Q Should all mobile phone use by drivers be banned?
I have a mixed reaction to your article 'Surge in drivers punished for handphone use' (May 4). The fact that more police are noticing the offence and taking action is encouraging. Perhaps they will also start to notice and prosecute, or warn, the many drivers who don't turn their lights on, even in poor visibility.
However, I am disappointed that 'motoring organisations ... want built-in phones made a standard requirement for all cars on Hong Kong roads'.
Using one hand to hold a phone while driving is certainly an unacceptable risk, but concentrating on the call rather than on the driving, even with a hands-free kit, is usually as, if not more, dangerous.
I concede there are drivers who use phones responsibly, but let us not encourage drivers to make all their business and social calls when driving.
The problem is that, typically, police operating a speed trap stop drivers for speeding and nothing else, those assigned to stopping vehicles for ID checks do that and nothing else, and officers travelling in a patrol van from one routine call to another don't see driving offences because they are not looking.