The mobile telecommunications industry is disappointed that Tasmania has gone against the recent lead of Victoria and banned drivers in that state using phone-based GPS services.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said the industry had hoped that Tasmania would follow the lead of Victoria, which last month overturned a proposed ban on drivers using the GPS functions on mobile phones and MP3 players, provided they were placed in an approved cradle.

“While banning the use of mobile phone navigation services, the new Tasmanian laws allow drivers to use portable navigation aids, such as TomTom,” he said.

“This is inconsistent because both devices deliver the same service and in many cases use the same navigation software. There is no particular safety differences between them and the latest GPS software does not require a driver to look at the screen because they use turn-by-turn voice directions.

“It is a short-sighted and counterproductive approach because transmission from mobile phones give information for automatic updates for drivers. If an incident occurs en route a voice notification will occur and the routing changed to avoid an incident.

“This is done by the collection of movement data from GPS mobile phones which can provide drivers with real-time traffic information. The accuracy of traffic-flow data relies on data being collected from connected GPS-enabled mobile phones in motion on the road.”

AMTA has arranged a series of meeting with Ministers and senior bureaucrats to put the industry’s views on this issue as well as producing a submission setting out the industry’s arguments.

Mr Althaus there was confusion and a lack of co-ordination across Australia on this issue of the use of GPS/MP3 functions in mobile phones while driving.

“There are different rules in different States adding to driver confusion and making it extremely difficult for our industry to market the product amid a mélange of competing rules and regulations,” he said.

“We hope the process being run through the National Transport Commission can arrive at a considered and concerted position without favouring one form of technology over another without firm safety grounds.”