Editorial: Cellphone use in cars new plague

In just one hour last Thursday police patrolling the bay's roads picked up 20 drivers using their cellphones while driving.

The region's road policing manager Senior Sergeant Greg Brown summed it up by saying "this is not good".

However, he may have used stronger language than that upon getting that figure - given that a short time earlier he had been forced to take evasive action after a car emerged from a bend and came toward him ... on his side of the road.

It was a close thing for Mr Brown and his colleague who at the time were, somewhat ironically, on their way to a traffic safety meeting.

They approached the driver who admitted he had been distracted by his cellphone.

One little device the size of a small cake of chocolate almost dealt to two vehicles and their occupants ... all because it "dinged".

Cellphone use in cars is a plague that doesn't seem to have a cure, because people just don't seem to rate it as a hazard ... until they are either hit or hit someone else.

I can recall just a month after the banning of cellphone use in cars I received my wake-up call, and it was from a former police officer who in hindsight, was a bit cheeky.

I was driving towards Taradale along a quiet semi-rural stretch, and my cellphone rang.

I thought, "Oh, it could be the photographer I've got booked for the job ahead ... better just take it".

So I answered and with a voice tinged with gruffness and a touch of satire, the chap asked why I was using the phone while driving.

I asked how he knew I was driving and he said he had been parked up and saw me drive past so gave me a quick call to see if I "knew the rules".

Chastened, I said yes, and sorry at the same time.

Lesson learned.

In the car leave them off or out of range - and just simply leave them alone, or carefully pull over.

Hey, we didn't have a phone in the car 20 years ago and we seemed to get along okay.