No Smoking or Talking at Indian Gas Stations

from the explosion-may-result dept

Mon, Jul 1st 2002 4:02pm — Prash Agarwal

India's Oil Industry Safety Directorate has officially banned cellphone use at gas pumps. They are worried that sparks from a cell phone battery might ignite the gas fumes. A study by Shell found that the single most dangerous item near a gas pump after matches and cigarettes is the car itelf. So you really have to wonder what kind of cellphones people are using in India.

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Alan, 1 Jul 2002 @ 4:37pm

urban legend
Is this urban legend back in the news? I remember a fuss back in the summer 1999 over this bogus risk.

1999 Urban Legends: Cell Phone Destroys Gas Station
http://www.darwinawards.com/legends/legends1999-04.html

- Alan
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todd, 1 Jul 2002 @ 5:43pm

hmmm
Mike, not only is this urban legend fodder, it is something that the litigation-fearing Oil Companies in these United States have swallowed hook, line and sinker. Next time you're at the pump, I'll wager you will find a sticker saying "turn off all cellular phone equipment" somewhere closeby....
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- al, 12 Dec 2002 @ 10:35pm
  
  Re: gas station cell phone usage
  I saw a reality show on tv today with home videos. A guy is just pumping his gas and he starts on fire. They said they figured it must have been static electricity. Seems to me that if a guy can get enough static electricity going just standing around then maybe the static from a cell phone could do the trick too. Not often, but maybe it's time for one of them studies.
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