FYI - Driving in QLD

[old1955]

Hello all,

For your information (especially those from interstate).

As of last Saturday (01/02/2020) Queensland introduced new fines regarding the use of mobile phones in motor vehicles. You can’t hold them, touch them or operate them without hands free.

1st offence is $1000.00 and four (4) demerit points.

2nd offence inside twelve months $1000.00 and eight (8) demerit points.

So be warned it’s going to hurt your pocket and drivers license.

Regards,

Ross

[Bernmc]

And use can be detected with automated overhead cameras. Here in NSW, the law will be changed from 'innocent until proven guilty' to 'prove that that isn't a phone you're touching'.

Screenshot 2020-02-03 17.36.21.jpg

[BobL]

I have ZERO sympathy for drivers using mobile, one totally wrecked my car, nearly killed me, and ruined my holidays.
$1000 is not enough - phones should be removed from owner for 28 days first offence and crushed preferably in front of said villain on second.

[aldav]

crushed preferably in front of said villain on second.

Reminds me of 'dismantling' monkey bikes with an excavator for some officers of the law. Totally agree about mobile phones in cars. The thing that truly amazes me though is the relentless introduction of ever more distractions into cars. 10" screens in the middle of the dash? Really!!!

[old1955]

I have ZERO sympathy for drivers using mobile, one totally wrecked my car, nearly killed me, and ruined my holidays.
$1000 is not enough - phones should be removed from owner for 28 days first offence and crushed preferably in front of said villain on second.

Totally in agreement with you Bob. I’ve had two near misses on the highway and I don’t believe the penalties are harsh enough.

It’s nearly endemic.

[Bernmc]

Reminds me of 'dismantling' monkey bikes with an excavator for some officers of the law. Totally agree about mobile phones in cars. The thing that truly amazes me though is the relentless introduction of ever more distractions into cars. 10" screens in the middle of the dash? Really!!!

Apart from the distraction, I find the move from conventional knobs and push-buttons to touchscreen controls a real problem. With the olde way, you could control most things in the car by touch and feel, without looking. You knew where the knobs were, and what they felt like. Now you have to look away from the road to the screen to make sure you're touching the right area to adjust things.

Daft.

[Dareen]

Took their brains out. Bit of a worry, really.

[chambezio]

"Oh, how did we live with no mobile phones????"
Well we got a long long way without them, really!!!
Do we really need to use them as much as we do? How important are the majority of calls that come in/out?

[Bob38S]

First up, let me say, I’m not a fan of mobile phones and have not had one since 2005. My wife has one which I may need to use perhaps 3 or 4 times a year.

With regards phones in cars, the problem doesn’t appear to be the phone but what is on it, by this I mean (not so) social media. Cars/trucks etc have had radios (audio, 2 way, CB) for 50+ years and no real issues. The (anti in many cases) social media appears to be driving many lives to the point that many appear not to be able to live without this influence on their lives.

So, how do we fix it. Realistically social media won’t go away so temporarily adopt the hoon legislation to take the phones. I say temporarily until an electronic blocker is added to cars that will not allow them to be used when the engine is running. Shouldn’t be that difficult or expensive as the technology already exists.

Legislators have for many years worked from the premise that more law creates more order, the phone problem is never going to be solved by legislation alone.

Just a my couple of cents worth.

[rrich]

As a network engineer that worked for the other half of a cell phone company, I hate the d*** things. As the cell phone (voice only or a.k.a. dumb phone) became popular, the rush hour traffic on the I-405 became horrible. What was 30-35 minutes for a 22 mile drive became 45-50 minutes for an 18 mile drive.

ACP (After the Cell Phone) you would be following someone and thinking, they are drunk. Then you would get close and realize that they were just on their phone. We, as I'm sure that you do, tend to keep very little space between vehicles in rush hour. As the cell phone evolved, the space between vehicles went from 1½ car lengths to 4 or 5 car lengths. Drivers went from being attentive to being on another planet.

There was someone here that built an interrupter for the cell phone frequencies. As users started to complain to the cell phone companies the FCC got involved. The interruption was only in a certain area and only at a narrow section of time. Eventually they caught him and a huge fine resulted.