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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