I disagree with the whole phone-while-driving malarkey. Yes, there are plenty of drivers who will happily drive a whole journey on their phone who should be shot. I object greatly, however, to being told that for the extent of a 10-15 second phone call, that I suddenly turn into an incompetent driver. I know how to drive, bugger off and leave me to it. If it's going to be a long call, then I'll have thought about it and put the phone on loudspeaker in the door pocket by the handle.

I do not require two hands to drive constantly, for the extent of 15 seconds on the motorway, I'd say I'm fine. I very rarely have two hands on the wheel anyway. *shrugs*

http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognit ... nt2003.pdf

Scientific surveys say you are wrong.

The whole 'but it was only 15 seconds on a safe stretch of road' argument is ridiculous. No, actually it is laughable.

Even when the road is safe, who knows what's going to happen. What do you do if the car in front has a tyre blow out and you've one hand to your ear? I know this example may not apply to any situation you've been in, but just because the road is safe doesn't mean other road users won't become sudden and unexpected obstacles, or you won't suffer some sort of drastic mechanical failure.

Bazillionth time trying to post from my phone (opera mini fails again)...
The third quote is the fav.
The car isn't without its issues. But then neither is is the mazda.
So it might be a case of which do I trust to get me home, and which is the better investment?
I'm going to offer £500 below his asking and see where we go from there.

Undamaged car and no points say I must be doing something right.

Laugh all you like. If somebody calls me unexpectedly and I'm not very busy, I'll likely answer, find out if it's urgent or not and depending, put them on loudspeaker or call them back later. If I've got a hand free long enough to cancel the call, I've got a hand free to flip my phone open and stab 'loudspeaker'. (No, I am not going to sit with two hands on the wheel like I've just passed my test while the sound of somebody trying to call me drowns out any sounds I might want to hear from the car. )

I agree. But I'm hardly likely to do it on an unsafe piece of road am I?

If I'm having a conversation, the phone gets consigned immediately to the space in my door on loudspeaker. And more often than not, only if I'm bored. The alternative is I'm a good little boy, don't call anybody and then proceed to nod off on the motorway because I'm already tired and motorways bore me. No, I probably shouldn't have been driving at the time. But I was. And between drifting over two lanes of motorway again and making a phone call, I considered it a no brainer. And finding hex for the background of this place is a bugger! ;·)

That sounds hands-free to me. My point was more against the comparison of phone-talk and people-in-the-car-talk, the difference being you're still holding the wheel with the latter. Anyone, motorways are dull. Avoid them (8-p)

Hands-free only works up until about 80 on the clock. Then it starts to break up. And I lost my cheapo bluetooth headset ages ago (which I can't say I considered a great loss. I came closer to an accident trying to set the bloody thing up, having failed to do so before I left and had all of a set of red lights to try setting it up )

For the purposes of "Call -> Answer -> "I'll be there in 20, wait for you in the car park" etc -> hang up" or whatever, I'd just rather use the damn handset.

What if your car's black with a red flashing light at the front? Normal or eccentric?

It's a complete fallacy that talking to your passengers is safe. It depends on the nature of the conversation, but if you're engrossed in thinking about something other than the road then you're not safe.

The worst possible situation is travelling with non-drivers and children who do not understand that you can't be dealing with them and negotiate a dangerous junction while trying to navigate an unknown route. This is why so many kids die while going on holiday.

I remember Homer designed a car in which the kids were kept in a separate bubble. Excellent idea.

Agreed. You can't get them to shut up by hanging up on them.

:-D I may have to fit one of these. Can stick people I don't like in it too. Fantastic.

No, just that it hasn't happened yet

Really, the approach you have why not get pissed then go for a drive, it's just as dangerous and both are illegal

You can take that argument and cram it. I've driven over the limit once. Never again. Simple as. And you simply can't compare the two.

Only if it makes a noise like a cylon.

Well don't I feel like a bad boy. I never said my behaviour was "safe". I just said that I felt an extremely short call on a long, quiet, straight bit of road, travelling at 60mph wasn't half as bad as the majority of behaviour on our roads. The one hand on the wheel thing is a joke. Tons of people drive with one hand (or less) when doing a multitude of other things. If the police can't see the other hand on a phone at your ear, you're unlikely to get pulled. As for speeding, I wasn't talking about 1mph over the limit. I'm talking about the tons of people who are doing 80+ every single day. Modern brakes may be better, but most of them do it on crowded stretches of road for hours at a time.

Talking to other people, or kids, or listening to a Sat-nav in an area you don't know are all just as distracting as a phone call, yet none of them is an offence. I wish to be judged by the standard of my driving, not what I do in my car.