Driver's side Cell-in-use Vehicular Indicator

A sky-blue indicator light, visible at eye level from the front or rear of a vehicle, illuminates, like a trouble light, when the car's driver is using a cell phone.

The car would detect this usage by means of three cell signal detectors (which work on the same principle as existing cell phone signal detection necessary for cell phones to operate in the manner in which we are familiar).

Built into the electonics of the car, these antennas would be arrayed around the passenger compartment in a triangular pattern, facilitating the detection of exactly which passenger is using a cell. These antennas will be able to detect signal strength to a degree that it should be possible to determine whether the signal is originating from the driver's vicinity. If so, the light illuminates, warning other drivers that this vehicle's driver has a high opinion indeed of his own driving skills, since s/he is willing to divide his attention between the road and a telephone conversation, and should therefore be considered a driving hazard.

In locales where operating a cellphone and a vehicle is illegal, to be determined by a combination of signals from the cell towers and vehicular GPS, the light would remain illuminated until a police unit could be summoned to the vehicle to ticket the driver for being a road hazard.

Future versions of this device could trade the warning lights for a fiber optic grid built into the vehicle body, which could illuminate the entire car in a pretty pulsating pattern, providing heightened visibility in all directions.

In order to be effective, and improve state revenues, use of this device in all new vehicles would necessarily have to be mandated by law for public safety's sake.