The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, has asked a high-level roads safety committee to advise him on whether it should be made an offence to use a mobile phone while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle. The decision by the Minister is somewhat surprising, given that the same committee advised him against such a course three years ago. And the Road Traffic Bill, 2001, which he introduced to the Dβil before the summer recess after a considerable delay, contains no reference at all to the use of mobile phones.
There may be an element of political self-protection in all of this. Just as the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, talks freely about an eventual ban on smoking in bars and public places and then proposes limited legislative action, so Mr Dempsey may be signalling long-term, rather than short-term, intentions. Still, there is no doubt the Minister has identified a growing danger on our roads as more and more people drive vehicles while conducting their business by telephone. Mr Dempsey said that, in spite of exhortations from the Garda, the Automobile Association (AA) and the National Road Safety Council not to use mobile phones while driving, "nobody was paying a blind bit of notice". And the use of mobile phones by drivers appeared to have increased four or five-fold in the past few years.
Research has found that drivers using hand-held phones are six times more likely than others to make mistakes. And the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in the UK concluded that it was impossible to use a phone without being significantly distracted and increasing the risk of a crash. In recent years, bans on the use of hand-held mobile phones have been introduced in Australia, Spain, Italy, Israel, Portugal, Brazil and in parts of the USA.
Mr Conor Faulknan, the AA's public affairs manager, has suggested existing laws on road safety should be implemented, rather than adding to them. And he described non-compliance by the motoring public in the wearing of seat belts as far more dangerous than the use of hand-held mobile phones. There can be no ducking the fact that our motoring laws are flouted to an outrageous extent and that there is little consistent, traffic policing. That does not mean that we should turn a blind eye to a growing danger. Any action that can reduce death on our roads should be pursued.