Earlier this month Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar enacted legislation that made it illegal to send or read text messages while behind the wheel of a car. Technically this was already illegal anyway under the ban on holding a mobile phone while driving, but there was a loophole in that, if the phone was in a cradle, you could text away to your heart's content - in theory at least.
The penalty for texting while driving is a stiff one - do not pass go, do not collect a handful of penalty points - instead you will face a mandatory court appearance and a fine of up to €1,000 for a first offence, €2,000 for a second offence and a possible jail term for subsequent offences. As far as the Government is concerned texting is up there with drink- and drug driving.
But, in closing one loophole has the Government opened up another?
When the legislation was first announced some outlets reported it as an outright ban on using your phone in the car. Merely interacting with the screen, while the phone sits in its cradle, could be enough to land you a court appearance. There was even talk of 'accessing information', which is a catchall for pretty much anything, now being outlawed.
Codswallop, and therein lies the crux of the problem.
As stated in the Road Traffic Act 2006 (Restriction on use of mobile phones) Regulations 2014 (i.e. the Act that came into place on May 1):
A person shall not while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place-
(a) send a text message, or
(b) read a text message,
from a mobile phone.
Notice any mention of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Tinder etc. in there?
There is none. The legislation has been specifically designed to prohibit someone sending or reading an SMS or MMS message. Now in case you are thinking "ah sure don't we all call Facebook messaging and WhatsApp, texting?", that is not the case in the Act. In fact it specifically gives details of the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Framework) Regulations 2011, which defines SMS as:
A Short Message Service text message, composed principally of alphabetical or numerical characters, capable of being sent between mobile or fixed numbers assigned in accordance with national numbering plans.
And an MMS as:
A Multimedia Messaging Service which sends messages that include multimedia content between mobile or fixed numbers assigned in accordance with national numbering plans.
So in theory, you are free to Facebook or WhatsApp to your heart's content provided your phone remains in its cradle and you do not contact anyone by means of their phone number. You shouldn't of course (if something is that important pull over to the side of the road), but any lawyer worth his/her salt will be able to argue the fact. Expect to be hit with a separate charge of 'driving without due care and attention' though.
So is this a case of the Government closing the door after the horse has bolted?
Mobile operators have for the past number of years been reporting a decline in the amount of SMS and MMS that are being sent. Just this year ComReg stated that their usage in the latter months of 2013 were down 28 per cent on the same period in 2012.
If usage has been on the decline why single out just SMS and MMS? Why not go the whole hog and ban everything (maybe not satellite navigation)? Is it a case of our legislature being out of touch with modern day Ireland? Taoiseach Enda Kenny famously only traded in his Nokia 6310 for an iPhone after he dropped the former into a sink of water.
To us it looks like the legislation, which at this stage is only two weeks old, is already out of date and has created an even bigger loophole than the one it aimed to close. Yes it can be argued that technology moves faster than Government, but Facebook is over a decade old now and Twitter not far off that. Could the Government have moved to ban the way we actually use our phones? Sure. Why didn't they? You can ask them next time they appear on your doorstep looking for votes, but while we are waiting for the laws to catch up with technology keep your phone in your pocket - no Facebook message or mention on Twitter is that important.