Editorial: Cellphone use in cars just crazy

It is amazing in this day and age - and with all the crash-data available - that people still drive and talk on their cellphones.

We sent our photographers out last week and it was incredible how many people they snapped on their phones. Astonishingly they did it in plain view, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other wrapped around a phone. Their expressions showed they were concentrating on their conversation rather than driving to the conditions.

We published some of the photos in yesterday's Hawke's Bay Today because we believe it is important to highlight the danger of talking on a phone and driving.

When we told police what we had witnessed in a few hours of waiting around intersections, they were not surprised. Hawke's Bay road policing Senior Sergeant, Fred van Duuren said cellphone use while driving was still prevalent and police were "still detecting lots of offending".

Mr van Duuren said that if the call was so important people should just pull over and take it.

There are many other distractions that could cause accidents like changing a CD or turning to a crying child. I have lived in a number of big cities around the world and I have witnessed people doing crazy things while driving. This includes applying makeup and lipstick, doing their hair and even shaving. Others were eating cereal out of a bowl, reading a map (in the days before Navman) or even a book. The problem is that people feel invincible behind the wheel when in fact it is when we are the most vulnerable.

We need to keep our eyes on the road.