Warr Zone with Simon Warr

AFTER a brief drop in the number of people using a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving, during the past couple of years there appears to have been another upwards surge, mainly down to the increasing popularity of Twitter.

Some people are seemingly unable to spend more than a few minutes without consulting their electronic screen, even when they’re behind the wheel.

We’ve had an enormous increase in the number of cars on the roads, while at the same time there has been an explosion in the number of mobile phones.

With driving being the single most dangerous activity any of us does on a daily basis, talking, texting or tweeting whilst driving is an accident waiting to happen.

You don’t require a university degree to work out that anyone in charge of a motor car needs to concentrate at all times on the road ahead.

You can hardly do this if you’re undertaking a conversation on a phone or, worse, reading or texting a message.

These mobile devices are a significant distraction, substantially increasing the risk of a crash.

At the very best, drivers using a mobile whilst driving cause congestion with their sudden and repeated changes of speed; these drivers are certainly much less aware of what’s happening around them; they’re more likely to tailgate; they react more slowly and take longer to brake.

What can be done to tackle these modern menaces?

I think it’d be a good idea, first and foremost, to issue an automatic one-year ban on any driver caught ’phoning while behind the wheel.

Secondly, every car should have its registration number clear to see on the driver’s door, so any passing car passengers have the opportunity to photograph a driver phoning and forward the evidence to the police.

Thirdly, let’s have a massive advertising campaign to send a clear message to all the numbskulls that this practice is dicing with death, and not just their own death.

We cannot sit back and expect this growing problem to be tended to by the police alone; society needs to show collective responsibility to put pressure on these selfish, anti-social, havoc-wreaking idiots.

The culture of turning a blind eye to their gross irresponsibility is unacceptable.

It shouldn’t need a member of our own family to be hurt, or killed even, by one of these morons, to spur us into action.