Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been caught texting while driving in Melbourne.
The Herald Sun has obtained a video of him clearly using his phone while driving along a road at 40 km per hour after dropping off his children at music.
Mr Shorten said in a statement he did not recall why he was using his phone but admitted he shouldn’t have been doing it.
“Like most drivers, I always try to do the right thing,” Mr Shorten said.
“But there’s no doubt that using your phone while driving is the wrong thing to do — there’s no excuse for it. I shouldn’t have done it and won’t do it again.”
The witness who filmed the video — taken at 11.07am on August 23 — said he first noticed the white 4WD when it failed to take off when a traffic light turned green.
He then took out his phone to film the car after watching it swerve between lanes in front of him, driving at a slow speed that was frustrating other drivers. “He was driving all over the place,” the witness told the Herald Sun. He realised Mr Shorten was behind the wheel as he passed the car while filming.
“He’s one of our leaders … he should be setting an example,” he said.
The witness said he decided to come forward after hearing about Mr Shorten’s other accident. Bill Shorten was recently in the press for driving into a number of parked cars in a suburban street in Melbourne on his way to a press conference.
The penalty for using a mobile phone while driving is a $443 fine and four demerit points. Bill Shorten’s driving misdemeanours are elevating him to the disturbing level of celebrity dangerous drivers.
The reaction from the public has not been good.
Still, there’s just one more question to ask:
Top Comments
as l dont drive anymore l catch buses and if l had a $1 for every person l have seen texting as they drive l would be a rich woman---its bad enough when people are making calls but to actually see them take their eyes off the road to text while driving is beyond belief-----men and women of all ages do it---the number of women with children in the car that drive along texting is alarming----so sad that some innocent person just might loose their life because someone else just had to text a LOL whilst driving
Is everyone else assuming that texting while driving was the reason he crashed into those parked cars?
Yep, absolutely. I also assume that he's going to get charged for this one, as there is clear evidence that he was using his mobile phone whilst driving.
Nope. I just assumed the other cars had a Vote Liberal sticker on the rear bumper bar.