Singapore: Phone Driving- To Use Or Not To Use

Phone Driving - all of us have heard about phone driving, drivers brought to book, fined, having their hand phones forfeited, and suffering 12 demerit points entered against their driving record. What is actually prohibited by the law?

This article seeks to distinguish "old wife’s tales", hearsay and ‘’urban legends’’ and answer the question: just what are the types and forms of hand phone usage prohibited by the law? Can Bluetooth be used to speak? How about the use of speakerphone or hands-free set? How about the car’s built-in phone? Are Walkie Talkies or Citizen Band radios (CB radios) (rare though they may be) covered? What is the situation if pagers are used? Can you page someone? Or read a pager when it buzzes? Can you park the car on the road side and use the phone? Can you compose an SMS whilst the car has stopped at a traffic junction, and press ‘’SEND’’ just before you move the car? How about operating and consulting computerised navigation systems and GPS maps? Are taxi drivers breaking the law when they operate their computer booking consoles? The permutation and combination of circumstances are almost bewildering!

This article seeks to put forth the correct legal position for some of the scenarios highlighted above.

"Use of mobile telephone while driving 65B of the Road Traffic Act ("RTA") (1) Any person who, being the driver of a motor vehicle on a road or in a public place, uses a mobile telephone while the motor vehicle is in motion shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both, and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both. [1/99]

(2) In this section "mobile telephone" includes any hand held equipment which is designed or capable of being used for telecommunication; "use", in relation to a mobile telephone, means to hold it in one hand while using it to communicate with any person.‘’

It can be seen that the offence of ‘’phonedriving’’ is only made out if:

• the person concerned is the driver of a motor vehicle;
• the motor vehicle is on a road or public place;
• uses a mobile telephone by holding it in one hand and using it to communicate;
• whilst the motor vehicle is in motion.

Any scenario or permutation/combination of facts which leaves out any ONE of the above factors would therefore not constitute an offence!

This means the following scenario, it would appear, would not constitute the offence of ‘’phone-driving’’:-

1. if you are not the driver when you use the phone;
2. if you are seated in the driver seat of a vehicle which is towed;
3. if the vehicle you are operating is not motorised;
4. if the vehicle you are driving is not in motion – for e.g. when stopped at the kerb, or stopped at a red light at a traffic light controlled junction;
5. if you are using the mobile telephone to communicate but not holding it in your hand (i.e. you are communicating by means of speaker phone, blue tooth, hands-free set, or the car’s built-in mobile phone system). However, make sure at no time do you actually hold the phone (just pressing a single button on the phone or blue tooth set to receive the call is alright).
6. if your mobile telephone has a ‘’voicedialing’’ facility, just pressing a single button on the phone (making sure you do not hold the phone whilst doing so) to activate the voice-dialing facility to make an out-going call is also alright;
7. if you subscribe to a ‘’voice SMS’’ facility, just pressing a single button on the phone (making sure you DO NOT HOLD the phone whilst doing so) to activate the voice SMS facility to make an out-going SMS is also permissible within the law;
8. for modern ‘’everything-in-one-device’’ multi-function phones which are also MP3-players, camera, radios, GPS road directories, electronic diary, dicta-phone voice recorder, mini-computers and PDAs, technically speaking, you may use the phone’s other non-communication functions (such as showing a roadmap, playing music, receiving radio broadcast, taking a digital photograph, etc) and that would also be permissible within the law, although technically speaking, it is also a device "capable of being used" as a telephone;
9. if your phone rings and you glance at it to see the number of the caller but you neither hold the phone nor accept the call;
10. if your phone ‘’beeps’’ upon receiving an incoming SMS/MMS, and you glance at it to see the number or identity of the sender but you do not actually read the SMS/MMS and neither do you pick up the phone.
11. taxi drivers reading the computer console and pressing buttons on it without holding it in their hands would also not be committing the offence of phonedriving. This is because in all such cases the computer console would be installed on the dashboard of the taxi, and incapable of being ‘’held in a hand’’.
12. it would not be phone-driving to look at a Global Positioning System ("GPS") or electronic map console built into the dashboard of your car, because firstly you are not holding the device in your hand when you read from it, and secondly such are not telecommunication devices. However, you should note where your GPS or electronic map console obtains its data from. If it’s from an internal memory or CD-Rom on board the car, then it is not a telecommunication device. If however, the Global Positioning Systems ("GPS") or electronic map console is updated real-time from an external server or over the internet, than it is arguably a telecommunication device, and if you hold it in your hand and drive whilst you have recourse to it, you might run afoul of the offence even though you are not telephoning someone in the classica sense.

