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Police are pleased with the figures for offence notices since the new cellphone driving law came into effect

Police have released provisional figures for offence notices issued since the introduction of the Land Transport (Road User) Amendment Rule 2009 on 1 November, which included a ban on the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving.

Police figures show that nationally, only 275 offences have been detected.

“We have been surprised and pleased to see the way the driving public has really taken up this message around avoiding driving while using a mobile phone,” said National Manager – Road Policing Superintendent Paula Rose.

“While we have been using this month to remind drivers about the new legislation, we have found that the vast majority of drivers understand the risks involved and have chosen to make the change themselves.”

Read more about the cell phone driving law.

Offences by District:

• Northland – 5
• Waitemata – 58
• Auckland – 55
• Counties/Manukau – 18
• Waikato – 7
• Bay of Plenty – 25
• Eastern – 5
• Central- 6
• Wellington – 36
• Tasman – 12
• Canterbury – 26
• Southern – 22

Was Tiger Woods’ accident caused by driving while using his mobile phone?

Since the accident occurred there were many versions about the real reasons of Tiger Woods’ accident.

One of them was that he was using his mobile phone while driving, which would explain why he lost control of the car.

That is the spreading rumour online. What do you think about it?

At the beginning of November NZ driving law changed to make it illegal for drivers to talk or send text messages on handheld mobile phones. If you’re like us, you’ll still be a little cloudy on the finer points. To clarify things we’ve picked the bones out of the legislation to answer those common queries.

While research suggests over 75% of Kiwis support a ban on their use while driving, over half of us still admit to using a mobile phone – at least occasionally – at the wheel. That number will no doubt decline with the November 1 outlawing of the practice. Punishable by an $80 dollar fine and a 20 demerit point penalty no less. Ouch.

Surely they don’t mean me? Yep, the rule relates to operators of all vehicles that share the road. Including motorcycle, mopeds and scooter riders, cyclists, even those in a mobility scooter.

Define cellphone? Sounds obvious, but the rule actually extends to any electronic device that provides a form of mobile telecommunications and/or email, including PDAs and Blackberry devices. It doesn’t include CB radios or any other kind of two-way radio however. Oddly, satellite navigation and music systems will still be allowed to be used, but only if solidly mounted to the vehicle and used only briefly and infrequently.

What about hands free systems? Earpiece or microphone devices that connect either physically or wirelessly to your phone are allowed to be used, providing they allow phone use without the driver needing to hold or manipulate it. So long as the phone is held in a securely mounted cradle device (no, not a cup holder) the driver is allowed to call a number, receive or end a call using a hand’s free system.

What if I’m not moving? Drivers stuck in traffic due to the road ahead being blocked because of unforeseen circumstances like an accident, may use their phone to make, send and receive calls. But this doesn’t apply to when you are stationary in the normal flow of traffic such as at traffic lights or road works.

Can I pull over to use my phone? Never on the motorway or other no parking areas unless it is for emergency or breakdown assistance. Common sense prevails, people, always look for a safe area to pull over, or leave it till the end of your journey.
Are there exceptions? Calls to *555 will still be allowed but only where it is unsafe or impractical to pull over. The exemption does not include driver hotline numbers on the back of heavy vehicles.

If talking on a cell phone while driving should be banned, why not ban chatting with passengers?

I was listening to the radio when the topic of in-car cell phone use came up. Soon I was steaming. Why don’t these people do a bit of reading before they mouth off?

One idiot dismissed reams of international research with ‘that’s rubbish’ and proposed his own, completely uninformed opinion based on what he called common sense.

But the trouble with common sense is it’s not that common. And it’s completely objective – what you see as sense is someone else’s idiocy.

I’ve always thought in-car texting safer than talking on a cell phone while driving. After all, you can txt a word at a red light, then another each time you stop; you can read a txt while stopped in traffic. Right?
But a man was killed on my road home because a local crossed the centre line while texting. And that’s the problem – not everyone makes appropriate decisions while driving. If they did, no-one would drink and drive and everyone would strap their kids in.

We all think we’re sensible and we’re doing it right, and lots of us aren’t, possibly including you and me. But where do you draw the line?

Politicians know where to draw it – anywhere that’ll get the popular vote. I suspect that’s why using a hand-held cell phone while driving may be made illegal, while a hands-free isn’t. Yet both are equally dangerous.
Yes I know, it doesn’t seem logical, but time after time research has shown the safety difference is negligible. Yes, dialling or answering may distract, but only for a moment. It’s the distraction of the conversation, with someone who can’t see the conditions you’re driving in, that’s the problem.

So why aren’t passengers as bad? That was the challenge thrown to Sam Charlton, an associate professor in the Traffic and Road Safety Research Group, part of Waikato uni’s Psychology department. He was lobbying to ban cell phone use while driving when the previous Labour Government’s Road Safety Minister, Harry Duynhoven, issued a challenge. If talking on a cell phone while driving should be banned, why not ban chatting with passengers? Why ban one, and not the other?

Good point. Charlton got to work.

He used a very clever driving simulator – it uses a real car, with the visuals a faithful copy of real New Zealand roads – and pairs of people who knew each other to measure the risk of chatting on a hand-held cell phone, a hands-free, with a passenger in the car – or to someone who could see the road conditions, but wasn’t in the car with the driver.

The result? Using a cell phone while driving is so dangerous it would be unethical to mimic the experiment on real roads. And driving with a passenger is much safer.

The reason appears to be that passengers can see what’s going on. Charlton found that passengers slowed their rates of conversation as the car approached a hazard, and often warned the driver of approaching hazards. Charlton called this ‘conversation modulation’ and it doesn’t happen in cell phone use.

Charlton expanded the experiment by using a cell phone that issued warning tones at trouble spots like junctions, and found driving performance was almost as good as when passengers weren’t talking at all.
Conversation modulation is key to avoiding the adverse affects of in-car chat, and means that talking to an in-car passenger is nowhere near as risky as talking on a cell phone.

New research? Not really. It was published last year. Has anyone listened; has the Government paid attention? You’d have to hope so. But I fear that making a popular decision may win over making an effective one.

Whether the Government should be making such calls instead of paying for driver education that would see us making better decisions ourselves is another topic entirely.

A unique wireless cellphone earpiece that charges itself whilst sitting in a dashboard cradle is aimed at encouraging more people to put their mobile phones down and drive more safely.

The Bluetooth-equipped Yada earpiece and cradle has been released in this market by automotive accessory specialist Griffiths Equipment, which says there is nothing else like it in the market.

“Cellphone earpieces are not new, but the way this one works is likely to encourage more people to go hands-free, because it is not only wireless, but is always charged and ready for use,” says Bruce Walker, of Griffiths Equipment.

“It’s the sort of simple, break-through that will attract both the tech-savvy and the average driver because of its sheer convenience and the result should be fewer holding a phone when driving and being less distracted.”
The tiny earpiece – it’s only 4.5cm long – can be matched up to any brand of mobile phone via Bluetooth technology in less than two minutes and the user is then able to make and receive calls whilst still keeping both hands on the steering wheel, or undertaking any other activity, and keep the phone in a pocket or handbag.
There are no leads, because it is powered by a battery that recharged every time it is returned to the cradle, through a 12v or 24v power outlet in the car or truck. The cradle/charger, which is included in the kit, can be clipped onto an air vent or attached to the dashboard. The cradle is a universal holder that most cellphones will fit into.

To answer calls the wearer only has to push the small button on the front of the ear-piece and talk – an in-built microphone picks up their voice. If you want to transfer the call to the mobile phone itself, just push the ear-piece button during the call. It is even compatible with mobiles phones that have voice activation. A small bar button on the side of the ear-piece controls the volume.

Fully charged, the earpiece has up to 6 hours talk time and 105 hours standby, so can also be used away from the vehicle and charger.

Another earpiece made by Yada is also available claimed to be the lowest price on the market, retailing for just $96. It has the more conventional design with a clip that wraps around the ear, but is also wireless and connects to any cellphone in the same way. It also has 6 hours talk time and 100 hours standby and is recharged via a lead that plugs into the vehicle’s cigarette/auxiliary outlet.

Yada is part of the US-based Winplus stable that provides a range of automotive accessories under the Type S brand, which have sold successfully in New Zealand in recent years.

The Yada range also includes USB and in-car chargers for the mobile phone ear-piece that can be purchased separately, a mobile phone holder that mounts onto the dashboard and a wireless Bluetooth speakerphone that clips to the underside of the vehicle’s sunvisor.

The Yada hands-free mobile headset/ear-piece and other products are available at leading auto accessory retailers. Various kits available retailing from $96.00 to $158.00.