There can be few people by now who do not know that it is illegal to use a mobile phone while driving a car.

Which means that those who continue to flout the rules can no longer hide behind the excuse of ignorance – they are breaking the law and simply do not care.

The legislation banning drivers from using mobile phones isn’t there to be an annoyance to people – it is there to save lives.

If you are holding a phone to your ear then you are not fully in control of your vehicle, and your attention is elsewhere. This can make all the difference if, for instance, a child steps out in front of your vehicle. There are enough readily available and affordable hands-free phone systems on the market now that no-one has any excuse for not taking advantage of them if they simply cannot be without their phone in the car.

But what is more disturbing is the revelation that people are not only making and taking calls while driving, they are texting as well.

Are some people so wedded to their technology that they cannot bear to wait until their journey is over or just pull their car over and switch off the engine to reply to a text?

It is difficult to imagine any activity that is more dangerous while driving: your full attention is on the telephone and you are using at least one of your hands to hold the phone and hit the buttons. Anyone texting while driving is quite simply an accident waiting to happen.

There can only be one true deterrent to the problem, and that is for the police to come down hard on those who refuse to comply with the law.