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You’re right of course. When I’m at a full stop in a never ending traffic jam on I-80, I’m totally a danger for not paying attention to the brake lights of the

• erinaceousjones 5y ago
  Context matters. This entire article is about inner-city suburban streets in Britain, especially London with its high population density, in which pedestrians (i.e. gaggles of school kids, mums with pushchairs, people with dogs, independent cats, foxes) share the pavements and roads with cyclists, cars, sometimes even the occasional horse and carriage (even still today, yep). We're NOT talking about stop-start commuter traffic on an American interstate. There are a LOT more moving not-car objects which do not and will not follow the motorist's rules of the road, on these leafy suburban streets. Phone use when idle at stop lights means you might not spot something until it's too late. Hell, even when you open your door when parked up you have to check your mirrors so you don't accidentally clothes-line a passing cyclist - that's a point that's drilled into us by good driving instructors. As the people operating the industrial machinery, we have a duty of care to always treat it as such, and keep the others around us safe. Sorry, but your boredom is of little or no concern in relation to the safety of others. Just keep off the damn phone. Arguably even handsfree kits are a bit of a bad idea wrt concentration span and task switching - but they exist, so if you need to use your phone as a phone, you can do so without taking your eyes off the road. But otherwise, leave the damn rest until you're at home!!! The rest of your apps can wait.