Mobile phones and distractions

By the end of this topic you can

• You can explain the Irish law on holding a mobile phone while driving.
• You can set up your phone, sat nav and music before you move off.
• You can ignore calls and messages until you are parked somewhere safe and legal.
• You can recognise other distractions and deal with them safely.
• You can ask passengers to help rather than distract you.

What you need to know and understand

• You must not hold a mobile phone while driving. Holding includes supporting it with another part of your body, such as between your ear and shoulder.
• Holding a mobile phone while driving carries a fixed charge of 120 euro and 3 penalty points, or 5 points on conviction.
• Hands-free calls are not banned in themselves, but they still distract you. Sending or reading a text by hand while driving is an offence even if the phone is in a cradle.
• Learner and novice drivers are disqualified at 7 penalty points.
• Even a two-second glance at a screen means travelling many metres without looking at the road.
• If you need to use your phone, stop somewhere safe and legal first. A motorway hard shoulder is not such a place.

What the law says about phones

Under Irish law, you must not hold a mobile phone while driving a vehicle in a public place. That covers calling, texting, reading messages, scrolling and using apps with the phone in your hand or wedged against your body. There is a defence for calling the emergency services in a genuine emergency, but it is not permission to handle a phone for anything else.

Talking on a phone in a fixed cradle or hands-free is not banned in itself, but typing, sending or reading a text message by hand while driving is an offence even when the phone is fixed in a cradle. Even legal hands-free use can lead to a prosecution for careless or dangerous driving if it affects how you drive. The RSA strongly advises against hands-free calls too.

The safest choice is to let calls and messages wait until you have stopped somewhere safe and legal.

Other distractions to manage

• Sat navs and in-car screens: set the route before you move off. If you need to change it, pull in.
• Music and audio: keep the volume low enough to hear horns and sirens. Do not drive wearing headphones.
• Food and drink: eat before or after your journey, not while driving.
• Passengers: ask friends to keep noise down, and let a passenger handle the sat nav or phone.
• Things outside the car: crashes, adverts and scenery. Glance, then get your eyes back on the road.
• Your own mind: stress, anger or worry. If you cannot concentrate, do not drive.

Build distraction-free habits

1. Before starting the engine, put your phone on silent or driving mode, out of reach.
2. Set your sat nav, seat, mirrors and music.
3. Tell friends and family you will reply when you arrive.
4. If something needs your attention, find a safe, legal place to stop first.
5. On longer trips, plan breaks to check messages.

Common mistakes

• Picking up the phone at red lights or in traffic jams. You are still driving.
• Holding the phone between ear and shoulder. That counts as holding it.
• Typing a new destination into the sat nav while moving. Pull in first.
• Thinking hands-free is completely safe. Conversations still take your attention.
• Letting passengers wind you up. You are in charge of the car.

Test yourself: Mobile phones and distractions

Answer each question, then read the explanation. Questions come in a random order each time.

Go deeper

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