Is it illegal ?

philtaylor

Is it illegal to do a u-turn on a dual carrigeway and whats the situation with mobile phones in your hand while driving , they have been bugging me as I cant seem to track down an accurate answer.

Fighting Irish

You can't do u turns on the dual carriage way unless theres a sign that states you can! you can't use a mobile phone while driving unless you're using it without holding it i.e. car kit

Atomic Pineapple

theres usually a roundabout at the end of or during the lenght of a dual carriage way allowing you to safely turn back on to the opposite flowing lane, leaving no need for a u turn, and it is illegal to have a phone in your hand while driving, both your hands must be on steering wheel or using gear stick

philtaylor

Cheers for the reply , yes your correct about the roundabouts , I would have thought it was illegal , can't seem to find them in the rules of the roads about u-turns or mobile phones etc is there a update version that I can get ?/

Gary ITR

It's actually still perfectly legal to drive on the phone, it's only if you crash or run a red light or something you can be done for driving without due care and attention. Both hands have to be on the wheel in your test but it's not a legal requirement, much like stalling the engine, if you keep doing it in your test you will fail but it's not against the law.

Litcagral

draffodx wrote:

both your hands must be on steering wheel or using gear stick

There is no legal requirement that both hands must be on the steering wheel, but you must drive with due care and attention.

cormie

So if you have a phone which has a built in Loud Speaker option, and you answer it, put the loud speaker on and place it on your lap, would this still be classed as driving without due care or attention and possibly soon made illegal? Why haven't they made it illegal to talk on phones? I thought there were fines introduced for it about 2 years ago?

So if a dual carriageway is say 20 miles just straight and you don't even know the road, but you know you've taken a wrong turn, it's actually "illegal" to do a U turn? Where is this documented?

Litcagral

Fighting Irish wrote:

You can't do u turns on the dual carriage way unless theres a sign that states you can!

I think the opposite is true, i.e. you can make a U-turn unless there is a sign prohibiting it.

Gary ITR

cormie wrote:

I thought there were fines introduced for it about 2 years ago?

They did but couldn't enforce it cos taxi drivers and guards etc wouldn't have been allowed to use their radio's so they had to scrap it. Something to do with the way it was worded and it hasn't been fixed yet, typical. Afaik though when it does come in it's only car kits that are built into the car that are going to be legal, ie the ones you buy in tesco for a tenner won't be allowed

Litcagral

Onkle51 wrote:

They did but couldn't enforce it cos taxi drivers and guards etc wouldn't have been allowed to use their radio's so they had to scrap it. Something to do with the way it was worded

Yes, it was worded in such a way that even the drivers of emergency services could not use two way radios while moving. It meant that ambulances had to always have some one in the front with the driver instead of in the back where they may be needed. Also applied to CB radio.

cormie

Litcagral wrote:

I think the opposite is true, i.e. you can make a U-turn unless there is a sign prohibiting it.

Yeah that's what I thought too, it's ok to do a U turn wherever ya bleeeedin like unless there is a sign saying not to

Onkle, thanks for clearing that up, so they just forgot about it and haven't done anything since? Typical alright:(

Gary ITR

A guard actually told me this when he saw me throw my phone on the floor like we all do!!

Alun

Litcagral wrote:

I think the opposite is true, i.e. you can make a U-turn unless there is a sign prohibiting it.

That's right, as long as there's a way of getting from one side to the other, i.e. a little U-turn gap in the central reservation, or at traffic lights. I think if you drove over the grass it would be frowned on though