FORGET THE FATUOUS CLAIM that people are being killed on our roads as a result of speeding, drink driving or failure to wear seat belts (although they are all causes of road fatalities). The real reason too many people are being killed every day on our roads is because drivers are being distracted by a variety of devices. In fact, we’d prefer to lose the “distraction” tag and call it what it really is: inattention.

Using a mobile phone is the major cause of inattention. In the US, only 12 states have banned the use of a mobile phone while driving (and my experience there recently indicates that even in those states where it has been banned, mobile phone use while driving has reached epidemic proportions). Here in Australia, it is illegal to use a phone while driving, whatever state or territory you are in.

A 19-year old driver was charged with manslaughter in Ohio after killing two people when his SUV swerved into an oncoming sedan as he texted to his girlfriend. The maximum penalty he faced was one year in jail and a $US2500 fine and his actual penalty was a derisory 30 days in jail and 200 hours of community service.

Outraged at the paltry sentence, various people lobbied politicians to pass one of the toughest distracted-driving laws in the nation, with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. The law was passed way back in 2009, but inattentive driving in the US, as in Australia, is still endemic.

A recent study found that tougher laws may not be the solution, with drivers switching to hands-free methods of using their phones, but there is little evidence this is reducing the number of incidents. The silly thing is, people know that texting and driving is dangerous, they know it is illegal, and yet they continue to do it. We’ve all seen some idiot driving along, his or her head bobbing up and down, taking quick glances at the road before redirecting attention to the mobile phone, and we’ve wondered why the police aren’t doing something about it.

The problem is that police have to actually catch the idiot in the act of using a handheld device. If they can’t be absolutely certain the driver was using a mobile phone, they can’t issue an expiation notice. It is frustrating for all of us, not least the police, who recognise that distracted driving is far more dangerous than speeding or even driving while mildly intoxicated.

Oddly, texting and driving isn’t seen as anti-social, in the same way that drink-driving has become. Perhaps what is needed is a major lawsuit where someone is caught in the act of texting and driving and both the driver and their employer are hit with a substantial fine. Then we might all start to see texting while driving as the irresponsible and highly dangerous behaviour it is.