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Firms advised to trial mobile phone ban to assess impact

By / 14 years ago / Latest News / No Comments

There has been much debate again recently about the dangers of driving while using a hands free mobile phone, partly due to to mounting pressure from road safety charities which believe that the use of hands free phones while driving should be made illegal in the same way handheld devices are. This is backed up by a report from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) which showed that using a hands-free phone while driving was more likely to lengthen reaction times than having 80mg of alcohol in the bloodstream (the UK limit).

Tracey Scarr, fleet and road safety manager at Arval, said: 'I understand why some companies are concerned about the impact of a complete mobile phone ban in vehicles but in light of this new research I believe it's time for businesses to at least trial a ban. Even with a small sample of employees from different roles across their business they can assess the true impact on staff and identify the areas that need to be addressed if a ban on hands-free mobiles is implemented.

'I'm not saying that there won't be any impact on the way a business communicates with its employees when they are on the road, however the research is convincing and duty of care towards employees must be taken very seriously.'

She continued: 'Businesses that have implemented bans are continuing to operate, grow, and be profitable in a world where their staff are safer on the roads and feel better rested as they take regular breaks to check phone messages. They will feel valued and supported if they are not under pressure to take and make calls whilst driving, especially if a business has assessed the impact before introducing a ban, and made appropriate changes to support them in doing their job effectively. Road safety organisations are campaigning for the law to be changed to include hands-free mobiles so why not get ahead of the game?'

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