Cellphone ban not thought through, says Brown

The proposed ban on the use of hand held mobiles while driving is a liberal urban attack on rural dwellers, says Far North Mayor Wayne Brown.

“The impacts of this have not been thought through. In the sudden rush to introduce this legislation on what I consider to be very shaky grounds, no one has given thought to the negative effects on our communities, especially our farming communities,” he said.

“Rather than protecting public safety, we are putting it at risk. Cellphones increase rural productivity and reduce road kill. They are used to dial *555 to intercept drunken, P affected and other dangerous drivers, and warn of foreign tourists driving on the wrong side of the road.

“They are a lifeline tool in life threatening situations. They get emergency services quickly to accidents when they do occur, usually because of alcohol which has not been banned.

”Banning hand held mobile use in cars will cause people to text rather than talk and this is significantly more distracting for drivers than holding a phone to the ear.”

In his six years as chair of the Land Transport Safety Authority, Mayor Brown said he never came across any evidence that hand held mobile use was killing people in vehicles.

He pondered why recent Government discussions about banning the use of hand held mobiles by drivers had fizzled out due to lack of evidence, only to suddenly re-emerge as a serious threat to public safety without any indication that new statistics had come to light.

”Accidents still happen in areas with no cellphone coverage like parts of the Akerama Curves area and 90 Mile Beach,” he said. “How do we really know that ‘x’ number of people have died because they were using a cellphone while driving?

“I am not convinced that such evidence exists in anything other than a subjective form. The main cause of accidents is inattention, for any one of a number of factors that could only be prevented if driving was banned altogether.

‘If we are going to ban hand-held cellphones in cars, then I think we should ban lots of other things in cars as well, like eating pies, smoking, talking to passengers, kids and pets – especially ones that get carsick, lipstick, CDs and searching for stuff that has fallen down between the seats.

“That’s how ridiculous this proposed legislation is. It’s a mockery that should be derided for the absurdity it is.”