In Melbourne, it appears that drivers feel anonymous in their cars, unseen by anyone around them. They feel liberated to pick their noses, yell, swear and break the law. This invisibility, however, is an illusion. The glass windows of a car reveal most actions they make. I don’t have a car, so I take public transport most days. While waiting for the tram in Brunswick, I often watch cars passing by or lining up at traffic lights. More often than not, the drivers are on their phones.
With the increasing number of vehicles on Melbourne roads, naturally people are evading road laws more often. In Victoria, texting, scrolling, or holding the phone while at the wheel can attract a fine of $577 and four demerit points.1 These laws do not just apply when drivers are in movement; they are also relevant when cars are at a stop. Far too often, I see drivers hold back traffic because they have not realised their traffic light has turned green. It is even more frustrating when such actions delay my tram or bus from reaching stops in time.
Drivers are visible to pedestrians, tram passengers and even other drivers, yet they feel no shame. They think they are protected by their exoskeleton of glass, plastic and metal, unlike the naked pedestrians and cyclists who they believe prolong their journey. Pedestrians like myself, who see the wrongdoings of drivers, are fleeting strangers in their lives. Their speed advantage means they can escape without ever seeing the witnesses again.
In the early-to-mid 2000s, the discourse around phone usage while driving was targeted specifically at texting because there wasn’t much else you could do on a phone. Since then, phones have become Swiss Army Knives of navigation, art and social connection that rival their expensive, time-consuming or impractical physical equivalences. Without them we can lose employment, forget events or miss urgent information, so naturally their absence can create a deep discomfort.
The anxiety created when someone can’t access their phone has been named ‘nomophobia,’ and it has been increasingly studied over the past decade. A 2022 study by Monash University found that drivers with nomophobia were 85 per cent more likely to engage with their phones while driving.2 Their study observed that ‘[t]he stronger our relationship with smartphones, the more likely endogenous distractions occur in spaces that demand or benefit from our attention’.3
For someone with high levels of attachment to their phone, driving is a challenging task that tests one’s self-control during moments of anxiety. If a phone is not accessible, hearing it ring can increase anxiety in people with high attachment.4 Combined with the increased impulsivity observed by a 2023 study,5 it is reasonable to assume people who cannot be without their phone throughout the day would struggle during tasks such as driving, particularly if it is for a long period of time.
It is difficult to ascertain how many of us use phones excessively. On average, Australians spend three hours on their phone everyday,6 but other sources list that number as high as 5.67 hours.7 Our dependence on technology does not stop at phones. I would receive similar separation anxiety if I was without internet, running water or kitchen appliances. The issue at hand is that people are so attached to their phones that they are willingly risking other people’s lives. We are told that technology brings people together and improves our lives, but on our roads, cars and phones fight a deadly battle for our attention.
As of mid-April, there have already been 84 deaths on roads in 2025, two more than the same time last year.8 Death statistics play an unfortunate but necessary role in the laws and restrictions created around cars. Lives saved by traffic lights or stop signs are theoretical, we only observe the lives lost through their absence. The consequences of dangerous driving appear through physical damage. Safe driving is rewarded through the imagination; in near-misses, drivers visualise the harm they avoided by focusing while driving.
Our hyper-individualist society has granted such freedoms and responsibilities for drivers to use or not use a phone. Without a deep concern for other people, dangerous drivers will continue to do what they misinterpret as ‘safe’. I feel comforted by TAC ads that warn the public about dangerous driving, yet I continue to see such behaviours. Traffic lights and stop signs can’t negate the inherent danger of cars, trucks and other vehicles. Can we really trust our fellow humans to command these mechanical rhinos?
In recent years, phone detection cameras have been installed around the state as part of the Victorian Road Safety Strategy, an initiative to halve the number of deaths on roads by 2030.9 But unless there is a large enough taskforce to monitor drivers on phones or cameras are installed on every major road in Melbourne, I will continue to see drivers on their phones while I wait for the tram.
The popularity of cars and phones prevail. I cannot do any grand-sweeping actions, so I attempt smaller ones. I am vocal, I stand up for myself and try to protect pedestrians. Sometimes I even stare at drivers while waiting for my tram. If I see these drivers using their phone at a red light, I glare so that when they look up they experience social shame. But the thing is, they never do look up, they only do so to see if their light has turned green.
1 Victoria Government, Transport Accident Commission, ‘The Facts- Distractions and Driving’, Transport Accident Commission (31 Mar. 2021), 1. www.tac.vic.gov.au/road-safety/staying-safe/distracted-driving, accessed 7 Apr. 2025.
2 F. Kaviani, K.L. Young & S. Koppel, ‘Using nomophobia severity to predict illegal smartphone use while driving’, Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 6 (May 2022), para. 1, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.
3 Kaviani, Young & Koppel, ‘Using nomophobia severity’, para. 9.
4 Mannion, K.H., & Nolan, S.A, ‘The effect of smartphones on anxiety: An attachment issue or fear of missing out?’, Cogent Psychology, 7/1 (2020), para. 1, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2020.1869378.
5 Gui D.Y et al., ‘Losing control without your smartphone: Anxiety affects the dynamic choice process of impulsive decision-making and purchase’, Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17 (Mar. 2023), para. 1, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.998017.
6 Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, ‘5G Unleashed: Realising the potential of the next generation of mobile technology’, Deloitte (Sydney, 2022), 6. https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-zone1/au/en/docs/services/economics/deloitte-au-dae-5g-unleashed-final-report-combined-230322.pdf, accessed 10 April 2025.
7 K. Reynolds, ‘2022 Mobile Phone Usage Statistics: How addicted are we?’, Reviews (2 Dec. 2022), para. 2. https://www.reviews.org/au/mobile/2022-mobile-phone-usage-statistics/, accessed 10 Apr. 2025.
8 Victoria Police, ‘Mobile Phones’, Victoria Police (Jun. 21 2021), 6. www.police.vic.gov.au/road-safety, accessed 7 Apr. 2025.
9 Victorian Government, Transport Accident Commission, ‘Victoria Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030’, Transport Accident Commission (4 Apr. 2021), 1. www.tac.vic.gov.au/road-safety/victorian-road-safety-strategy/victorian-road-safety-strategy-2021-2030, accessed 7 Apr. 2025.