albion1971: How many admit to having avoided dozing off due to a good natter on the hands-free to relieve the boredom?
Now grumpybum that would be a really stupid thing to admit would it not? A good driver would pull in and have a kip not make a call.
No, itâs not stupid - no more so than turning up the radio, opening a window, drinking coffee. Itâs just another method of keeping alert. In these days of cruise controls, automatic gearboxes and other devices designed to make the driver more bored, we often feel tired due to boredom, not actually needing sleep.
A good driver knows when speaking on the phone or any other activity is interrupting their concentration. When I need to reverse or find my way or carry out a difficult manoeuvre, I will not be on the phone. I will also switch the radio off, and oddly - also take my sunglasses off!
You would be happiest if everyone was chained to the wheel in the âten to twoâ position, no radio, no phone, no coffee, no passenger, no food, no singing, no scratching, and no looking at anything along the road that isnât directly related to your journey.
Iâm sure there are reports backing up all of the above - but we are humans, we like to talk to people, to look at things, to enjoy the journey. Not one of us would wilfully cause an accident, and we all to our best to avoid them and to protect other road-users around us.
You do tend to take things to extremes. Maybe we should just stop driving. Because that is the only way that more pedestrians, cyclists and other road users will not be hurt on the roads.
You my friend are absolutely bang on with this post!!
Some peopleâs driving suffers while theyâre on the phone, other peopleâs conversation suffers while they concentrate on the driving. I have no problems using a handsfree on the road, but I go quiet if I happen to be, say, joining a motorway or coming up behind slower traffic. I donât tend to talk on the phone at all in towns.
grumpybum:
How many admit to having avoided dozing off due to a good natter on the hands-free to relieve the boredom?
Me.
I was driving down the motorway and thought I might stop for a 15 min power nap when the phone went, and I was chatting to my mate, past the services and all the way down to my collection with not another thought of how tired I was.
Iâll also admit, if Iâm in a place that requires 100% concentration, looking for a delivery or trying to find somewhere to turn around after missing a turn for example, then I stop speaking and donât actually hear anything thatâs being said to me on the phone.
This +1, although I usually say ring you back and.just put the phone down.
I used to be a member of Rospa advanced drivers association, I took and passed the HGV test 3 times and passed all of them at Gold grade.
I can honestly say that I wasnât distracted by a hands free phone call during any of those tests.
But you do have to give a running commentary to the examiner during the test.
I wonder if that will now be seen as a dangerous distraction??
albion1971: How many admit to having avoided dozing off due to a good natter on the hands-free to relieve the boredom?
Now grumpybum that would be a really stupid thing to admit would it not? A good driver would pull in and have a kip not make a call.
No, itâs not stupid - no more so than turning up the radio, opening a window, drinking coffee. Itâs just another method of keeping alert. In these days of cruise controls, automatic gearboxes and other devices designed to make the driver more bored, we often feel tired due to boredom, not actually needing sleep.
A good driver knows when speaking on the phone or any other activity is interrupting their concentration. When I need to reverse or find my way or carry out a difficult manoeuvre, I will not be on the phone. I will also switch the radio off, and oddly - also take my sunglasses off!
You would be happiest if everyone was chained to the wheel in the âten to twoâ position, no radio, no phone, no coffee, no passenger, no food, no singing, no scratching, and no looking at anything along the road that isnât directly related to your journey.
Iâm sure there are reports backing up all of the above - but we are humans, we like to talk to people, to look at things, to enjoy the journey. Not one of us would wilfully cause an accident, and we all to our best to avoid them and to protect other road-users around us.
You do tend to take things to extremes. Maybe we should just stop driving. Because that is the only way that more pedestrians, cyclists and other road users will not be hurt on the roads.
I suppose I can see your point however there is a big difference between being tired and being bored.
To do the things you mention because of boredom is fine but to do them to try to keep yourself awake is suicidal.
You say none of us go out to cause an accident and you are probably right but there are an awful lot of drivers that would not have accidents if they concentrated more on their driving.
