A New Year’s resolution I swear on my life I’ll keep!

It’s coming up to the end of dry January and apart from the drizzle, which is pretty much obligatory here in Port Talbot, I’ve done pretty well. Dry as a bone I am.

But I am looking forward to a drink… That and the fact that it’s almost pay day means that a big night out is brewing. The phone in my bag keeps pinging as the gang debates the various options (we know we’ll end up at the same old place again) but er, that’s not really the point.

So anyway I was dying to see what the latest random suggestion was when my phone pinged while driving home yesterday. It took real willpower to not rummage into my bag for a peek, but I’m exercising my new year’s resolution - to forget the fact that I have a phone when I’m driving.

It’s harder than I thought it’d be. Of course I’d never make a call or text but I do admit that ignoring my phone completely is like not being allowed to scratch a real itch.

Clearly I’m not the only one with an invisible cord between me and my phone. A recent month long mobile phone crackdown by police across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, found nearly 8,000 drivers used a mobile in some way whilst driving. In fact, they issued more than 40 fines an hour during the campaign.

Sounds a little ticket happy but the stats for using a mobile whilst driving are shocking – you’re four times more likely to be involved in a collision when using a mobile, and your reactions are 50% slower! Makes me realise that it’s really on a par with drink driving. But for some reason that awareness isn’t really out there - using your phone is still kind of ok to many people.

Just as a gentle reminder, it’s completely illegal to use a hand held phone while driving, and using a hands-free phone can still be an offence if the driver is distracted.

I’ve now gone one step further and started turning my phone off in the car so that I’m not distracted by the beeps. Just makes me that little bit more elusive.