"Ludicrous" is how family court Magistrate Tyrone Chin describes the modern practice of driving and cell phone texting.

In June 2005, Opposition Senator Kenny Bascome was almost killed when a water truck driver veered into his path while chatting on his cell.

Statistics show inattention accounts for 60 percent of road collisions.

Recently, United Bermuda Party senator Michael Fahy called for the banning of hand-held cell phones while driving.

He said in a previous article in The Royal Gazette that the use of cell phones by motorcyclists was of particular concern, with constant texting a practice "almost unique to Bermuda".

"It is very apparent that the growing use of cell phones whilst driving is another serious accident waiting to happen on Bermuda's roads," he said.

And the results from an informal The Royal Gazette poll, of teenagers and their cell phone habits, seemed to confirm his concerns.

Some of the responses were enough to make you want to take the bus instead of drive.

We asked, "do you ever text while driving?". The answer was most often, "No, I just read my messages".

"I check my messages if I'm at a stop sign or stopped in a line of traffic," said one university accounting student.

Law student, Justin Maybury, 17, said he once almost hit a wall while checking his messages, and driving his bike.

"It is especially dangerous if it is wet and rainy," he said. "You have one hand on the cell phone, instead of the bike. You don't want to drop the phone, so it puts you into a bad position."

But a 17-year-old male from Southampton texted us with: "I would never ride while texting. I'm not going to risk my life just to send the message: 'LMAO, that's 2 funny!' reply."

Magistrate Chin said that many people have questioned why it isn't just as dangerous for two people in a car to be chatting, as it is for a person to be driving and chatting on a cell phone.

"When you are in the car you are a passenger and you can see the pedestrian crossing," he said.

"Your conversation naturally wanes, and the passenger pauses.

"Once the pedestrian crosses, then the conversation between people in a car continues.

"If you are speaking on a cell phone, the caller on the other end doesn't know a pedestrian is coming. The person in the car has to concentrate on what the person is saying and their attention level is decreased."

Justin thought that you simply didn't have the same physical control over your vehicle, if one hand was on a cell phone.

Texting by the numbers

In 2006, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 51 percent of teenagers had sent a text message. By 2008, the number had increased to 58 percent. Daily use amongst teenagers went from 27 percent in 2006 to 38 percent last year.

An Australian study found that as much as ten percent of kids have experienced some form of cyber bullying.

According to an article on The Times Online website, cyber bullying most often involves girls between the ages of 13 and 17 years old. And the target of the bullying was usually a friend who had fallen from favour.

Times Online also reported that in England, between 15 and 20 young people commit suicide each year because of cyber bullying.