The police should permanently seize handheld cellphones that are operated by the driver of a moving vehicle, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:

“First offence you lose your cellphone. Second offence you lose your cellphone and your number. Third offence you lose your cellphone and your number, plus your vehicle is impounded for seven days.”

Matthew-Wilson was commenting after Sarah Hope Schmidt was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after crashing her 30-tonne truck and trailer unit into the back of stationary vehicles, killing another driver.

During her nearly-two-hour trip before the accident, Schmidt had been using her handheld phone for 44 minutes, or 38% of the entire journey. Schmidt looked up just two seconds before the crash on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway which killed 22-year-old Caleb Baker.

"The National Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 12% of all car accidents on U.S. roadways involve cellphone use by the driver. [1] Young drivers are now regularly using social media while driving. It’s also common for drivers to make videos of themselves while they are driving, with predictable results.”

Matthew-Wilson adds it’s a myth that voice-operated smartphones are safer.

“Research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety showed that drivers can be distracted by as long as 27 seconds after dialing, changing music or sending a text using voice commands.”

"It’s possible for the police to detect handheld cellphones using using AI cameras, but the technology is very expensive and generally won’t detect handsfree cellphones. Also, these cameras will only lead to fines being issued, which may not change the behaviour of the highest risk groups."

“Fines as a form of enforcement work for responsible drivers. However, multiple studies have shown that the threat of fines and disqualification have little or no effect on the highest risk drivers.”

“There are still hundreds of thousands of drivers using cellphones while driving. They accept the risk of a fine in the same way they accept the risk of a parking ticket. These penalties clearly have done little to change behaviour. So it’s time for a different strategy.”

“Obviously, it’s going to be easier to spot cellphone users who are holding their phones in their hands. But it’s also possible for the police to look at cellphone records of drivers who crash. If a cellphone (including a handsfree cellphone) was used just before the crash, the driver should obviously be penalised, just as the driver of that truck was penalised.”

Matthew-Wilson believes the New Zealand government has consistently underestimated how much cellphone use contributes to the road toll.

“The New Zealand government needs to stop ignoring this issue and take firm action to save lives."

[1] Other studies have estimated that cellphone use while driving is responsible for between 8-25% of fatal accidents. All studies agree that cellphone use while driving is a major problem.

© Scoop Media