No phone in car - two predictions

Click on this ad Karnataka government put out in newspapers on Monday. The message is pretty loud and stern - if they find a phone on inside your car or two wheeler, your driving license will get canceled.

Well, I like the idea, and I was thinking that the folks who gain most are FM radio operators. Imagine being stuck in Bangalore traffic - it being such a real thing, you don’t have to imagine anything here - for hours together, and you can’t use your phone, not even with a hands-free set. Won't FM radio would be your only friend, unless you get the time to replace music CDs in the car every morning :)

Who loses most here? Not the hands-free equipment makers, but people who spend their hour long commute time doing office work on phone. They have got to cope up with two hours of solid downtime everyday now. I am sure their bosses would notice that. Think like me, and predict that a bunch of companies would lobby hard to get the law altered to allow use of hands-free sets.

Think more, and try to agree with me on another subtle point. Mobile phones have been a key reason so many drivers have been patient with pathetic traffic conditions in our city. Now - eee…yes now - they will be forced to notice the mess and raise their voices to do something about it. So I would not be surprised to hear of more protests and what-not about traffic conditions in Bangalore and elsewhere.

So there, my two predictions. The pre-condition of course is that this blanket ban on phones should be enforced well. Whether that will happen or not is another story.