30-year-old Satinder Singh is a real estate agent based in Melbourne and cannot resist using his phone even while he is behind the wheel.
Mr Singh says he takes at least 4 to 5 calls and sometimes even texts whilst driving from his home in a south-eastern suburb to his office near the city, which is almost a 30 km long stretch.
“Although I use Bluetooth to make most of my work calls, I sometimes do resort to texting while stopping at a junction or whenever I get a chance.”-Satinder Singh
Mr Singh who has so far managed to flout the law considers himself lucky to not have been slapped with a $476 fine and a loss of four demerit points, but he is definitely playing with fire.
Victoria police have deployed extra force to contain mobile phone related offences and say that there has been a 12-13 per cent rise in the number of such offences in the last one year alone.
Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer told the media that some of such behaviour is completely “gob-smacking.”
“We have seen people who are taking selfies of themselves with their kids in the backseat, we have got people watching movies, responding to social media applications and we know all of this play a role in road trauma.”-Doug Fryer, Assistant Commissioner
Mr Fryer who appealed to the motorists to stay clear of phones or use the “do not disturb” feature while the vehicle is in motion said the community is failing to understand the real impact of such offences despite the existence of stiff laws.
“They don’t seem to understand the impact of what they see as a low-risk activity. The reality is that it’s an extreme risk activity and we have seen lives lost because of it", added Mr Fryer.
He further informed that covert police officers and extra motorcycles have been added to the force to filter distracted drivers at intersections and other busy areas to check “ludicrous” usage of phones across Victoria.
