MOST of us have seen people flouting the law by driving on Inverclyde’s streets while chatting merrily on the phone.

Hopefully this will become a thing of the past with the introduction of heavier penalties, but don’t bet on it.

We should also legislate against pedestrians risking serious accidents when crossing roads with their ear or eyes glued to their phone.

During a recent visit to Seville to run its marathon, I was sitting in the back of a taxi when the driver suddenly had to brake hard because a middle-aged woman engrossed on her phone stepped off a pavement right into his path.

Admittedly, it was one of those environmentally friendly very quiet vehicles that just purred along, although that still didn’t excuse her careless behaviour.

But did she accept the blame? Nae chance!

The Latin lady took utter umbrage at the driver blasting his horn and shouting at her.

She stuck her head in the window and fired off a veritable volley of verbals at him. No translator was needed to get the message that she was not best pleased.

The animated Andalucian argument raged on and on as the meter continued to tick, and I felt like telling the driver: “Listen amigo, you’re doing this on my time.”

But he might well have turned his Iberian ire on me.

This Spanish stooshi demonstrated dramatically that it’s going to be a marathon to overcome problems caused by obsessive mobile use.