Do you never see them especially on motorwaysâŚblissfully unaware and just a few feet away from someones rear bumper at 50+
complete clowns.
albion1971:
You say none of us go out to cause an accident and you are probably right but there are an awful lot of drivers that would not have accidents if they concentrated more on their driving.
Do you never see them especially on motorwaysâŚblissfully unaware and just a few feet away from someones rear bumper at 50+
complete clowns.
I suspect theyâd be the same with or without phones. There are far too many who drive like this and plenty of them are truck drivers who really should know better.
Tgtrucker:
I used to be a member of Rospa advanced drivers association, I took and passed the HGV test 3 times and passed all of them at Gold grade.
I can honestly say that I wasnât distracted by a hands free phone call during any of those tests.
But you do have to give a running commentary to the examiner during the test.
I wonder if that will now be seen as a dangerous distraction??
I fail to see how talking about what you are concentrating on is a distraction !
Tgtrucker:
I used to be a member of Rospa advanced drivers association, I took and passed the HGV test 3 times and passed all of them at Gold grade.
I can honestly say that I wasnât distracted by a hands free phone call during any of those tests.
But you do have to give a running commentary to the examiner during the test.
I wonder if that will now be seen as a dangerous distraction??
Very strange taking calls during a testâŚnot with ROSPA you didnât and why do 3 tests?
They do not do running commentary now at least not for drivers only instructors.
Yes am aware of most of these things but not had anything to do with ROSPA for about 5 years.
Have you ever heard of drivers taking calls handsfree during a test because I certainly have not.
Howâs it any different from having a passenger, I find it helps some night shifts to phone some one helps you keep focused especially on repetitive roads where your brain goes numb
Yes it does distract me but I have made calls when Iâm tired to keep me awake and after that call I feel awake.
Il also admit to nodding quite a lot and at one point got real bad I went to see a doctor he told me to change my lifestyle a bit and gave me his advice and i no longer get tired driving and sleep very well at night.
Tgtrucker:
I used to be a member of Rospa advanced drivers association, I took and passed the HGV test 3 times and passed all of them at Gold grade.
I can honestly say that I wasnât distracted by a hands free phone call during any of those tests.
But you do have to give a running commentary to the examiner during the test.
I wonder if that will now be seen as a dangerous distraction??
Very strange taking calls during a testâŚnot with ROSPA you didnât and why do 3 tests?
They do not do running commentary now at least not for drivers only instructors.
Sorry, didnât make myself clear, my bad. I didnât get distracted by a call because to take one would mean an instant fail.
So no calls allowed under any circumstances.
And as for three tests, to maintain your membership you have to undertake a retest every three years.
If you passed at any of the three pass grades then you were accepted for another three years membership. If you failed you had to retake and pass within a year iirc to main your membership.
And back when I was doing them, it was only possible to achieve the highest grade if you gave a satisfactory commentary. Otherwise silver was the highest you could achieve.
I havenât been involved for over 10 years now so donât know what their current standards and practices are.
It worries me that somebody of your considerable expertise would ask this question; you need a form of measuring distraction and a way of recording the results. By this definition, it would be impossible (outside of a driving simulator) to obtain the information you request in this thread, without indeed distracting the driver in some manner or another while recording such information. This is based firmly on the assumption that most members of this forum drive a real truck, not a simulator. Ergo, by starting this thread and planting the thought into peopleâs heads, you are contributing in your own little way to promoting unsafe driving/driving whilst distracted.
So no albion1971, I donât admit to having been distracted by using a hands free kit whilst driving, because it would be dangerous for me to analyse this while driving.
I have, however, been balls deep in some â â â â whilst snorting coke off a midgetâs head in Mongkok though⌠Iâd imagine thatâs the most useful snippet of information youâll retrieve from this thread!
bigvern1:
YepâŚMissed junctions on motorways a few times.
Snap !
last time I missed a junction was the M18/M1 heading South, I was talking to our fitter on hands free & just stayed on the inside lane, cost me about half an hour, coâs it was busy.
Snap !