that they could die or kill somebody. Then again, maybe it won’t. Phone addiction is a very real problem we face today, but it’s a hard problem to tackle when it’s so widespread that phone use is as normal of an occurrence as anything. I also wonder what kind of evidence is needed to prove that somebody was, in fact, interacting with a phone. Not everybody holds their phone obviously straight out in front of their face, and not everybody glancing down for whatever reason is looking at their phone, so that is something worth considering.
But on the topic of texting and driving, there is no excuse. I’m as flawed as anybody. I rely on and use my smartphone for far too many things, if I’m being completely honest with myself, but the no-brainer exception for me is how it is used in the car. If I use my phone while driving, it’s for navigation or music, both which are set-up before I even start the car. After that, the phone isn’t in my sight. I go by audio only. In the case that something goes wrong with my route (as it sometimes does) I find a place to pull over and figure the situation out. I just have too much respect for my own life and other’s lives on the road to even consider my smartphone a priority. Given how widespread the problem has become over the years, despite active measures to prevent it, I’m convinced that self-driving cars will probably be the fastest resolution to the issue, although stricter laws, in my opinion, are welcome in the meantime.
Readers, what are your thoughts on this new law? Do you think that the new point system and rules for mobile use and driving is fair? Please share your comments with us in the comments below.
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