Should hands free be hands off for fleet drivers?

2 minute read  |  August 29, 2016

From 2012 to 2014, more than 60 people lost their lives due to accidents caused by mobile phones.

Since the ban in 2003, harsh penalties have been in place to deter anyone using their mobile. A fixed penalty of three points and a fine of £100 are given to anyone using a hand held device at the wheel; for buses and goods vehicle the maximum fine is £2,500, and possibly, a driving ban, but is this enough to save lives?

While using a hand held device is illegal, using a hands free device is not. Something that campaigners, Brake, have been trying to change for some time.

Drunk dialling

A recent study by psychologists at the University of Sussex found that driving while talking on a hands free device is just as distracting as driving with a hand held device. The study also found that the effect of talking on a phone while driving is worse than consuming certain types of alcohol.

Reaction times of someone using a hands free device are 30% lower than someone driving with a blood alcohol level of 80mg alcohol per 100ml of blood.

Hands free divide

Fleet News recently polled a number of their readers and found that more than two thirds of respondents had permission to use hands free devices in their company vehicle, while just 29.2% advised a ban had been put in place by their company.

MSL’s Fleet & Operations Manager, Dan Tattersall, said “The numbers speak for themselves and driver safety has to be the number one priority. At MSL, we strongly encourage all our drivers to only answer their hands free devices while safe to do so. We do not permit drivers to make outgoing calls, send or check messages or programme satellite navigation devices while the vehicle is in motion. Any activity that distracts the driver is strongly discouraged as it is not only the safety of our driver we must protect, but also other road users.”

While it’s easy for some to issue blanket bans on mobile devices in company vehicles, it’s important to note that there are a large number of employees that spend much of their working day in their car. For those individuals, being unable to use their mobile phones while driving is going to significantly impact their productivity.

The takeaway from all these studies, reports and surveys is that driver focus is key. From a mobile device, loud music or confused sat nav to a cigarette or chatty passenger, there are a number of distractions while driving. If you were to remove all of those from a company vehicle that still doesn’t exclude the risks from other drivers on the road. The privilege of driving comes with many risks, it’s the driver’s responsibility to mitigate theirs.

What do you think about the hands free debate?

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