It's STILL not enough!!

Now I am not an irrational man - (pause to allow laughter of any friends reading this to subside) - but if there is one current social evil which drives me to fury it is the practice of motorists using mobile (cell) phones while driving- sometimes at high speed and on winding roads where both hands and full concentration on the job of driving is called for. I think I am a good driver but I am not so arrogant that I believe I can talk to my best pal, take a call from my bank manager and steer my car one handed through busy traffic.



These people are idiots. There has been a law in place in Britain to stop this practice since December 2003 yet it is flouted so regularly and with such contempt that the Government has been forced to increase the punishment for anyone caught on a cell phone while the car is in motion to - wait for it - a £60 fine and for the first time - horror on horror - three points on your licence!! What a joke! It is a more dangerous practice, in my view, than some of the road traffic offences that get really draconian punishment - like doing 50mph in a 40mph zone while concentrating fully on the road and having your wits about you!

Considering how hard it is for the police to have eyes everywhere I would suggest, on current income levels and the obsession people have to glue a phone to their ear 24/7, this so-called deterrent will achieve precious little.

Of course there are always bloody idiots like Nigel Humphries from the Association of British Drivers, who believe that any legislation aimed at motorists is a threat and who says "There are quite a lot of people out there who are perfectly capable of holding a conversation on a mobile phone while the driving comes first." Nigel have you read the Highway Code? Have you looked at the Driving Test standards? How many motorists would pass a driving test with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a cell phone to their ear? None. It is NOT safe, even for the best of drivers, to drive in that fashion and guys like Humphries should be more responsible than that.

Frankly, I believe the threat of imprisonment ought to be on the statute book, certainly for anyone caught for the third or fourth time doing this. OK I'm an old fashioned despot but the danger in which other road users, drivers and pedestrians alike, are placed by the irresponsible use of cell phones by arrogant drivers who think they are above the law is not reflected in the punishment - not by a long chalk!