The new laws in place today that deliver a £60 fine and three points onto the license of drivers who are caught using a mobile phone has been met with polarised opinion. Me, I’m all for it.
But then, I’m all for people getting fined when they speed along the streets where I live, passing the schools with wreckless abandon. Them and the dick head teenager with the motorbike who feels the need to race around our area at ridiculous speeds.
The thing is, there aren’t any police around to do anything about them. I have a 20 minute commute to and from work, and I see people on their mobiles all the time – not all of them driving dangerously, mind, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. However, it’s lucky if I see a police car once a week on my route, so how the heck is that one police car meant to enforce the law?
A couple of weeks back I had the idea that people should only be allowed to use a mobile phone at the wheel of a car if they’d passed their Advanced Driving Test. The folk who are crap at driving and using a mobile at the same time get fined off the road, while the people who really need to be contactable whilst on the move become better drivers.
The trouble with the Advanced Driving qualification is that it’s voluntary, and people assume they’re more than qualified after taking the current piece-of-piss driving test. But what if they made the Advanced Driving qualification a requirement with obvious benefits; you can use your phone, and you get cheaper insurance?
don’t think the ADT would make any difference to be honest, and i am all for the fine and points, but it has been in force here in ireland for the past 6 months and i don’t know anyone that has been done. as you say it is all about enforcement.