Sir, - With the long overdue attention now being directed to the manner in which we carry out our motoring responsibilities, it is perhaps now also time for the relevant Ministers to take on one of the most dangerous and rapidly increasing pastimes, the use of mobile telephones whilst driving a vehicle. This practice, of itself is harmless, but when allied to the concentration required to keep a vehicle from colliding with another person or object, it becomes impossible.
There are multitudinous gadgets available which allow the "hands free" use of telephone equipment in motion and these are readily available on the open market. I would hold that a seriously high proportion of injuries and fatalities are due to mobile telephone distraction at the wrong time. At the present we have one of the fastest growing rates of road accident rates in Europe, which is causing the relevant Ministers to scratch their heads and wonder why. Some of the most persistent offenders are so called professional bus and truck drivers, who can regularly be witnessed attempting to slide 38 tonne, 40 foot artics and equally large coaches through the eye of the needle that - is central Dublin, whilst conversing, sometimes animatedly, with the boss, wife, mistress etc. What the effect would be of receiving some serious or unwanted news - via the mobile, whilst negotiating some dangerous junction, is too frightening to contemplate.
The answer is to use the power of Ministerial Order to make the use of vehicle based mobiles without "hands free" units illegal. Allow a six month period in which all existing units could be converted. Following this, direct the Garda authorities to institute an "Operation Freefone" and to stop and persecute/prosecute any idiot waffling whilst in vehicular motion. Remembering that Ministers usually occupy the passenger seat of their official motors, and so can procrastinate at will, I am not hopeful of an early response. The official line will probably be to seek to quantify the extent of the problem, seek a consultants' report, etc etc. In the meantime, our unexplained deaths will continue to spiral ever upward. By the time we do take action, telephones, like horses, will probably be obsolete. - Yours etc.,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.