A Dubbo magistrate, annoyed about mobile phones ringing in his courtroom, told the gallery to switch off or else he’d get the sheriff’s officer to confiscate them. The warning came after four phones rang that morning.
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So mobiles have become a major nuisance everywhere.
Next time you’re down town you’ll see heads stuck in them everywhere, all suffering from mobile addiction.
No doubt jack is posting he’s having a pie and tomato sauce for lunch, Jane is describing her new blue nail polish, Mary is scanning friends’ pages for gossip and Bill is ‘liking’ complaints about rugby league referees.
And if you don’t jump out of the way to avoid these internet surfers on footpaths in the CBD or in the supermarket you’ll get knocked over while they’re glued to their small screens without a single glance where they’re going.
Who wants to listen to one-sided conversations disrupting everything from church services to concerts and dining out?
Mobile phone use in public places is annoying, intrusive, unbecoming and downright rude.
A survey commissioned by Microsoft found 80 per cent of people used their phone while having a meal with others and, despite big penalties if caught, 62 per cent said they've made calls while driving.
So, that’s how mobiles affect you. It’s called modern technology.
GO BIG OR GO HOME WINS WHEN BUYING A CAR
LOOK outside Orange pubs late in the afternoon and what do you see?
Toyota HiLux, Ford Rangers and Mazda BT50s with the backs full of tool boxes and ladders and pipes because they’re the obvious choice of tradies.
And outside schools in the mornings there’s dozens of those SUV things as mums drop off their kids. Cars? Well, they’re on the way out.
Roads and Maritime Services’ figures for the first three months of this year showed 49,793 vehicles were registered in Orange and of these 16,830 were cars while 18,198 were SUVs and tradies’ utes. That’s 1,368 more.
It’s the same in Bathurst and Dubbo. Bathurst has 47,096 vehicles, 17,082 of them bull-barred tanks and SUVs and 16,019 cars.
Dubbo’s 47,012 vehicles are made up of 16,959 tanks and SUVs and 16,019 cars.
So the battle is lost by we normal people who simply own an average car that’s a true reflection of ourselves and not some sort of four-wheel-drive status symbol and fuel guzzler.
SEEING RED OVER BLINDING BLUE HEADLIGHTS
THOSE blue headlights on cars are a total pain in the neck. And so are the drivers who hoon around the place with fog lights on, which is illegal.
You can’t see a thing when a car fitted with these searchlights blinds you for the rest of the night. Or day.
Fog lights are for fog and are not to be used at any other time but if you do there’s a $108 fine if a copper catches you.
The excessively glary blue lights dazzle other road users and create dangerous situations yet apparently they’re quite OK otherwise the coppers would be out there handing out tickets left right and centre to Orange drivers, who seem to love them.
And why is it legal to use high beam in town? Headlights must be dipped to low beam when a vehicle coming toward you is within 200 metres but few people do it.
