Using your phone while refueling is prohibited in many places because it is said to be dangerous due to the risk of explosion, but that reason has long been outdated. What is the real reason and can you get a fine for it?
Many petrol pumps have warning signs prohibiting the use of mobile phones while refueling. The reason the signs ever came around was because cell phones were supposed to have enough energy to create a spark. In combination with the gases of highly flammable gasoline, this could cause a fire, resulting in serious, even life-threatening injuries.
However, this was mainly the case in the days of older mobile phones, which had larger batteries. This meant there was a greater risk that a spark could occur if you dropped the phone. “Yet we have never been able to trace any incidents back to the use of a mobile phone while refueling,” the Petroleum Equipment Institute said a few years ago. USAToday. “In fact, many researchers have tried to ignite fuel vapors with a mobile phone, but it has never been successful.
There is no law that prohibits calling while refueling
Also in the show Mythbusters it has been tried in vain and the US Federal Trade Commission also says it is impossible. In practice, the electromagnetic field emitted by the telephone during a conversation is not able to ignite the petrol, diesel or LPG being filled. The radio waves from mobile phones have a low power, which does not generate enough energy to cause a fire, it turns out.
Nevertheless, the possibility of an explosion theoretically exists, according to Paul de Waal, spokesperson for Bovag, the trade organization for gas stations, among others. “I don’t think there is a law in the Netherlands that prohibits this and so you cannot get a fine for it. The danger is exclusively theoretical, because it has never happened in practice, and we would like to keep it that way. Why would you take the risk? When you fill up your car, you have to pay attention, so just don’t do it.”
‘Risk is not completely zero’
“The risk is very, very low,” said Michael Marando, a staff member of the American National Fire Protection Association. But I can’t say the risk is completely zero, because there could be a one in a few billion chance that it could happen.” Incidents that can be traced back to the use of the telephone while refueling have never been reported in the Netherlands either. The prohibition stickers that are still used at many gas stations are said to date from the early days of the mobile phone. Back then the batteries were much larger and there was a risk that sparks would occur if the phone was dropped, for example.
Shell: ‘Calling causes distraction while refueling’
According to Shell, despite the minuscule risk of your mobile phone causing a fire, it is still unwise to use your phone while refueling, even though you cannot be fined for it. “Using a mobile phone is distracting,” says a spokesperson. “That is why it is not allowed at our gas stations to use them while refueling, for your own safety and that of others.”
Do you have more questions about fuel for your car? You can read all about it in this article from Autoweek
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