After an accident last summer, where a 24-year-old motorcyclist was killed in an accident caused by a wheel surfer, We Car Owners made a series of articles about using the mobile phone while driving.
In an article, police officer Richard Nilsson, coordinator at the traffic section in Vänersborg, is interviewed, who believes that even the built-in screens in our cars are problematic.
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Wheel surfing illegal since 2018
Using the mobile phone while driving has been illegal in Sweden since February 2018, but this only applies if you hold the mobile phone in your hand.
If the mobile is mounted in a holder, it is fine to use it just like any other screen in the car.
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The use of screens should be prohibited
Recently, more and more functions in modern cars have been moved to screens, and Richard Nilsson sees this as problematic.
– It is clear that it is a problem. You have more focus on the road in a Volvo 240 than in a Volvo V90. Sometimes you almost need an engineering degree just to turn on the seat heating. If you sit there fiddling with the screen, it can be dangerous, even if it is not prohibited by law. The attention must be forward, he says to Vi Bilägare.
He therefore believes that the use of the car’s permanently mounted screens should also be prohibited.
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That’s why it’s so dangerous
The fact that steering wheel surfing and using the car’s fixed screens can be so dangerous is largely due to the fact that a car has time to travel further than you might think in just a few seconds.
We car owners note that a car traveling at 40 km/h has time to travel a full 22 meters if you look away for just two seconds, and a full 40 meters if you look away for two seconds at 70 km/h.
Richard Nilsson believes that drivers distracted by mobile phones or other equipment in the car mainly cause one type of collision, namely kitchen coats.
This was also the case with the fatal accident last summer, which occurred during road work on the E4 north of Gävle.
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