IN reply to Gordon Ross's letter on mobile phones in cars (Is driving and phoning really that bad? March 7) I would like to say, yes.

Anything that distracts drivers from, well, driving shouldn't be allowed, whether it be mobile phones, make-up or eating at the wheel. It's just common sense.

No matter how alert you think you are, if the situation suddenly changes and you're on the phone, how quickly could you react in dropping the phone and regaining control of the car?

And I disagree with Mr Ross's comment that conversation doesn't have an effect. If you have someone in the car with you they know not to talk when you're concentrating. But a person on the phone doesn't know what you're doing and will question it if you stop talking.

I'm sure a lot of people would rush to buy a simple in-car telephone. But the rest of us can actually manage to last without talking on the phone to someone while driving and don't think we're so important we have to have a phone clamped to our ear while driving.

I think Mr Ross would soon change his tune if someone he knew was injured in a car accident caused by someone using a phone.

I suggest he talks to the relatives of those people who have suffered such accidents or speak to the police about this matter.

Then he would realise that anyone who uses a mobile phone at the wheel - or indeed anything else that takes a hand off the wheel or reduces their concentration - is selfish and ignorant of the consequences.

Philip Lickley, Wheatlands Grove, York.