From experience and actual cases, the traffic police officer would stop anyone seen holding a hand phone whilst driving, in order to investigate. It would not matter whether the driver is actually using the said phone. As to whether you have actually run afoul of the offence of phone driving would depend on the outcome of the investigations.

However, all the foregoing discussion on the finer points of the law on phone-driving would not absolve you from the general duty to exercise good sense and be conscious of basic motoring safety.

All of us would benefit from the reminder that full attention while driving is very important, because hurtling along the road in a motorised steel box on wheels weighing close to a tonne can cause a lot of harm and grief to the driver and other innocent persons around without care and undivided attention to the task of driving safely. Tragedy – for the driver, the passengers, and the innocent by-stander - is literally a single eye blink away.

If you permit your attention to be distracted from the task of driving safely, and cause an accident, you may very well run afoul of other provisions of the law even though technically speaking you cannot be charged for phonedriving as such. This is especially true in the context of using ‘’everything-in-one-device’’ multi-function phones. Whilst you may not be using the phone to communicate per se, if you become distracted by reading the GPS map, listening to the MP3 music, listening to the radio, making an entry into your electronic diary, taking a photograph, dictating a draft report into the dicta-phone, depending on the circumstances such activities may be construed as recklessness or negligence, in which case if an accident is caused you may be prosecuted for any of the following offences:-

1. if someone died, you may be charged under s 304 (A) of the Penal Code for either negligent or reckless homicide;
2. if your manner of driving becomes erratic due to your pre-occupation with some non-driving-related tasks, you may be charged under s 64 of the RTA for reckless or dangerous driving;
3. alternatively, if the consequences are less serious than (2), you may nevertheless be charged for driving without due care or attention under s 65 of the RTA;
4. if your recklessness or dangerous driving causes any fatality, you may be prosecuted for causing death by reckless or dangerous driving under s 66 of the RTA.

Please DO NOT be under the MIS-impression that just because your vehicle is stationary you may make calls to your heart’s content without breaking the law! You may be committing summons offences if you stop your vehicle in order to make or receive a call:

• along the breakdown lane of the highway;
• in the bus lane;
• along the rightmost lane (i.e. overtaking lane);
• along double yellow lines;
• along a road with single or double white dividing lines; or
• parking your vehicle in a manner which obstructs the passage of other road users or in a manner of place which poses a danger to other road-users.

If you have to make an urgent call, drive into a proper car park and stop your vehicle properly without causing obstructions to other road users, before making that call.

Do not however make calls by turning into a petrol kiosk - this is because it is still not entirely clear as to whether the static electricity generated by certain brands of hand phones is strong enough to ignite the petrol fumes in filling stations! It may be urban legend, but certainly better to be safe than sorry, at least till there is more scientific proof to the contrary?

If you are the sort who is constrained to drive all day, invest in a proper hands-free set or blue tooth set, and leave your hand phone firmly secured in a clamp on your dashboard, obviating all necessity of touching the hand phone. Make sure you wear or put on the hands-free set before you start driving, instead of struggling desperately to unwind the wires and attempting to put it on when the phone rings:- in the confusion you may pose an immense danger to others (or yourself) if your car is still moving!!

The rule is: if you can operate the phone without having to hold it in your hand, it is not phone-driving although it may well constitute other offences under the Penal Code or Road Traffic Act.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.