I am advised by the Metropolitan Traffic Management Services in Johannesburg that legislation is in the pipeline to make the use of hand-held cellphones while driving an offence. In Australia the fine is about R600 plus the loss of points on your licence and traffic officers pounce on any abusers. The sooner the better, of course, but in the meantime traffic officers should start ticketing offending cell users on the basis of negligent driving - any magistrate would agree that driving with a cellphone pressed to your ear is negligent. Unless, of course, they assure him they are using a hands-free kit. And he makes them swear to it.
Cellphones are a great boon to society .
They oil the wheels of commerce, provide security for those on the move, assist the police in their duties and so on. As technology advances perhaps rural dwellers will be able to use a version of this yuppie status symbol for their very real everyday needs. One has no objection to drivers talking on the phone, but they must do so on a hands-free basis and car kits for this purpose are not wildly expensive. What is expensive of course is the use itself of cellphones and this affects both the user and those calling to cellphones. We must not forget the horror stories revealed in Parliament about the obscene amounts which our servants in government get rid of chatting away on their cellphones - while driving probably.