The photograph didn’t lie. There I was in the driver’s seat of my car, stopping at the lights, with one hand on the wheel, the other on my lap and holding my mobile phone.
There was nothing to mitigate in my favour. Not the phone addiction we all have. Not my urgent impulse to check who was calling even though I didn’t intend to answer. I was good for it, your honour. I copped the five demerit points which put me perilously close to a three-month licence suspension. I’m now a much more prudent driver (not that I felt I was ever particularly reckless, though I would argue that of course) – slower, more cautious entering intersections and careful never to go near my phone.
Given Australia’s terrible annual road toll and its dreadful human carnage, the need for strict rules and punishments is irrefutable. The momentary lapse of concentration can be lethal.
Mobile phones are, indeed, a danger to everyone on the roads. But I’ve been struck recently (especially since losing those five demerits) by just how many other potentially lethal driver distractions there are.
I live very close to one of Sydney’s busiest arterial thoroughfares. The streets of my suburb turn into crawling, aggro-filled rat-runs every morning as drivers use the side streets to avoid the lights on this thoroughfare and shave a few minutes off the commute. I see every sort of appalling driver behaviour daily. Pedestrians – dog-walkers, kids and old people among them – abused and nearly run over. Every morning my streets host frightening episodes of road rage and shouted threats of violence, as drivers hoon the wrong way up and down lanes and streets to get to the lights and turn first.
And then there are the dangers posed by so many other distractions that drivers subject themselves – and everyone else – to.
Twice recently as I’ve walked with my dogs I’ve seen the same person (silver BMW) reading the same novel, perched over the steering wheel, while slowing down ahead of the red light and waiting for it to turn green. Given that IRL death is for a very, very long time indeed, this particular popular Australian novel is not worth dying for. Then again, it’s not entirely worth living for either, in a kind of life-is-far-too-short way, if you know what I mean.
What about the woman (green Range Rover) doing her makeup? I don’t mean while stopped at the lights. No, I’m talking about doing it while crawling along said major thoroughfare. And when I say doing her makeup, I don’t mean touching up her lipstick. I’m talking foundation and eyeliner on the dash. This is her daily routine.
Then there are those people, telephones attached to holders on the dash, who are clearly watching cat videos or Antiques Roadshow or Midsomer Murders (again, remember how short life is and then spare another thought about truly dumb ways to die).
I’ve always had the horrors at seeing dogs tethered on the back of utes. Once on a Victorian highway a long time ago I saw a dog, tethered with too much leash and distracted by another animal in an adjacent car, jump from a ute tray and ... you can imagine the rest. The sight is with me still. The driver careened off the highway on to the verge, narrowly missing another car, when he realised what was happening to his unfortunate animal.
Dogs in cars (particularly in the front seat) can be massively distracting. Especially if, like one of my local rat-run drivers, you are brushing the cavoodle while it sits on your lap. While you are driving a moving vehicle.
Doing one’s hair (combing/brushing) in the rear-view is an oldie, of course, and as potentially hazardous, it would seem, as the huntsman spider that falls on to your lap when you pull down the sun visor. So, too, making a Windsor knot in your tie while negotiating a right-hand turn.
Then there is eating and drinking. The piece of Vegemite toast in the same hand as the wheel and sips of steaming coffee at the red light may be perilous enough. But what about the bloke (white Tesla) eating some sort of cereal? From a cup held in one hand? With a spoon in the other? And, therefore, no hands on the wheel.
The Australian national road toll is no joke. Road accidents cause untold misery and catastrophic death rates. I’ve rightly been put on notice for the phone use. And since then I’ve really come to notice how many other dangerous distractions there are, just how dangerous it is out there – and how blase so many drivers are.
• Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist
