---

Road Safety Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support my noble friend Lady Hanham. If we do not make some progress on this matter, there will be a perverse effect. When I drive my vehicle, I always switch off my hand-held mobile phone, which I believe is the right thing to do. I should not be using a mobile phone. I do not want it to ring when I am driving; I want to concentrate on the driving. But if I cannot legally make a call when I am stuck in a traffic jam to tell whoever I am supposed to meet in two hours’ time that I will not be there for two and a half hours, I cannot relieve the stress on me from the traffic jam. So the solution for me would be to fit a hands-free phone, in which case I might as well leave it switched on. Then I will start making or receiving calls while I drive along, which I am sure is not what the Minister wants. There is a perverse incentive. If people cannot switch on their hand-held mobile phone for a few minutes to make a call and apologise because they will be late, they will be encouraged to go for hands-free phones, which they might as well leave switched on. The Minister is smiling because he knows this is an ingenious argument.