A former police officer has issued a harsh warning to drivers using their mobile phones behind the wheel, insisting they should face court and have their licences taken off them.
Former Senior Constable Garry Church spent almost four decades in the police force and shared some of his harrowing experiences of the aftermath of devastating car crashes on Channel 9’s A Current Affair on Friday night, in an effort to ramp up driving laws.
Church insisted that the threat of fines is no longer working to deter drivers from using their mobile phones, and tougher punishments for these careless drivers are now desperately needed.
He revealed on the show he wants the offence to be treated as a criminal act, similar to drink driving, and offenders to face court and have their licences stripped off them.
“Take their licence off them, make them walk for a while,” he said on the show.
“Make their kids suffer because they can’t get to sport, because mum or dad was ignorant of the law while using their mobile phones and placing other lives in danger.”
Church has been forced to speak to the families of victims of road accidents throughout his career, and he said the traumatic times have spurred him on to push for change.
“When you speak to the victims’ families, and explain how they’ve lost their loved one due to someone else’s negligence by using a mobile phone, that becomes difficult,” he said.
“Seventy-six percent of drivers admitted they were using mobile phones illegally while operating motor vehicles. When you’ve got a percentage like that, are the fines working? I don’t believe they are.”
He was backed up by veteran tow-truck driver Jim Houlihan who has been forced to witness some shocking road accidents first-hand in his career. Describing people who use their phones as “impatient, ignorant and stupid”, he shared one harrowing story on the show as a warning.
“The worst one, I’ve not actually witnessed personally, but there was a bloke who ran up the back of a truck, and took the top off the car, he was actually beheaded and his mobile phone was still in his hand,” he explained.
Meanwhile, it’s not the first time Church has spoken out on the issue, and just a month ago he told the Courier Mail: “The dangers of mobile phones became obvious in the mid-2000s, they became a very big problem. Is going to be a long-term problem until something is done about it.”
Church also told the newspaper that he thinks drivers should be charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, and questioned why people don’t opt to use Bluetooth or handsfree devices.
Earlier this year a shocking survey revealed that the majority of Aussies don’t consider texting behind the wheel to be a dangerous act.
The research also revealed that drivers who have held their licences for a higher number of years are less likely to use their phones than novice drivers with less experience.
More than 440 people, aged between 16 and 70, took part in the study which was conducted by The Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Queensland. Participants were given a range of driving scenarios and asked to respond to a series of potential risks.