Police have proposed a new offence of "driving while distracted" - likely to be a traffic infringement punishable by fine - but the idea has yet to reach the Government.

Inspector John Kelly, manager operations, road policing support, said such things as using a cellphone, women putting on make-up and men shaving, reading books and looking at maps could be "quite a major distraction".

Under a driving while distracted law, police could ticket them for doing any number of things that take concentration off driving.