Samuel's Blog

Samuel’s Thoughts From The Road: The proposal to ban phones in cars

Yesterday I mentioned that I had an idea for a video podcast. Today I present the first episode. The basic premise is that every now and then, when I’m on the road and having an opinion on one thing or another for you, I’ll record it and share it with you. I don’t know how regular it will be at this stage, and I’ll see what I can do about reducing the file size (255 MB for ten minutes of video might be acceptable in some fields, but it seems a bit over the top here, thankfully the YouTube version shouldn’t take anywhere near as much bandwidth).

Today’s episode is about something which would be a direct threat to this video podcast, the proposal to ban all mobile phone use in cars. In today’s episode I explain why the idea is both bad an illogical, and the likely bans on other activities in cars and on the footpath which will follow if this ban becomes law.

If you want to download the video, it’s available by clicking here.

And if you want to subscribe to the podcast there are a couple options. To subscribe like a normal podcast and have the video files automatically downloaded to your computer, you should be able to subscribe to the feed at https://samuelgordonstewart.com/category/samuels-thoughts-from-the-road/feed.

The other option, if you’re a registered YouTube user, is that you can subscribe to my YouTube channel.

I’ll see about getting an iTunes subscribe button going soon.

Samuel

February 7th, 2011 at 09:43pm

Mobile phone bans

An email to 2UE’s Jason Morrison

Good morning and welcome to 2UE Jason!

You touched on the proposal to ban all phone use by drivers in cars and other vehicles. I think this is just crazy…I do not buy for one moment this notion that using a handsfree phone is just as dangerous as using a handheld one. I don’t see it as being any more dangerous than having a conversation with someone else in the vehicle.

From all of the “experts” that I’ve heard on this subject, it seems that they think the act of listening, rather than the act of talking is the problem here, so should we ban conversations in cars as well? And what about talk radio? There was a study in the US last year which claimed that listening to an engaging sport commentary was just as dangerous as talking on a handheld phone…I don’t believe the study, but I don’t make the laws…I can however see that being extended to listening to blokes like you.

I can see this rapidly deteriorating in to total control over what you can and can’t listen to in the car or on the footpath…and the driver/phone and pedestrian/ipod bans are just the start.

One final question though…if using a handsfree phone while driving is dangerous, why isn’t using an ipod while driving just as dangerous. It’s perfectly legal, headphones and all.

Have a great day Jason!

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

February 7th, 2011 at 06:42am