New phone and drive rules hit UK

UK DRIVERS face a much harsher regime today for using a mobile phone while driving. This should encourage more motorists to invest in Bluetooth based hands-free systems.

From today, any motorist caught at the wheel with a handset against his or her ear will three penalty points added to their licence and face a fixed penalty fine of £60.

This amount can be raised to a maximum fine of £1,000 for ordinary citizens or - in the case of a driver of a bus, coach or goods vehicle - £2,500.

Alternatively offenders can even be disqualified from driving. Which looks like a very serious incentive to acquire a Bluetooth hands-free system or a car kit.

This will be good news for Bluetooth earpiece vendors unless you happen to be Profitwing which is still railing against Teling of Taiwan. See here.

Profitwing supreme, David Clemons, now informs the INQ that it isn't voice quality he's complaining about. It's the fact that the BluePearl BTH-06 - made by Teling - consistently dies after two weeks of usage.

You don't need to look like a dork with an earpiece, anyway. Companies like Anycom with the HCC-210 supply car visor mounted units.

Some people are calling for a total ban on talking over a mobile while driving including the UK's Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

A spokesperson for the society claimed, "It is wrong for anyone to suggest that using a hands-free phone while driving is safe."

So any police driver who uses the radio while travelling is unsafe then? There's no difference and they've been doing it quite safely for years.

A severe case of double-think, however, is provided by Inspector Russell Clark, head of West Yorkshire Police's Roads Policing unit.

He says, "Whilst it is a specific offence to use a hand held mobile phone, a driver may not be in proper control of their vehicle whilst using a hands free kit and I would encourage drivers to turn off their phone."

Nanny society here we come, then. µ

L'INQ
West York Plod