SA- Mobile Phone blockers should be fitted to cars

TECHNOLOGY that blocks mobile phone signals should be fitted to the cars of motorists caught repeatedly talking and texting while driving.

That's the call from the head of the Motor Accident Commission as latest figures show more than 12,000 drivers - 33 a day - were fined more than $4 million for using their mobiles last year.
MAC chair Roger Cook said there was a culture of motorists using their phones while driving, putting themselves and others at risk.
"If we don't make a cultural change then the State Government will have to consider legislating and getting repeat offenders' phones scrambled," the former chair of the National Road Safety Council said.

Mr Cook said he would discuss the mobile phone technology with the police and the State Government in the new year.
The RAA and the University of Adelaide's Centre for Automotive Safety Research have backed the plan and the State Government said it was willing to investigate the technology in an effort to help reduce road deaths.
Mr Cook said the commission's advertising campaigns in the past five years had been successful at combating speeding but not mobile phone use.
This is highlighted by police figures that show 54,000 fewer speeding fines were issued during the 2010-11 financial year compared with four years ago, while the number of fines for using mobiles phones has increased from 3620 to 12,239 since 2005.
The fine for using a mobile phone while driving in South Australia is $291.
Mr Cook said drivers were "four times more likely to have an accident" when using a hand-held mobile while driving and to do so was "selfish because it can involve others in accidents".
"And people who text while driving are 10 times more at risk of having an accident," he said.
RAA senior manager of road safety Charles Mountain said scramblers were "definitely worth considering".
Centre for Automotive Safety Research spokesman Dr Matthew Baldock said "this may be the next frontier to change drivers' behaviour to using mobile phones".
Acting Road Safety Minister Ian Hunter said: "The State Government, through its research partners, is always willing to investigate new technologies that will help reduce the road toll.
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