17 August 2002: More than 30,000 drivers have been ticketed in New York in the last six months for using a mobile phone while driving. The offence carries a $100 fine, and most of the penalties issued were in conjunction with speeding tickets.

New York became the first US state last November to pass a 'no mobile' law. Under the regulation, 'engaging in a call' means holding the handheld to one's ear while driving. Motorists who have 'hands-free' attachments to their mobiles are allowed to use them.

The regulations exempt police and emergency service drivers from the regulation, and citizens making calls to the emergency services.

A similar regulation introduced in Ireland earlier this year is in something of a limbo because there was no provision for gardai or emergency service drivers to be allowed use their mobiles. The regulation was also ambiguous in that it technically permitted the prosecution of a driver for simply having a mobile phone 'on or about' their person. Inexplicably, it also banned hands-free attachments to mobiles.

The minister who rushed the regulation in, Bobby Molloy TD, resigned and retired from politics shortly afterwards over a non-related problem involving political representations on behalf of a prisoner awaiting sentence.