UK professor concludes: cellphones don't cause gas station fires
posted Mar 20th 2005 3:36PM
Maybe MythBusters isn't a solid enough scientific authority for Connecticut state senator Andreas Stillman, who wants to ban the use of cellphones when you're filling up your car, but a professor from University of Kent in the UK has decided to settle once and for all whether cellphones can cause gas station fires (technically he studied whether cellphones cause petrol station fires, but we're pretty sure his research applies to the rest of the world). He studied all 243 gas station fires from the past 11 years that were supposedly sparked by cellphones and determined that not a single one was actually caused by a handset. The actual cause of most of these fires? Static electricity, which is what everyone who actually knows anything about this stuff has been saying all along.
As I always supposed. Even if it's not dangerous, I would not use my cellphone when I'm filling up my car.
Did you read the first sentence of what they wrote?
Obviously not...
technically he studied whether mobile phones cause petrol station fires...
we dont call them cell phones because thats what maericans call it and we all bitterly hate americans.
you don't hate us americans...
you're just jealous...
cheero mate; dont' fill your auto with petro while engaging on british sophistication on the good ole' mobile. long live the queen.
Plus there was that whole Mythbusters episode where they interviewed people from the industry, ran tests, and concluded that its nothing more than a myth...
do they get mythbusters in the uk?
Perhaps that Connecticut senator was just catering to the hysteria of a small ignorant section of the population. If that senator was smart he would pass a bill forbidding nylons or re-entering his or her car at the pump. But that would upset people.
It's already forbidden to use mobile phones in gas stations of Spain.
I hope Andreas Stillman listen. :)
we call petrol petrol in australia too, so I guess this study applies to us also. (we call mobile phones mobile phones too, which is lucky since not all mobile phone networks use "cell" technology)
However, using mobile phones is banned in Oz already anyway so this study is superfluous to us.
On the other side of the coin, I'd like to know how many of these fires were caused by people who WEREN'T using cellular phones. In other words, I'm sure they don't cause the fires, but if the actions required to use them (reaching into flannel or polyester pockets) are likely to cause a static discharge, then wouldn't banning the use of cell phones at the pump accomplish the same goal?
FlatMac: ye makes a valid point.
Mark H: "small ignorant section of the population" ?? ouch. hope no one from CT is here...
and have a looksee what else this cuckoo bird is up to:
http://www.senatedems.state.ct.us/Stillman.html
have a click on "a list of bills introduced" in the green section up top.
this here's another fun one, but these cats aren't too hep with how to encorporate each and every possible distracting device. some of those navigation comps are pretty tricky...
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/tob/h/2005HB-06584-R00-HB.htm
but returning to topic, i'll quote a famous american doctor: "what a maroon"
Thought that it was to avoid any errors on the pump-meter !!!
I always understood the risk was in dropping the phone and causing sparks - and the distraction of talking while operating the pump.
Here in Singapore we have an entire nation of idiotic believers who believe that that cell/mobile phones will cause petrol/gas stations to go "BOOM." Tsk. I'd like to see the cops shut off their radios when they come in to tank up based on this myth!!
We have documented over 200 of these fires since the mid Nineties and have published our results here: http://www.pei.org/static
There is also a frightening video that shows a classic example of one of these incidents.