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I HAVE a plan that would increase conviction rates for the police, boost law enforcement revenues and massively improve road safety at a stroke.

All you'd need to do is to station one police car all day along the London Road in High Wycombe with the specific brief to book drivers using mobile phones at the wheel.

I simply cannot believe the continued abuse, despite the fact that driving and phoning was made an offence punishable by three points and a £60 fine a year ago.

I wrote on this very subject in November, but a couple of developments have compelled me to spout forth on this subject again.

Last week, police reported that a morning's blitz at the junction of Abbey Way with Wendover Way in High Wycombe had resulted in punishments for eight motorists using mobile phones.

One of these included a lorry driver.

This really can come as no surprise to anyone who drives in Wycombe. The only surprise, in fact, is that police don't do this more often.

On Tuesday morning, I was left incandescent with rage as I watched in my rear view mirror as a young woman chatted on her mobile phone which she clutched to her ear while she drove.

This was no short conversation and it can't have been an emergency call to say she'd left the cooker on at home.

I watched as the woman gassed on the phone for several minutes as she crawled behind me in slow-moving traffic.

Sure, no one was going very fast, so it wasn't particularly dangerous. But at several points during the trip she had both hands off the wheel as she variously yawned, frowned and smirked throughout her epic chat.

Now I am aware readers may accuse me of driving dangerously by concentrating more on my rear-view mirror than on the road. But I was driving carefully. I couldn't help but see this happening behind me, and I was scared stiff she would carelessly bash into me. At one point, I was sure I saw her negotiate the Hatters Lane roundabout with no hands on the wheel, but I couldn't be certain because unlike her I had to concentrate on the road.

I have a certain sympathy with drivers who have to make emergency calls, or who have to call when they are stuck in jams.

It's still illegal, but you can understand it.

I have no sympathy, however, for people who risk life, limb and serious damage to other cars by conducting their social life at the wheel.

If police kept watch every morning for a month, they would nab hundreds of errant drivers, all of whom deserve to be caught.

This would send out a clear message and would surely improve road safety.

For years, we have had to suffer pious lectures from the speed camera lobby which says the clampdown on crime' is saving lives.

The same imperative does not appear to exist with mobile phones, probably because it's harder to catch offenders at the moment.

I often need to talk on the phone when I am driving, and have so far always resisted the temptation.

This often means I can't alert colleagues when I'm running late to meetings - or it has meant I have to stop inconveniently to let the newsroom know when I have spotted a possible story.

As a result, I went out on Sunday and bought a hands-free Bluetooth kit. It only cost £12.97 and plugged into my cigarette lighter.

But I hate using it. For starters, I haven't yet managed to work out the voice controls.

I've followed the instructions, but the device refuses to recognise my commands.

Secondly, I feel too self-conscious to use it when I am in the car alone. Other motorists will think I am talking to myself.

Just think, when I passed my test 27 years ago, no one had mobile phones and no one needed them. The world span round just the same and nobody died. Unlike today when lots of people are going to die unless the authorities sit up and decide to actually enforce this law properly.

7:57pm Thursday 14th February 2008

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