Star comment: Drive the message of danger

There are many who bemoan that fact, who wish police would spend their time chasing "proper criminals" rather than apprehending "innocent" drivers going about their business. Upon such ignorant views, lives are lost.

Twenty-year-old Laura Thomas was going about her normal business when she was killed by lorry driver Ian Glover, who was using his mobile phone.

Neither party would have imagined that it might happen. But it did and Laura's family live with the consequences every single day.

Glover has time to reflect on his actions during a five-year stretch at Her Majesty's Pleasure, but there will be another life for him eventually. Laura and her family are not so lucky.

Police are working hard to educate drivers not to use their mobile phones. Because while all of us know the rules, too few are aware of the consequences.

And that is what must change. There must be a change in attitude, a shift in mindset, so that people no longer believe it is acceptable to phone, text or browse while driving.

Motorists must learn that their vehicles are not an extension of their offices, their front rooms or their work stations.

The consequence of phone-driving rarely enters the minds of motorists, unlike drink-driving, drug-driving or driving without seatbelts.

Yet phone-driving can be just as deadly.

The general public don't see the death and destruction that the emergency services encounter. But that is the reality of phone-driving.

In the final analysis, the truth is quite plain. We are not capable of doing two things properly at the same time. And vehicles are deadly weapons, when in careless hands.

We should hope that time will improve things. As a society, we no longer tolerate drink or drug driving. Wearing seatbelts is now second nature.

The police are doing their bit. They have cameras, ride with truckers and keep their eyes peeled for unsafe drivers.

But we must also accept responsibility. Change must come, it is up to all of us to ensure it does.

See also:

• Police in lorries launch Shropshire op to catch motorists on mobiles

• Mother of woman killed by Shropshire porn crash trucker launches mobile phone crackdown

• Drivers on mobiles risk becoming killers