Don’t phone while driving

On my way home, I drive up the A1 past the Washington Service Station.  Just before you get there the road curves round to the left as it rises from crossing the Wear at Chester le Street. At the top of the hill and on the bend there is one of those illuminated motorway signs hanging over the two nearside lanes.  Often it is illuminated with some important message about traffic delays or journey times.  One of its most common messages, I assume when things aren’t too hectic, is ‘Don’t phone while driving’.

So I’m driving up the hill, thinking about getting home when I see this beacon of light ahead of me with a clearly thought out reminder that using your mobile phone whilst driving is a dangerous thing to do.  But rather than taking heed and contemplating the merits of concentrating fully on the road ahead, my mind immediately turns its attention to who I could ring.

Somehow in my mind, don’t phone while driving is translated into is there someone you should ring.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve noticed this phenomenon though, where you read one thing and your mind tells you to do another.  It reminds me of the old Tom and Jerry cartoons where an angel in white appears on Tom’s right shoulder advising him to do the good thing and the little red devil appears on his left shoulder urging him to do the selfish thing.

‘Warning, may get hot’ is translated into an invitation to touch, even if tentatively to test the temperature, usually followed by a scream of’ Ouch that’s hot!’  ‘Do not lean out of the window’ is translated into ’How good would it be to feel the wind in your hair?’  There are others that I can resist, such as not swimming where there is a red flag or not entering a military training area when firing is underway.  Perhaps the red flag really does it for me and gets the message across.

It’s not just me either, in our Service Desk area we had an electric plug that had to be left connected at all times but was in full view of everyone who came into the room and at a convenient height to be switched off.  A sign was put next to it saying ’Please do not touch’ but the inevitable happened.  Not just once but many times, over and over again.  It wasn’t until the sign was changed to ‘Touch this’ was the problem solved.

Now I’m not suggesting that the sign over the A1 should read ‘Ring someone now’ or ‘Text your loved ones’ as it may be the last thing that you ever do.  My father in law used to say ‘If you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all.’  It might be prudent to take his advice and not say anything at all instead of some sort of auto-suggestion that achieves the exact opposite of what is required.

Next time I’m driving up towards Washington Services and I can see the illuminated sign off in the distance, I’m going to keep my eyes on the road, do the right thing and resist the urge to reach for my phone.