In her letter headlined 'Hands off!' (South China Morning Post, August 27), Tonia Lo, for the Commissioner for Transport, said it is against Traffic Control Regulations to use telecommunications equipment 'while the vehicles are in motion'. Could Ms Lo please define what 'vehicles . . . in motion' means? For example, if a taxi driver was sitting in his car at a red traffic light with the engine out of gear (in neutral) but running and proceeded to have a chat on his mobile phone, would he be breaking the law? In this case, technically, the vehicle is not in motion. I would imagine the fact that the driver has the engine running would not be a deciding factor (as to whether the vehicle is in motion or not), as many drivers do sit in their parked cars with their air-conditioning running. This does raise another interesting question: when does a driver technically take control of a vehicle? In Australia, I believe a driver is seen to be in control of a vehicle as soon as he puts the car key into the ignition. Therefore, technically, a person can be charged for drink driving, if he is over the legal blood/alcohol limit, by merely getting into his car and putting the key into the ignition. So when does a person technically take control of a vehicle in Hong Kong? COLIN BOND Kowloon
