There will doubtless be many people quietly railing against tough new sanctions against driving while texting, reading social media on their phone or using handhelds in any way, announced by Road Safety Minister, Shane Rattenbury, on Wednesday.
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Such gnashing of teeth, which usually features the phrases "Big Brother", "nanny state" and claims the latest law is an attack on the liberty of the individual to endanger their own life as well as the lives of others, dates back to at least the 1970s when the first serious attempts to curtail drink-driving were made in Victoria.
When random breath testing spread north to NSW in 1982 it was regarded almost as a manifestation of a motoring apocalypse.
The truth is it, like the seat belt legislation of the late 1960s and the drug testing legislation that followed, was quite the reverse.
The reduction of the road toll, largely by legislative means, over the past 40 years is one of the most remarkable success stories in recent Australian history.
In 1970, 3798 people died on Australian roads at a time when the nation's population was half what it is today. The mortality rate worked out at about 26 deaths per 100,000 people per year.
In 2015, 1209 people died, a mortality rate of five deaths per 100,000 people per year.
The bad news is that while society has generally got the messages about drinking and driving, driving while under the influence of illegal drugs, and fatigue, the rise and rise of the mobile phone has unleashed a new killer.
Peter Frazer, the founder of the Safer Australian Roads and Highways [SARAH] group knows all about it. His daughter, Sarah, and a tow truck driver who was assisting her after she broke down on the Hume in February 2012, were killed when a distracted truck driver ran them down.
Mr Frazer suggests, with strong justification, that modern cars are becoming cocoons with music and entertainment and that drivers are increasingly isolated from what is going on around them.
When an addictive device, whose beeps are apparently impossible for some people to ignore, is added to the mix it is a recipe for disaster.
"We're saying put it in the glove box where you can't get at it," he said.
The need for cultural change has been highlighted by recent ACT government research which found 13 per cent of territory drivers admitted to using a handheld while driving. An alarming four per cent said they did it "all the time".
While the new laws could take a P-plater who has not completed the Road Ready Course off the road for a first offence, this problem is not confined to a single demographic.
The whole community has to address this issue if the new killer is to be stopped in its tracks.
