Netflix and driving is the latest strange addiction taking over Irish roads.

The latest phenomenon across Ireland carries hefty dangers with it, plus the risk of penalty points and fines.

The Irish Examiner first reported on the rise of people using Netflix and other streaming services while behind the wheel of their car, with the warning coming from Inspector Fergal O’Donovan, who is in charge of road policing in Cork.

On The Hard Shoulder today, Bolger School of Motoring’s Brenda Bolger said she is seeing this nasty habit more and more on Irish roads.

“Just yesterday, I had to drive from Wexford to Dublin, and we were stuck in traffic – there was a gentleman to my right reading a book and a gentleman to my left watching Netflix on his phone,” she said.

“Completely void of any kind of self-regulation or self-discipline in terms of the act they're engaged in at the moment, which is driving.”

In this instance, the person watching Netflix was on their phone, but Ms Bolger recalled an instance of seeing a woman using her iPad to watch a streaming service.

“[She had a] big 14 inch iPad screen sitting on the front of the dashboard, taking up the front of it while watching TV,” she said.

Reading text message while driving a car. Image: Alamy Stock Photo

Ms Bolger put this new trend down to a “lack of Gardaí presence” on the roads.

“This weekend alone, I had driven from Kilkenny to Cork, Cork back to Kilkenny, Kilkenny to Wexford, Wexford to Dublin and Dublin back to Kilkenny, and I didn't see a single Garda,” she said.

“We just don't have enough road traffic policing units to try and monitor these behaviours, and we do need to start identifying as well that technology addiction isn't just unhealthy for children, but adults are finding very, very difficult to give up the device while they're focused on their driving.”

Ms Bolger said picking up a device is an “autopilot response to boredom”.

“If we're sat in traffic, we shouldn't be bored,” she said.

“We should be observing all around us, watching the traffic coming up behind us, the traffic way ahead in the distance.

“Doom scrolling is the term for it, and you just get sucked down into it, and you're completely oblivious that the environment you're in is not the environment for you to be picking up your phone at that time.”

Ms Bolger said with the absence of Gardaí there are “no consequences for bad behaviour”.

She said that our standards “are slipping” and there’s “nobody there to correct them” for us.

Main image: Close up to male hands holding smartphone watching Netflix. Image: Alamy Stock Photo