We can’t trust drivers to stop using phones

I would like to join the chrous of Computeractive readers calling for stronger penalties for people using their phones while driving. No text message is so important that it can’t wait until you park the car.

But I think it’s going to be harder to stop this activity than it was to dissuade people from drink driving, which was very common when I was growing up in the 1960s. The simple reason: phones can be taken everywhere, and indeed are taken everywhere. People wake up, check their phone; clean their teeth, check their phone; get in the car, check their phone. It’s become a ritual of modern life that’s irresistible, however depressing that may be to those of us who remember life before them.

Drink-driving is different. People don’t have a pint every 30 seconds like they check their phones. And it’s also easier to tell when someone is drunk, and shouldn’t get behind the wheel of a car. By contrast, it’s impossible to tell before a car journey whether somebody is going to spend half of it texting.

So, unfortunately, society won’t change by itself. Nor will the stigma of using a phone while driving ever match that of being inebriated while driving. The only answer is for society to be forced to change, and for that to happen we need technology companies to come up with a solution.

I read a while back that Apple was working on a phone that turned itself off when it detected the movement of a car. I would urge governments around the world to team up with tech companies to encourage such research. Car manufacturers should get involved too. It requires investment, innovation and leadership, because drivers can’t be trusted to voluntarily abandon this very dangerous practice. Derek Baker

CA says Derek will be pleased to read about the Government’s plans to introduce technology that stops phones working in cars – see page 11.