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You are here: Home / Information / How clear is your windscreen

How clear is your windscreen

January 16, 2021 By chippy minton Leave a Comment

I admonished (in the nicest possible way) a friend this morning for inappropriate positioning of her mobile phone on her windscreen.  As the friend was Madame Editor, she instructed me (also in the nicest possible way) to post something about it.  So here goes.

using phone as sat nav
Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay

The Department for Transport guidelines divide the windscreen into two areas. Zone A is “a vertical area 290 mm wide, centred on the steering wheel and contained within the swept area of the windscreen.” Zone B is the rest of the windscreen covered by the wipers.

The RAC provide a diagram to illustrate this, which I hope they won’t mind my reproducing here.

windscreen zones

You can’t have anything more than 10 mm big in Zone A, and nothing more than 40 mm big in Zone B.

So far so good.  But MOT testing rules permit items if they obstruct only the driver’s view of the sky or of the bonnet.  And little account is taken of the height of the driver.  A short person may never look through the top part of the windscreen; a tall person may never look through the bottom.

Halfords recommend placing devices low down and as far right as possible.  Also think about trailing cables – they are generally not looked on favourably.  Items placed high on the windscreen might dangle if they fall.  My preference is for a dash-mounted holder that is kept well clear of the windscreen.

An Advanced Driver once advised me that sat-nav devices shouldn’t be in sight at all, but that the driver should rely on the spoken instructions (like in the olden days when we had human map-readers).  Personally, I’m not so sure.  I rely on a glance at the sat-nav screen to confirm exactly which “next left” it means.

Also remember that it is illegal to touch your phone while driving – even if you are using it for navigation.  As with any mobile phone usage, you must be stopped in a recognised parking place, with the engine off and brake applied.  Incidentally, it is also illegal to use your phone to pay at a drive-through eatery. That counts as using a mobile phone while driving.

touching mobile phone while driving
It might only be a quick touch, but it’s still six penalty points and £200 fine. I’m not sure about the cat hanging from the rear-view mirror either!  Image by Renate Köppel from Pixabay

Similar rules apply to dash-cams.  But to me, these guidelines are slightly muddied by the fact that, if I were to use the footage as evidence in an insurance claim, it should record a similar view to my own.  It needs a clear view of the road ahead, which suggests it needs to look through the area that is kept clear by the windscreen wipers.  Also, if used for play-back, the screen must be out of sight of the driver.

dashcam
Image by Niran Kasri from Pixabay

I’ve placed mine just behind and to the left (nearside) of the rear-view mirror (yes, I know this contradicts what I wrote above about not placing items high on the screen).  This position is already obscured by the rear-view mirror, and I’m not tempted to touch it while driving because I can’t actually see it.

So, how clear is your windscreen?  Have I given you a Sunday afternoon task of rearranging your devices?

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Tags: driving, law, mobile phone, sat navs

About chippy minton

I've lived in Chandler's Ford and Eastleigh for most of my adult life, having recently returned after seven years in north-west Hampshire (though remaining a regular visitor to the area).

I work in IT, and my hobbies include bell ringing, walking and cycling. I volunteer with St John Ambulance and am also a self-confessed “born-again runner” having discovered parkrun in 2015.

I enjoy watching live theatre and music, and try to watch many of the shows that are performed in the Eastleigh area.

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